Fall 2010 Deans, Faculty, Staff

Kathleen Adams (Anthropology)

Kathleen Adams is a Professor of Anthropology at Loyola University Chicago and an Adjunct Curator at the Field Museum of Natural History. Previously she held the Mouat Endowed Chair in International Studies at Beloit College. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington and also studied Southeast Asian Studies at Cornell University. Her research in Indonesia, Singapore and the United States has been supported by grants from the Fulbright Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, and the Luce Foundation. She is the author of Art as Power: Recrafting Identities, Tourism and Power in Tana Toraja, Indonesia (Univ. of Hawaii Press 2006), coeditor of Home and Hegemony: Domestic Work and Identity Politics in South and Southeast Asia (Univ. of Michigan Press, 2000) and Everyday Life in Southeast Asia (Indiana University Press, under contract). Her articles on ethnic relations, cultural representations, tourism and the politics of arts have appeared in various journals, including American Ethnologist, Museum Anthropology, Cultural Survival Quarterly, Annals of Tourism Research, and Tourist Studies. She received Loyola University’s 2007 Edwin T. and Vivijeanne F. Sujack Award for Teaching Excellence and has taught on study abroad programs in Italy and Indonesia. This will be her third Semester at Sea voyage.
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Manuel Aguilar (Art History)

Professor of Art History at California State University in Los Angeles. He also teaches for the Summer Program of the University of San Diego in Mexico and Spain. He received his interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Art History and Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin and has M.A. degrees in Latin American Studies and History of Mexico. His teaching interests are on the art and history of Ancient Civilizations of the World, Latin America and Europe. He is a renowned expert in pre-Columbian cultures and colonial history of Latin America. Dr. Aguilar-Moreno has published on a wide range of subjects, such as Mesoamerican art and history, colonial history of Mexico, funerary art, and the pre-Columbian ballgame. He is the author of Stone Utopia: The Tequitqui Art of Mexico (in Spanish, 2005), The Perfection of Silence: The Cult of Death in Mexico (2003) and Handbook to Life in the Aztec World (Oxford U.P. 2006). He has written more than 40 academic articles and participated in four History Channel programs. He received the Cal State LA’s 2009 Outstanding Professor Award for Teaching and Research Excellence. He sailed as an instructor on Semester at Sea Fall 2003 voyage and SAS Enrichment Voyages 2004, 05, 06, 07, 08.
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Gayle Allard (Economics)

Economics. A native of California who has lived in Europe for 20 years and is currently a full professor of economics at the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, one of Europe´s top business schools, where she teaches in the international MBA program. Her research has focused on the welfare state and its effects on economic performance, specifically on productivity, employment and unemployment. Her publications include a chapter in Growing Public by Peter Lindert (2004) along with numerous Spanish and international articles. B.A., Willamette University; M.A., Monterey Institute of Hispanic Studies; Ph.D., University of California-Davis.
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James Andre (Business/Commerce)

James (Jim) Andre was an Assistant Professor of Clinical Finance and Business Economics at the University of Southern California where he received an MBA in Finance and a Ph.D. in Education. Dr. Andre has also served as an adjunct faculty member for Loyola Marymount University and California State Polytechnic University. A native of San Luis Obispo, California, Dr. Andre received his B.S. degree in Accounting from Santa Clara University. While working on his doctorate, he received the Richard B. Horne Educare Award, the Emery and Joyce Stoops Award, and the Dean's Graduate Scholarship. Dr. Andre has been researching and teaching accounting, business finance and investment courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels since 1982. With his experience in the business world prior to teaching, he brings a practitioner’s viewpoint to the classroom. Specializing in financial planning, he is familiar with budgeting, forecasting, reorganization, business valuation, real estate and international business. He has remained involved in business through consulting, teaching and board membership. In 1999 he spent a semester in Bonn, Germany with the study abroad program of LMU. He also taught in the Semester at Sea program in Spring, 2008. In addition to his involvement in community affairs as a volunteer and board member for several charitable organizations, he enjoys biking, hiking, boating, skiing and travel.
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Rick Barnes (Psychology)

Richard D. Barnes is Professor of Psychology and Environmental Studies at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he teaches courses in social psychology, history of psychology, and environmental studies. He received his BA in psychology from Vanderbilt University and his MA and Ph.D. in social and environmental psychology from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Dr. Barnes’ research in psychology has focused on interpersonal communication and impression management, gender roles and androgyny, and the application of psychology to architecture, planning, and environmental issues. He has been a member of the City of Lynchburg Planning Commission for four years and has been active in promoting sustainable development at the local government level. Dr. Barnes is a past president of the Virginia Psychological Association and a member of the Environmental Design Research Association. He has given workshops and presentations on sustainable campus and city planning at many national and international conferences. He and his wife Tina have two adult sons, one a mathematician and the other an architect.
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Sarah Bogard (Spanish)

Sarah Bogard is currently completing her PhD in Early Modern Spanish Literature at the University of Virginia. She holds a BA in Language Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz and an MA in Spanish from Middlebury in Madrid, Spain. In addition to teaching Spanish in Los Angeles, New York and North Carolina, most recently Ms. Bogard has taught Spanish Composition, Spanish Literary Analysis and Don Quijoteat the University of Virginia’s study abroad program in Valencia, Spain. She currently teaches Modern Spanish Literature at Virginia where she directs the Casa Bolívar Spanish House and participates actively in departmental theater productions, poetry workshops and lecture series. Ms. Bogard’s current research centers on Early Modern gift-giving practices and the problem of gracia in Peninsular Spanish literature, society and theology. This summer Ms. Bogard returns to Madrid to investigate medieval canon law at the Biblioteca Nacional de España, due to a generous grant from the Charles Gordon Reid fellowship fund.
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David Breneman (Education)

University Professor David W. Breneman served as Director of the Public Policy Program at the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia, from 2006 to 2009. Prior to that he served as Dean of the Curry School of Education from 1995 to 2007. He was Visiting Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education from 1990 to 1995, where he taught graduate courses on the economics and financing of higher education, on liberal arts colleges, and on the college presidency. As a Visiting Fellow at The Brookings Institution he conducted research for a book, Liberal Arts Colleges: Thriving, Surviving, or Endangered?, published by Brookings in 1994. (He was selected as the recipient of the 1999 Award for Outstanding Service from the Council for Independent Colleges for this work.) From 1983 to 1989, he served as president of Kalamazoo College, a liberal arts college in Michigan. Prior to that, he was a Senior Fellow at Brookings from 1975 to 1983, specializing in the economics of higher education and public policy toward education. As an economist, David Breneman's research interests are in the areas of finance and economics of higher education. His current focus is on recessions and higher education and on efforts to enhance the productivity of U.S. higher education. Ph.D., University of California-Berkeley; B.A., University of Colorado-Boulder.
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Geno Carr (Theatre)

