It took a bit of effort to convince Tom and Nancy Koehler, of Upper Sandusky, to let their 20-year-old daughter spend a year in England in 1985.
She would be one of the first students to participate in a brand-new exchange program between The University of Toledo and the University of Salford, just outside of Manchester, England. And especially in the mid-1980s, it was a big deal: Without cellphones or even email to make the distance seem a bit shorter, the family knew they could expect limited communication over the two semesters.
Current students, alumni, program directors and other supporters of the program gather on campus for a celebration and reunion on April 13.
It would be snail mail, primarily; for big news her parents could dial up the pay phone on campus and ask whichever passing student answered to track down their daughter. (Students usually would. They could appreciate the urgency of an expensive long-distance call.)
Adele Lynagh née Koehler, who went on to graduate from UToledo with a degree in chemistry and today is an anesthesiologist based in Greenville, South Carolina, is glad her parents ultimately agreed.
“It changed my whole life,” she said recently. “I would not be the same person that I am today if it weren’t for that year at the University of Salford.”
Lynagh is one of three students in that inaugural cohort who attended the UToledo-Salford Exchange 40th Anniversary Celebration and Reunion in Toledo on Saturday, April 13. It was an opportunity for participants, program directors and other supporters through the years to reconnect and to celebrate the longevity of the exchange program, which has seen 566 students cross the pond since the first four traveled from Salford to Toledo in 1984.
“It’s a wonderful program,” said Dr. Brian Ashburner, director of the UToledo-Salford Exchange Program and associate professor and associate dean of the UToledo College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. “We’re excited that it’s still going strong after four decades, and we look forward to many more years of this mutually beneficial relationship with the University of Salford.”
The UToledo-Salford Exchange traces its roots to a chemistry professor at UToledo in the early 1980s who was originally from England, and so in a position to notice similarities between the universities in Toledo and Salford. He became a champion of the developing exchange program, whose participation was originally limited to students studying chemistry.
Today, the yearlong exchange program welcomes applications from juniors studying biological sciences, biochemistry, environmental sciences, geography and planning, and physics.
“Students in the sciences can find it difficult to fit a semester abroad around the course requirements for their degrees,” Ashburner said. “We’ve designed the exchange program so that they take comparable courses overseas and remain on track for graduation.”
Oskar Czembor and Jacob Davinson, current exchange students at UToledo from the University of Salford, and Serenity Osborne, a UToledo student who participated in the exchange program during the 2022-23 academic year, speak during the UToledo-Salford Exchange 40th Anniversary Celebration and Reunion in Toledo on April 13.
Ethan Gartee is one of five UToledo students currently at the University of Salford, while six Salford students are currently studying in Toledo. Gartee said his interest in the exchange program was piqued in a freshman orientation course and later fanned by classmates he met on exchange from Salford. Now in his second semester abroad, he’s enjoying courses like fundamentals of biochemistry, genomics and proteomics, and introduction to parasitology and infectious diseases.
He’s also enjoying plenty of travel in between his hours in the lab.
“The greatest highlights of the exchange program are definitely the opportunities to travel and to meet people from all over the world,” he said. “It’s been amazing to connect with people of every background imaginable and to hear what shaped them into the people they have become.”
Gartee is on track to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology next spring, and then hopes to continue his education with medical school. He said he sees his abroad experience as positioning him well to achieve his career goals.
“It has not only crafted me into a more well-rounded individual, but has also provided me with laboratory experience that will be useful in the field,” he said. “Whenever you have to learn in a new environment, you really have to remain focused and make sure you fully understand the material. In studying abroad and stepping into a culture and education that is different from what I am used to, I have become much more disciplined and complete in my study skills. Throughout medical school I am going to need every bit of discipline and attentiveness I can muster, and studying abroad has only resulted in my betterment.”
Lynagh can speak from experience in attesting to the positive experience of the program.
Travel was a highlight for her, too, she said, recalling the “eye-opening experience” of seeing sites she had heretofore had only read about in textbooks and newspapers. She also enjoyed the opportunity to make new friends, some of whom she was excited to see at the recent reunion.
Ultimately she credits the abroad experience with expanding her worldview – and the range of opportunities she could envision for herself when she returned to UToledo. She went on to complete a medical degree at the former Medical College of Ohio, an internship in South Carolina and a residency in Georgia, where she practiced for a decade before relocating back to South Carolina.
“I think the experience impressed on me that there are a lot of opportunities out there, and it gave me the confidence to look for the right opportunities for me,” Lynagh said. “I’m so happy to have had that experience in England. It was a great year, and I’m glad that the exchange program has continued.”
