Washington D.C. Travel Course

The Cohen Institute sponsors a travel course to Washington D.C. each year during May Term in partnership with Leadership Studies and Political Science. The program ran from May 18-24, 2025. 

The course offers an immersive experience to develop hands-on, advanced leadership skills for the 21st century—a time of dramatic, unpredictable change. We take advantage of the unique opportunities available in the nation’s capital to meet and learn from notable leaders in fields such as government, the military, business, non-profit organizations, athletics, education, and the arts. This course includes a number of site visits to many of the most compelling attractions in Washington DC, as well as some other important sites that are less well known.

In order to make this opportunity available to as many students as possible, lodging, onsite expenses, and most meals in DC will be provided by a generous grant from the Cohen Institute. We also have a limited number of scholarships available to help defray travel expenses to/from DC for students with financial need via the Mary Berry Gerwin Scholarship Fund. 

Specific events, guest speakers, and course details change from year to year.

Students are selected for the course through an application process that is held each spring semester. Please contact Dr. Richard Powell (rpowell@maine.edu) for more information about the course.

This course provided an insiders tour into Washington D.C., providing access to people and places the general public simply would not be able to get. We were kept quite busy, going from place to place over the course of the week, hearing from over two dozen unique speakers, each with their own thoughts and insights into a wide array of topics. To supplement this further, most speakers were available for questions, meaning that every individual on the trip will get their own unique experience out of it. In all my time at the University of Maine I have not taken a class more valuable.

Joseph Flaherty, UMaine Student

Leadership in Chaotic Times taught me that there is room for change, and it starts with us. I enrolled in the course as an eager student looking to reintroduce politics and leadership back into my life. And just one week later, I completed the course having met senators, lobbyists, NGOs— leaders of today who I would’ve had no chance of meeting had it not been for this course. Being able to sit down and discuss leadership in today’s world with people who’ve excelled in their careers in leadership has given me a whole new perspective on the political climate we live in, and what my role in it can be.

Mia Kaufman, UMaine Student