Geno Carr, an active professional actor and director, has been seen on the national tours of Grease, Maury Yeston’s Phantom and The Buddy Holly Story and starred Off-Broadway in the musical satire Bush Wars. He has appeared in leading roles in numerous plays and musicals regionally at Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Lyric Opera San Diego, Maine Shakespeare Festival, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Heritage Theatre Festival and many others. Directing credits include Woman in Mind, Two Rooms, bash, Into the Woods, Don’t Hug Me and Little Shop of Horrors. In addition to having served for two years as Assistant Professor of Theatre and Resident Artist at Stephens College in Columbia, MO, he currently serves as an Instructor of Theatre Arts at Grossmont College in El Cajon, CA. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Hartwick College with a dual BA in Music and Theatre Arts, holds a MFA in Theatre (Acting and Directing) from Sarah Lawrence College and is a proud member of Actors Equity Association and the society of stage directors & choreographers.
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Stephen Cushman (English)

Stephen Cushman is Robert C. Taylor Professor of English at the University of Virginia, where he has taught since 1982. He earned his B.A. at Cornell and his Ph.D. at Yale. He is the author of seven books, including four books of poetry (the fourth, Riffraff, will be published by LSU in 2011), two books about American poets and poetry, and a book about the Civil War Battle of the Wilderness. He is now serving as general editor of a new edition of the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. In 1993 he taught as a Fulbright lecturer at Ionian University, Corfu, Greece; for ten years he served as co-director of the UVA summer program at Regent’s College, London; he has taught twice as a visiting professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain; and he has also lectured or given readings in the Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Italy, Syria, and Tanzania. Recipient of an All-University Teaching Award in 1992, he was chosen as UVA’s first NEH Mayo Distinguished Teaching Professor in 1994.
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Lark Diaz (Religious Studies)

Lark Stephenson Diaz received a BA, Magna Cum Laude from the University of Portland (Oregon, that is) before spending a year as a Jesuit Volunteer working in a food bank, helping to provide low income Seniors with additional groceries, and teaching ESL in Southern California. She then headed east spending 3 years in New Haven, CT completing a Masters in Divinity and a Certificate in Anglican Studies at Yale University. After being ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church she has spent her career on the West Coast. For nearly 10 years, Diaz served as the Chair of the Religion and Philosophy Department at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, CA. She completed her course work for a Doctor of Ministry degree at Virginia Theological Seminary in 2009 and is currently working on the project for her thesis. An interest in people and cultures has taken Diaz to many different countries where she was able to live with families in cities and villages.
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Steven Dickstein (Business/Commerce)

Steven Dickstein, Senior Lecturer, Department of Management Sciences, Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University. B.S., Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia; M.B.A., Finance & International Business, Rutgers University. Adjunct Faculty member with primary responsibility to develop & teach business courses that include short-term, international travel component for CIBER (Center for International Business Education and Research) at Fisher College. Undergraduate teaching focuses on International Operations. Business faculty member on the Summer, 2007 and Fall, 2009 Semester at Sea voyages. 30+ years of industry experience in Fortune 100 companies with international responsibilities for business development and “best practices.”
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Carrie Douglass (Anthropology)

Full Professor, Anthropology Department, University of Virginia; BA 1970 University of Nebraska, Phi Beta Kappa; MA 1982, PhD 1987 University of Virginia; Member AAA; President, Southern Anthropological Society. Most of my professional publications have had to do with Spain and Spanish culture. I first worked on identity, regionalism, nationalism and fiestas through the vehicle of the bullfight, culminating in a book, Bulls, Bullfighting and Spanish Identities in Spain (1997 U of Arizona Press). Later I turned to research on low fertility in Spain (low birthrates), a phenomenon occurring in all of Europe (and elsewhere) but which seems especially surprising in a country known for its celebration and veneration of extended families. I edited a book, Barren States, the Population ‘Implosion’ in Europe (2005 Berg), dealing with the new family structure appearing in all of Europe (Awarded ‘Most Notable Recent Collection’ by Council on Anthropology of Reproduction 2006). Currently I am working on new project much closer to “home,” a book on Thomas Jefferson and horses. I was born in Panama and lived in Japan and Germany as a child in a military family. Later I spent eight years living and working in Spain before graduate school. I return to Spain often for, not only professional reasons, but also family reasons (my husband is Spanish).
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Holly Earls (Psychology)

Holly Earls is a doctoral student at the University of Virginia. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2004. She then received her M.A. in Experimental Psychology with a concentration in Cognition from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2007. Her Master’s thesis focused on the differences in processing own- versus other-race faces. She was chosen among her graduating class to stay at the University of North Carolina Wilmington the following year as an Instructor in the psychology department. She began the doctoral program at the University of Virginia in the fall of 2008. Her dissertation focuses on the perceptual effects of group membership. She also does research on art and psychology, and has publications in the Journal of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
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Daniel Ferguson (Music)

Daniel Ferguson is an ethnomusicologist and former assistant professor of music at Columbia University. He has taught at UCLA, UC Davis, and San Francisco State University and is currently an adjunct instructor at Utah Valley University. Dr. Ferguson received an M.A. from UCLA and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Chinese Studies at UC Berkeley. His areas of specialization include: China; popular musics of the U.S., the Caribbean, and Brazil; music in Scottish America; and the intersection of music, ethnicity, and cultural identity. He has conducted fieldwork in China (Tianjin, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), and among the Chinese diasporic communities of New York City and San Francisco. He has also researched music in the context of Scottish-American cultural events throughout the eastern U.S. His research has been funded by the Fulbright-Hays Foundation, the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China, and the Columbia University Council on Research and Faculty Development in the Humanities and Social Sciences. His publications have appeared in Yearbook for Traditional Music, Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Asian Music, and CHIME. Dr. Ferguson has resided in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Colombia for eight years and is fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese. He has studied the Chinese pipa, qin, zheng, sanxian, di; Turkish tanbur; Indian sitar; Zimbabwean mbira; Irish sean-nos singing; Irish tenor banjo; Scottish highland bagpipes; and Javanese gamelan. He is also a professional performing and touring guitarist.
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Jeff Glazer (Business/Commerce)

