The Senior Leadership Team canceled all study abroad programs for the fall semester amid a growing number of cases of COVID-19 across the nation.

Nearly 30 students were expected to travel abroad and have been notified of the cancellations.

Stephen Shewmaker, Executive Director of ACU Study Abroad, said students who were looking to study abroad shouldn’t have problems adjusting to their class schedules.

“Students already have a back-up plan course schedule in place, and they have been enrolled in classes on the Abilene campus,” Shewmaker said. “We do not anticipate any student’s progress toward degree being negatively impacted in a significant way.”

The Senior Leadership team made the decision to minimize risk to students and follow CDC travel warnings. There was also a concern of travel restrictions and potential in-country quarantines.

Noah Henderson, junior marketing and management major from Tyler, was one of many students looking to study abroad in the fall. Unfortunately, Henderson is concerned the fall semester was his only opportunity to study outside the country.

“As soon as COVID-19 started getting serious in the U.S. I knew I wasn’t going to go abroad in the fall. Around the end of March is when I knew I was going to drop, but I did not officially drop out of the program until late April. This fall was really my only opportunity to go. If I go on a summer trip, I think I would travel through COBA on one of their programs.”

Shewmaker and his team will spend the fall semester focusing on study abroad programs for the spring 2021 semester.