Admission and Aid Diversity Diversity
By the very nature of Semester at Sea, the shipboard community cannot help but be rooted in multiculturalism and diversity of perspective. Our culture is greatly enhanced when individuals of diverse backgrounds become part of the Semester at Sea family, bringing their talents to each voyage and to the SAS/ISE headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia. Learning most often leads to understanding when the context for that learning is plural and diverse and when there is a broad range of questions and opinions. This belief underpins the structure of the entire SAS experience. At the SAS/ISE headquarters, we have found that problem solving and planning are optimized when different points of view are represented. In every aspect of the program, a diverse blend of undergraduates, lifelong learners, crew, faculty, and staff is a tremendous resource that benefits everyone.
With the world changing more quickly now than ever before, dialogue and appreciation for differing points of view are paramount. Both SAS and ISE exist to give our participants and employees the chance to touch the world and to be touched by it. Our mission is simple: we are defined by an ongoing commitment to combine academic excellence with challenging experiential programming that provides the opportunity to develop cross-cultural understandings of global interdependence while recognizing, defining, and respecting individual potentials and cultural diversities. This can only be achieved through access and inclusion, awareness and appreciation, and recognition and understanding.