Jeff has been teaching in the Management Department of the College of Business Administration at San Diego State University for nearly 25 years. His areas of expertise include international organizational behavior, interpersonal processes in a multi-cultural environment and leadership. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa, his MBA at San Diego State University and his Doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of San Diego. From 1994 to 2006, he served as Assistant Dean for Student Relations and Director of the Aztec Business Alliance at SDSU. In that capacity, he directed all of the student organizations, the Internship Bureau, and the consulting programs in the College of Business. Jeff has been recognized as an outstanding member of the SDSU community for years. In 1994, he was recognized by the San Diego Union Tribune as one of the top university professors in San Diego. In 1997, he was honored by the Associated Students Council as the individual who made the most meaningful contribution to students of SDSU. In 2006, he received an Outstanding Faculty award in the College of Business Administration. He has been recognized twice in the last four years as the “most influential management professor” by students. In 2008, he received a Monty award (the university’s highest honor) for distinguished service to the university. He has travelled extensively to over 50 countries. His international experience includes teaching three courses on Semester at Sea in Spring, 2002. He has two daughters; one daughter sailed on Semester at Sea in 2003.
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Don Kimmel (Biology)

Don Kimmel is an emeritus professor of biology at Davidson College. He came to Davidson in 1971 from the medical program at Brown and served as department chairman at Davidson until 1977. He holds a B.A. in zoology from Swarthmore College, M.D. and M.Sc. (biochemistry) degrees from Temple University, and a Ph.D. (genetics and development) from The Johns Hopkins University. His research interests include the effects of chromosome damage on tadpole development and the development of behavior in orb-weaving spiders. He has published in journals of both these fields, as well as in human development. He served for years on the Minorities Affairs Committee of The American Society for Cell Biology. He has won teaching awards at both Brown and Davidson. Dr. Kimmel’s teaching interests have focused on subjects - from molecular to whole organism - that encourage students’ personal involvement, and on class and lab styles that demand active, problem-solving participation, human and humanitarian application, with doses of ethics, history, healthy doubt, and respect for living things. He hopes to bring these interests aboard MV Explorer with him.
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Linda Kobert (English Writing)

Linda Kobert is a Charlottesville-based freelance writer who has produced everything from grant proposals to poetry to radio essays that air on a local NPR affiliate, WVTF in Roanoke. Her features, profiles, travel pieces, essays, and reports of local events regularly appear in print and on-line publications, including The Washington Post, Spirituality and Health, Small Spiral Notebook, and many University of Virginia publications. She manages a blog for The Hook, a local weekly news and arts paper; posts to her own blog, http://lindakobert.wordpress.com; and has three novels in process. Kobert started her career as a registered nurse, earning her BSN at La Roche College in Pittsburgh and her MSN at the University of Pittsburgh, where she taught maternity nursing and childbirth preparation for several years. Her list of publications includes articles in peer-reviewed nursing journals, including the American Journal of Nursing, the Journal of Nursing Education, and Nursing and Health Care. Linda will jump at any excuse to travel; in addition to roaming all over the U.S., she has visited Canada, Britain, Bali, and Thailand.
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George McLemore (Communication/Media Studies)

George McLemore retired in 2005 after 32 years at the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) as Associate Professor of Communication. Now, while lecturing and consulting on the Indian Subcontinent, he is an adjunct Professor at Austin Community College in Texas. McLemore earned his BA (English and Communication) and his MA (Rhetorical Criticism and History) from the University of Houston and his Ph.D. (Rhetorical Theory and Intercultural Communication) from the University of Pittsburgh. Active in the International Study Program at UT-Pan American, McLemore directed study abroad programs to Spain, Turkey, Greece, Mexico and India where he taught Intercultural Communication and Documentary Photography. McLemore was appointed three times as a Fulbright Senior Scholar by the US Department of State’s Institute of International Education in which he taught at Manipal University in Karnataka State, the Mudra Institute of Communication in Gujarat State, India and the Institute of Advanced Communication Education & Research in Kathmandu, Nepal. In 2004, McLemore received the UTPA Dean’s Award for “Outstanding Contributions to International Education.” Under the auspices of the French NGO Groupe Developpement McLemore completed a photo documentary project on human trafficking on the Subcontinent resulting in Jessore Road: Journey To Fight Human Trafficking, India To Bangladesh. He is co-author of Persuasion Strategies: An Effective Guide to Persuasive Communication and Presentational Speaking: A Workbook. His documentary photographs illustrated Batos, Bollilos, Pochos and Pelados: Class and Culture on the South Texas Border.
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Judy McLeod (Studio Art)

M.F.A./Painting and Printmaking, Virginia Commonwealth University; B.S./Art Education, Massachusetts College of Art; B.A./Fine Arts, University of California, Berkeley; Foreign Guest Student, Kunsthaandvaerkerskolen (Royal Academy of Applied Arts), Copenhagen, Denmark. Employment has included serving as a Program Specialist, coordinating ArtQuest program for students gifted in the visual arts in the Charlottesville City Schools. Also an adjunct instructor of art, Virginia Commonwealth University, Community Engagement: Master’s of Interdisciplinary Studies. Judy McLeod regularly exhibits mixed-media collages nationally, regionally, and locally at The McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville. Recent Judy McLeod exhibitions include People and Their Music: WVTF Art Gallery, Roanoke, VA, June 2009; Playlist, McGuffey Art Center, April 2009; and Truth is Beauty, Beauty Truth, Shenandoah Art Center, Winchester, VA April 2009. Judy has received the following awards: Virginia Museum Fellowship Grants: 1979, 1980, 2001; NAEA Travel/Study Grant, 1995: Studying the Intuitive Artists of Jamaica; Piedmont Council of the Arts: Distinguished Arts Educator Award 1991; and Phi Beta Kappa, University of California, Berkeley.
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Courtney Miller (Communication/Media Studies)

