Span Lebanon 1963

SPAN had begun in 1948 as a consortium between the University

of Minnesota and about a dozen colleges that cultivated international

understanding through practical academic research. Each year four

(sometimes three) countries were selected as destinations. It was

and is, because SPAN continues todaya self-financed program

through voluntary donations by businesses in the Upper Midwest as

well as by contributions from the participants themselves (known as

SPANners). The program was oriented toward upper classmen (in that

age of gender insensitive terminology) so applicants were usually

students in their Junior (or third) year of undergraduate studies.