Courtney holds a B.A. in Cinema-Television and an MFA in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California. She spent two years as a Field Producer for Oprah’s Oxygen Television Network, where she produced short documentaries for their primetime news magazine show, including coverage of the Democratic National Convention, Emmys and Oscars. She has worked for audio engineer Tomlinson Holman, the “TH” of THX sound, for various networks as a freelance journalist, and as the former head of production for the USC Thornton School of Music, has produced hundreds of concerts throughout Southern California with world-renown artists including Yo Yo Ma and John Williams, in collaboration with Sony Classical, the Metropolitan Opera, Public Radio International and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She has further worked with the Recording Academy to grow the annual “GRAMMY Career Day,” has published stories, written, directed and scored films, and has lectured at Chapman University and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She is the youngest recipient to date of the USC President’s Award and is a founding member of the LA Center’s Young Professionals Council. An alumna of Semester at Sea, she has traveled to over 60 countries and will be embarking upon her 6th voyage. In addition to travel, she enjoys Scuba diving, playing percussion, and discussing 80s pop culture.
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Fernando Operé (History/Theatre)

Fernando Operé, born in Madrid, Spain, is Professor of Spanish, and Director of the Latin American Studies Program at the University of Virginia. He is an expert on Latin American Literature of the Colonial period and the 19th Century. He has published the following books: Indian Captivity in Spanish America. Frontier Narratives (2008); España y los españoles de hoy (2007); Historias de la frontera. El cautiverio en la América hispánica (2001); Cautivos (1997); and Civilización y barbarie en la literatura argentina del siglo XIX. El Tirano Rosas (1987), as well as numerous articles on romanticism, modernism, captivity literature, poetry, frontiers, and the historical novel. One of his loves is poetry, which he has written for as long as he can remember. He has published 11 books of poetry, and his poems have appeared in several anthologies and in numerous magazines. The last two titles are Segundo cántico (2009) and Anotado al margen. Cuaderno de ruta (2007). He frequently performs poetry readings with music (he has two CDs of poetry and music recorded in theaters in Argentina along with Mempo Giardinelli). In addition, he has directed 44 plays. In 2005 he was honored with the All-University Outstanding Teaching Award at the University.
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Greg Paulson (Biology)

Dr. Gregory Paulson is Departmental Chair and Full Professor of Biology at Shippensburg University. He received his B.S. in Zoology from Miami University, M.S. in Entomology from the University of Hawaii and his Ph.D. in Entomology from Washington Sate University. Dr. Paulson has approximately 50 publications including several book chapters and two books; “Insects Did it First” and “Handbook to the Construction and Use of Insect Collection and Rearing Devices”. His research interests are the population interactions of ants and applied ecology, especially for the control of pestiferous insects in agriculture. He is also very interested in Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and photography, and recently won his second major award for his SEM imagery. He has traveled extensively in Japan and Brazil and spent three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in [Western] Samoa. This is his second voyage with SAS; he sailed on the Spring 2003 voyage.
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Donna Plasket (Music)

Donna Plasket is Assistant Dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies and Director of the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies program at the University of Virginia. Prior to her position at Virginia, where she also conducted the Virginia Women's Chorus, she served as research director at Harvard Project Zero and as faculty member in music education at New England Conservatory and in conducting at Westminster Choir College. In addition she has taught music at the high school level and led church music ministries, and also has held senior positions in development, external and alumni relations, and career services. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in music education and choral conducting from Westminster Choir College and a doctorate in higher education from Harvard University. Her research interests are in professional music education and adult education.
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David Ringrose (History)

Currently David Ringrose is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, having retired after 40-odd years teaching at Rutgers University and then at UCSD. His BA is from Carleton College, his MA and PH.D from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has published nine books on the history of Spain and, more recently a little book on World History between about 1200 and 1700. He currently is at work on a book about the ways in which Europeans established themselves in almost every corner of the world by 1700, more often than not without the help of warships and imperial government. This work was made possible by the NEH, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Institute for Advances Study in Princeton, and the National Humanities Center in North Carolina. Aside from living about five years in Spain (where our younger son was born), he and his wife have travelled in Russia, China, Southeast Asia, India, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, and South America. Since retiring Professor Ringrose has taken on a new historical role, that of docent/tour leader/consultant at the San Diego Maritime Museum, with its fleet of 10 real or full-sized reproductions of ships that range from a galleon of the 1540s through two submarines from the 1970s (One Russian, one from the US Navy). Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he never dreamed we would go sailing on a 150 foot tall ship (110 foot masts) twice in one summer..
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Kathryn Ringrose (History)

Kathryn Ringrose is a lecturer at the University of California, San Diego. She received a B.A. from Carleton College, an M.A. in Classics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and an M.A. in History from Rutgers University. Her PhD in History is from Rutgers University. At U.C. San Diego she teaches courses on Byzantine History, Late Antiquity, gender studies, and world civilizations before 1500. With substantial support from the American Philosophical Society and the ACLS she has written extensively on monasticism and intermediate gender categories, and published a study of Byzantine eunuchs, The Perfect Servant, Eunuchs and the Social Construction of Gender in Byzantium, University of Chicago Press, 2003. She is a serious orchestral musician, performing regularly on oboe, English horn and oboe d'amore. For raucous fun she plays in two symphonic bands. For sociability she plays in a woodwind quintet and a woodwind trio. Like her husband she is an avid traveler, most recently to Kashgar and Lake Baikal.
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Rocky Rohwedder (Environmental Studies)

Rocky Rohwedder is a Full Professor and past-Chair of the Department of Environmental Studies and Planning at Sonoma State University. He has a B.A. in Social Ecology (UC Irvine), an M.S. in Resource Policy and Management (University of Michigan), and a Ph.D. in Environmental Planning (UC Berkeley). Rocky received his university’s outstanding teacher award and co-founded the campus Environmental Technology Center (Pedagogy of Place, Higher Education and the Challenge of Sustainability, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004). Rocky has served as a consultant for numerous initiatives and organizations. National and international examples include the Middle East Peace Process (regional water education program for youth); World Resources Institute (pedagogy of digital global data); U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (role of computers in environmental education); U.S. Agency for International Development (sustainable development education in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations); U.S. Peace Corps (lead consultant for first group of volunteers to work in the former Soviet Union); and the President's Council on Sustainable Development (education for sustainable development). Rocky has also worked on village-level projects in the Tibetan Highlands (Solar Cooker Review, April 2001) and Lombok, Indonesia (What Works: A Guide to Environmental Education and Communication Projects for Practitioners and Donors, Education for Sustainability Series, 1999). In the past few years he has been a Visiting Scholar at the George Lucas Educational Foundation (Skywalker Ranch) and at Lincoln University (Christchurch, New Zealand). Rocky, wife Shawn, and currently three year old son Ryder sailed around the world on the SAS Spring 2007 voyage (along with Archbishop Tutu) and again in Summer 2009.
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Chris Ruotolo (Librarian)

Chris Ruotolo is the Digital Services Manager for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Virginia Library. She is the library liaison to the U.Va. English Department, where she received an M.A. and has completed coursework toward a Ph.D. She holds a B.A. in Literature from Yale University. In her current role, Chris provides direct reference and instruction services to faculty and students. She also has a strong technology background and a deep interest in the digital humanities. Chris serves on the Board of Directors of the Text Encoding Initiative, and teaches regular workshops on text encoding technologies through various library and scholarly organizations. Before taking on her current role, she was the Associate Director of U.Va.'s Electronic Text Center, where she worked on building the library's digital collections and investigated e-reading technologies in the academic classroom.
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Peter Sanchez (Global Studies)

Peter M. Sanchez is professor of political science at Loyola University Chicago. He earned his PhD and MA in government from the University of Texas at Austin and his BA in political science from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Dr. Sanchez is the author of Panama Lost? U.S. Hegemony, Democracy, and the Canal (University Press of Florida, 2007). His is also author of articles published in journals such as International Politics, The Latin Americanist, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Developing Areas, Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, International Journal on World Peace, The Air Force Law Review, and Peace Review, as well as numerous chapters appearing in edited volumes. Dr. Sanchez was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Panama in 1997-1998. He has also conducted research in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru. Prior to teaching at Loyola, he taught at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado. He has taken students to Cuba, taught on Semester at Sea in summer 2007 and taught at Loyola University’s Campus in Rome. Dr. Sanchez is currently working on a new book, Priest Under Fire: The life and times of David Rodriguez, about a Salvadoran priest who joined the armed insurgency in the 1980s and after the war was elected to the Salvadoran congress.
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Joel Savishinsky (Anthropology)

Joel Savishinsky is the Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus in the Social Sciences at Ithaca College. He is a cultural anthropologist and gerontologist, with a Ph.D. from Cornell (1970) and close to 40 years of teaching experience. His interests include environments and cultural stress, intergenerational relations, the nature of geriatric institutions, adaptations to retirement and caregiving, and the humanistic aspects of the aging process. He began his career doing archaeology in Western Turkey, and then did research among hunting-fishing-and-trapping peoples in the Canadian Arctic, and subsistence communities in the Bahamas. Since developing a mid-career specialty in gerontology, he has done applied social research among residents and staff in American nursing homes, among family caregivers in a working class borough in London, England, and among retirees in the United States and India. Among his books are The Trail of the Hare: Environment and Stress in a Sub-Arctic Community (1974, 2nd ed., 1994), The Ends of Time: Life and Work in A Nursing Home (1991), and Breaking The Watch: The Meanings of Retirement in America (2002). The latter two volumes each won the Gerontological Society of America’s ‘book of the year’ prize for innovative publishing. He has also worked as an elder companion and caregiver and, with his wife Susan -- a psychotherapist -- runs a part-time bed-and-breakfast. He taught on Semester at Sea’s Spring 1994 and Fall 2000 voyages.
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Adam Seid (Assistant Academic Dean / Registrar)

Adam Seid currently serves as the Associate Director of Academic Affairs and Registrar at the Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE), where he has worked since 2006. Prior to working at ISE, Adam was a high school English and Spanish teacher in the metro-Atlanta area. Adam received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Georgia and his Master's of Education in Higher Education from the University of Virginia. His research interests include minority access to higher education, international education, and the impacts of technology on college students. His master's thesis considered the factors that contribute to the gender gap in undergraduate study abroad participation. Not surprisingly, Adam's non-research interests include traveling internationally (he has visited over 50 countries) and playing kickball with his two-time championship winning team. This will be Adam's third academic voyage - he sailed as a student on the summer 2000 voyage and as a staff member in the Field Office during fall 2004.
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Robert Smith (Geography)

Now an Independent Geographic Consultant, Robert Smith served 31 years in the U.S. Department of State as a geographer. After receiving his PhD in Geography from the Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill he became the U.S. government's geographic expert responsible for negotiating U.S. maritime boundaries and establishing U.S. claims to marine jurisdiction. Dr. Smith represented the U.S. at numerous United Nations conferences pertaining to the law of the sea. He oversaw and was the principle author of the State Department's Limits in the Seas studies. He is the author of a book on the Exclusive Economic Zone, co-author of two books on excessive maritime claims and currently is the co-editor of the American Society of International Law's International Maritime Boundaries volumes. Dr. Smith has taught the Geography of the Oceans course at Georgetown University. He has provided expert testimony in both U.S. Supreme Court cases and in international courts. As a geographic consultant he advises foreign governments, oil and gas companies, and international law firms on all aspects of ocean policies and planning and developing strategies for exploring and exploiting offshore resources, including risk assessments. Smith participated in mapping the Arctic seafloor while on board the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker, Healy, during the summer of 2007.
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Zachary Smith (Politics)

Zachary A. Smith (PhD, University of California) is a Regents’ Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff Arizona. He is the author or editor of more than 20 books and several times as many articles and book chapters dealing with international and domestic issues. He has served as a consultant to governments, both foreign and domestic, for more than 25 years. His most recent books include: Globalization; Protecting Our Environment Lessons from the European Union and Renewable and Alternative Energy Resources. In addition he is the author of the widely used textbook on the environment The Environmental Policy Paradox, now in its fifth edition.
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Nancy Snow (Theatre)

Nancy Snow, professional singer and actress, is a proud member of Actors Equity Association and The National Association of Teachers of Singing. She has been seen on the national tours of Phantom and The Buddy Holly Story and in numerous regional productions throughout the United States. She has also performed in the Washington, DC premiere of Summer of 42 at the Round House Theatre and was a soloist with the Missouri Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her performance experience, Nancy has been a guest lecturer on “Show Business and Finance” at Elon University and served on the Performing Arts faculty at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, teaching Acting for the Camera, Theatre Speech, Acting, and Private Voice. While completing her MFA at San Diego State University she taught Musical Theatre Performance, Musical Theatre Voice Lab as well as maintained an active private voice studio. Nancy served as the Director of Musical Theatre at Youth Performing Arts School in Washington, DC, overseeing over 1,000 students in the DC metropolitan area. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from Elon University in North Carolina and her Master of Fine Arts from San Diego State University.
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David Toscano (Sociology)

David J. Toscano was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1950, the first of five children. He was educated in the public schools, received a Bachelor’s degree from Colgate University in 1972, a PhD in sociology from Boston College in 1979, and a law degree from University of Virginia in 1986. He has taught at various colleges and universities, including Boston College, University of Maryland (European Division), Piedmont Virginia Community College, University of Virginia, and James Madison University. He is a practicing attorney with the firm of Buck, Toscano & Tereskerz, Ltd., specializing in family law and real estate. Prior to his becoming an attorney, David authored a number of articles and books related to political economy, sociology of work and occupation, and employee owned companies. David was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in November, 2005, one of the successors to the seat once held by Thomas Jefferson. He is presently serving his 3rd term in the House of Delegates. He is a member of the Courts of Justice, Transportation, and Science and Technology Committees. Prior to his election to the House of Delegates, David served for 12 years on the Charlottesville City Council, including a stint as Mayor in the mid-1990s. David is a resident of the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, where he lives with his wife of 32 years, Nancy A. Tramontin, and their son, Matthew.
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Katherine White (Business/Commerce)

Dr. Kate White is Associate Professor of marketing at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. Kate completed her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia, her M.A. at the University of Waterloo, and her B.A. at Simon Fraser University. Kate has taught abroad in Thailand at the MBA level and has presented her research at over 35 national and international conferences. Her research interests lie at the intersection between social cognition and consumer behavior. In particular, she examines how social factors, mood states, and other situational variables affect consumer attitudes and choices. Kate recently received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding New Scholar and has been identified as “Young Scholar” by the Marketing Science Institute. Her published work has appeared in top tier refereed journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
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Tim Wood (Biology)

Timothy Wood is an aquatic biologist and a recognized authority on marine and freshwater bryozoans. Currently he is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Wright State University (Dayton, Ohio) and Visiting Professor of Environmental Science at Kasetsart University (Bangkok, Thailand). Together with a former student he manages a consulting firm to help control industrial fouling by freshwater invertebrates. He is the author of 3 books and over four dozen scientific papers on the biology of aquatic animals. He has also discovered and named more than a dozen new bryozoan species in North America, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Pursuing a broader professional interest, Dr. Wood worked for nearly two decades in Nepal, Ethiopia, Sudan, and throughout francophone Africa on issues of deforestation and fuelwood management, serving as advisor to the World Bank, Peace Corps, USAID, and several non-government organizations. Dr. Wood’s undergraduate degree in biology is from Earlham College, and his PhD in zoology from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Nonprofessional activities include self-supported bicycle camping and playing his cello in a local orchestra.
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Samuel Bloomquist (IT Coordinator)

Sam's interest in software engineering began with a seventh grade science fair project and developed into a career he absolutely loves. A specialist in C++ and Java, he earned a BA in Mathematics and Computer Science from Anderson University. His work in a variety of industries with businesses ranging from tiny web start-ups to Fortune 100 corporations led him to found Indianapolis-based Believe in Science Software. As President, Sam works with clients and colleagues to create custom iPhone applications in the fine art, charitable auction, insurance, and advertising industries. Outside of work, Sam enjoys fixing his family's computer issues, traveling, playing basketball, running, and hanging out with his wife Shannon and their Boston terrier Amelie. Fall 2010 marks his first academic voyage, but Sam sailed on the MV Explorer as the Assistant IT Coordinator during the 2009 Passage through Panama enrichment voyages. He feels that working in the IT lab is the best position on the ship because it affords so many opportunities to meet fellow passengers, problem solve, and help others. Sam looks forward to welcoming you to the IT lab this August. Please stop in and bring your questions--he is ready to help!
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Shannon Bloomquist (Assistant Librarian)

Indianapolis resident Shannon Bloomquist currently serves as the Director of Marketing and Communications for Believe in Science Software, a company she co-founded with her husband Sam in 2007. She received her BA in American Studies and Religious Studies at Hillsdale College, her MAE from Ball State University, and her MLS from Indiana University. Shannon has put her reference and digital library skills to work in public, research, and academic sectors. Most recently, she served as genealogy and digitization librarian at the Indiana State Library where she led a collaborative effort with Indiana colleges and universities, special libraries, and public libraries to create content and procedural standards for a statewide digital library project. She also writes about library-related topics for news organizations in the Indianapolis area and volunteers with the Indiana Historical Society Library, Humane Society of Indianapolis, and National History Day. During spring 2009, Shannon enjoyed serving as librarian on the Passage through Panama enrichment voyages, but Fall 2010 marks her first academic voyage. Shannon’s hobbies include hiking, backpacking, reading, and writing. She loved life on the MV Explorer and looks forward to experiencing new places, meeting new friends, and growing personally and professionally during her time on board.
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Elisabeth Bolorinos (Dependent Children Coordinator)

Elisabeth was born and raised in Madrid, Spain. She received her B.A. in Economics and History from the University of California Berkeley. Since graduating in 2008 she has worked as a project coordinator for Financieros sin Fronteras, a microfinance initiative sponsored by the IE Business School in Madrid, Spain, and spent eight months volunteering as a youth worker for a Christian charity in Edinburgh, Scotland. Elisabeth is a SAS Fall 2006 alum and is thrilled to be sailing again on the Fall 2010 voyage.
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Leah Charbonneau(Assistant Field Office Coordinator)

Leah Charbonneau is a graduate student studying for her Master's degree in International Education at the School for International Training (SIT) Graduate Institute and will be graduating in the spring of 2011. After sailing with Semester At Sea as an undergraduate student on the Spring 2006 voyage, she continued on to earn her Bachelor's degree in International Studies and Sustainable Development at Appalachian State University. In the past, Leah served as the Aid Chair and Study Abroad Chair with International Appalachian at Appalachian State, spent time volunteering in northern Thailand with the Free Burma Rangers, and has seen some wonderful places in Asia and Central America. Leah is thrilled to have the opportunity to put her coursework to practice in the field and cannot wait for the coming semester aboard the M.V. Explorer!
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Marci Colb (Living Learning Coordinator: Involvement & Recreational Sports)

Marci has spent the past couple of years planning professional development trainings for professionals who work in student affairs. She received a B.A. from Emory University in International Studies and Spanish. Additionally, she acquired her masters from Colorado State University in Student Affairs in Higher Education. Prior to her current work, she spent time working at 4 colleges (Pueblo Community College, Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Colorado State University) in administration, student affairs, and academic affairs.
Marci is thrilled to be sailing for the 3rd time on Semester at Sea (S00 and A06)! She is looking forward to all the amazing people who will sail with her and exploring and learning new things. Marci's interests include watching movies, eating, arts and crafts, games, travel and spending time with friends and family.
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Mary Davidson (Community Resource Officer)

Mary is currently a contract Special Investigator for the US Secret Service and Vice-President of Davidson Strategic Resources (DSR), Inc. providing Executive Protection and Private Investigations. She earned a BA in Law Enforcement from the University of Maryland and is currently enrolled in a Master’s Program for Criminal Justice at ASU. Mary studied International Criminal Justice at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark while pursuing her undergraduate degree. Mary spent over 20 years working more than full-time as a US Secret Service Special Agent. Her assignments took her throughout the US & the world while protecting the President and Vice-President of the United States, Foreign Heads of State and their families. Much of her career was spent investigating crimes against the US Government with several major cases in Europe and South America. After retiring, Mary and her husband Jim (also a retired USSS Agent) embarked on a yearlong, 36-country journey with two of their children who were then in middle school. This year, Mary worked at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC, Canada, the third Olympics in which she has provided executive protection. Volunteer work has included taking six groups of high school students, as many as 35 at a time, on Mission trips to Piura, Peru, and many day trips for a medical mission to Tijuana, Mexico. Mary loves working with young adults, whom she finds to be over-looked and underappreciated; this combined with her experience in security should make for a fun-filled yet safe voyage for all!
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Cicero Delfin (Living Learning Coordinator: Leadership)

Cicero Delfin received his M. Ed. in Student Affairs Administration from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. In Washington, Cicero had the amazing opportunity to work with the Ethnic Student Center at Western and with student leadership and activities at Northwest Indian College. He currently works with the Office of Student Life and Cultural Centers at Cal Poly Pomona as the Student Involvement Program Coordinator. It is the same institution he received his B.A. in Music from. No matter where life takes him, Cicero will always have an affinity to music of all genres and hip-hop dance. Cicero looks forward to his first voyage with Semester at Sea and is excited to explore the world with the community on board.
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Traci Doherty (Medical Staff)

Traci is a family nurse practitioner from Belmont, Massachusetts. She earned her BSN and MSN at Johns Hopkins University. She also has a Masters of Public Health with a concentration in International Health from Tulane University, and a BA from University of Vermont. She has worked at Suffolk University Health & Wellness Center in Boston for the past seven years. Prior to that, she worked as an NP with an adolescent immigrant population, and in a federal refugee clinic. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa and has traveled extensively in that region. She has also lived abroad in Spain and Germany. She is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Cape Verdean Creole. Clinically, she is interested in women’s health issues and travel medicine. Outside of work, she loves spending time with her family in the mountains or on the ocean. Traci is extremely excited to work with college students as they experience the wonders of international travel for the first time.
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Hieu Dovan (Psychologist)

Hieu joined the Peace Corps after graduating from UCLA. He liked the experience so much that he extended his Peace Corps service an extra year, serving for 3 years in Malaysia. Returning to the U.S., Hieu obtained his doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Connecticut. He is an experienced psychologist, having worked in a variety of settings: private and public hospitals, university and college counseling centers. Hieu has served as a staff psychologist at Sacramento State University, clinical director at the University of California at Davis, and director at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. He enjoys working with students, ranging from individual counseling to groups and workshop presentations. Hieu favors a solution oriented approach in counseling. He not only works with students toward the understanding of their issues, but also how to use their strengths in creating solutions. Hieu believes in the integration of body and mind. He is an active outdoors enthusiast, enjoying tennis, kayaking, biking, and running. Hieu has traveled overseas for extended periods of time. He feels extremely fortunate to be able to engage in two of his favorite activities: to work with students and travel the world. Hieu looks forward to sharing the adventures and discoveries of the Fall 2010 Voyage with students, staff, and faculty.
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Janna Gies (Textbook Coordinator)

Janna retired as Managing Editor at the Virginia Quarterly Review at UVA after 15 years following her first voyage Summer 07. Previously she was a librarian at Albemarle HS for 8 years. Her job now is to volunteer at the Semester at Sea office and try to get on the ship whenever she can. She received her BA from Hamline University in St Paul, MN in English and Education, and her Masters of Library Science from Shippensburg State College, PA.
Janna's original international experience/service was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines for 2 1/2 years. Her previous Semester at Sea voyages include Summer 07 (Assistant Librarian), Partial voyages - Spring 09, Summer 09, Summer 10 . Enrichment voyages - Dec 07, May 08 (as librarian), Dec 08 (as librarian), May 10 (as librarian). Alumni, orientation, engagement voyages - Jan 07, 08,09,10. Fall 10, with David, husband, as academic dean.
Janna's expectations for this voyage are to have the experience of her lifetime, and create friendships that will last forever which is what Semester at Sea is all about!

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Lisa Braun Glazer (Psychologist)

Lisa is a clinical psychologist currently working at UCSD Psychological and Counseling Services. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Vermont, and has had extensive experience working with students, She and her husband, Jeff Glazer sailed on the Spring '02 voyage. She's looking forward to the adventure! She has the following affiliations: American Psychological Association; San Diego Psychological Association; Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, UCSD School of Medicine (voluntary); Advisor, Peer Mentor Group, UCSD School of Medicine. Clinical Interests include adjustment and life-transition; identity formation; stress management; women's issues; multicultural/multiracial issues; international student experience; career exploration; assertiveness training; grief and loss; anxiety; depression; eating disorders; spirituality; mindfulness practice; couple's counseling; groups. Theoretical orientation provides a cognitive-behavioral framework tailored to the individual's/couple's/group's particular needs.
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Osvaldo J. Mendoza Gonzalez (Textbook Coordinator)

Osvaldo J. Mendoza Gonzalez (aka Ozzie) is currently a high school social science teacher. He teaches geography, study skills, and US history at Andrew P. Hill High School in San Jose, CA. He received his BA in Chicano/a Studies and History from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He recently received his MA in Mexican American Studies from San Jose State University (SJSU). His specialization is Chicano youth and the various issues and factors that they face along the educational pipeline. Prior to sailing, he spent three weeks in Nicaragua with a group of high school juniors studying first hand the various aspects of globalization. His hobbies include attending spoken word events, live music, theatre and participating in cultural events. He is a foodie and is looking forward to trying all the different foods he will encounter along the trip.
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Stephanie Halaska (Living Learning Coordinator: Academic Success)

Stephanie is currently an Assistant Director in the College of Commerce at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. In this position she advises undergraduate students on their academics, coordinates freshman orientation, and works with academic outreach and programming. Prior to DePaul, Stephanie worked in residence life at Miami University and the University of Missouri, where she earned her Master of Arts in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (emphasis in Higher Education). She has also earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, where she was born and raised. Stephanie is looking forward to learning alongside the students throughout the voyage as well as helping them to be academically successful throughout the semester.
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Marisa Herrera (Assistant Dean of Students)

Currently Marisa is the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admission at Stanford University. Marisa originally hails from a small mining town in southern Arizona and currently resides in San Jose, CA . She received her B.A. in Agribusiness from Arizona State University, M.S. in Management from Northern Arizona University and will complete the final phase of her Doctor of Education degree this summer from the University of Southern California, where her dissertation focused on the Globalization of Higher Education. She has traveled to Europe, Latin America and Asia, but is a first timer on Semester at Sea. In her spare time, she enjoys learning the violin, photography, cooking and is learning to make jewelry in anticipation of her upcoming voyage. Marisa is fluent in American Sign Language and is looking forward to the Vietnam portion of the trip for the opportunity to connect with the Deaf community. She is also looking forward to sharing this voyage with her partner Ozzie and can’t wait to meet all the wonderful students and friends she will make along the journey.
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Stephanie Holcombe (Medical Staff)

Hailing from the Deep South, Stephanie graduated nursing school at the University of Alabama in 2002 and completed her Masters in Social Health/Medical Anthropology at the University of Melbourne in Australia in 2006. Stephanie loves being a nurse and truly enjoys maximizing the flexibility of her career! Stephanie has worked in ICU’s in big cities to medical clinics in developing countries, has travel-nursed in ER’s and worked in her own independent contracting business. Most recently she has just returned from working as a nurse in Aboriginal communities in Australia. She is very interested in international aid work, especially humanitarian relief. Currently she is studying for a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from James Cook University in Australia with hopes of soon entering into a Doctoral program here in the US. Outside of nursing, Stephanie is a dabbler. She has managed to raise her own pigs, grow her own food, travel independently to over 25 countries, and develop a huge love affair with her dog. She loves darkrooms and cameras, VW buses and Airstreams, as well as good food, good wine and good people! She is very excited to serve as the Nurse for this voyage after experiencing the joys of SAS during the Summer of 2009.
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Lauran Intinarelli (Assistant Field Office Coordinator)

Lauran Intinarelli is currently employed by Backroads Active Travel Company based in Salt Lake City, UT. As a Trip Leader with Backroads Lauran plans, organizes and leads week-long active travel vacations around the globe. She has worked in Southern Utah, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park, the San Juan Islands, the Mid-West and several other locations taking guests from around the world on first class camping, hiking, cycling, and kayaking trips. Lauran graduated from Gonzaga University with a BA in Sociology and Public Relations in May 2008. She spent her third year of college abroad in Florence, Italy immersing herself in the Italian culture and traveling throughout Europe and Northern Africa. In college Lauran was active in every intramural sport, volunteer/service learning programs, the Office of Student Life and the Ski and Snowboard Club.
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Tony Keith (Living Learning Coordinator: Intercultural Competency & Diversity)

Tony currently serves as the Interim Director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center and instructor of Racism and Sexism at Penn State University. Tony is also a spoken word artist and a poet. He has coordinated several arts and social justice international cultural immersion programs around the world, including Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago. He holds a Bachelor degree in Communication from the University of Maryland and a Master of Education degree in College Student Affairs from Penn State University. Tony has worked for the Multicultural Resource Center at the University of North Carolina, a Civil Rights Office for the USDA, as well as for the Institute for Youth, Education and Families. He has coordinated campus wide educational programs on the topics of diversity, racism, sexism, feminism and hip hop culture. Additionally, he has co-taught courses on the intersections of performance arts, culture and leadership and assisted in the construction of an Urban Service Learning initiative at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ. In his free time Tony likes to travel (he loves urban city life), play his acoustic guitar (he is a terrible musician), and pretend he is a contestant on Iron Chef America (he is an awesome cook.)
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Tara Lunde (Living Learning Coordinator: Community Service and Learning)

Tara Lunde currently serves as the Assistant Director of Annual Giving at Seattle University. She holds an MEd in Student Development Administration from Seattle University with a focus on international education. Her graduate studies included a course in Upsalla, Sweden on Comparative Social and Educational Policy and a course in Italy on Leading with Emotional Intelligence. She also interned with the Education Abroad Office at Seattle University and attended the Forum on Education Abroad conference in 2009. Prior to her graduate work, Tara received her BA in International Political Economy with a minor in Spanish from the University of Puget Sound. During her junior year at Puget Sound, she studied abroad in LaPlata, Argentina. She has also done extensive independent travel throughout Europe and Latin America. Tara is looking forward to setting sail to explore the world with a ship full of dynamic and engaged faculty, staff and students!
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Michael Mariant (Videographer)

Michael "Photo Mike" is a freelance travel & documentary visual journalist based in California. After graduating from Brooks Institute of Photography, Michael spent several years working at various daily newspapers primarily as a photographer but also as a page designer and editor. For a decade now, Michael has been a contract photojournalist for The Associated Press as well as shooting travel/documentary editorial assignments and stories of social issues.
When digital was taking over the film world, Michael was hand-picked by ISE to overhaul the SAS photography program and facilitate the transition to digital. He currently is the consulting coordinator for the ISE Communication Department's Multimedia Lab as well as providing orientation for the photo and video staff each voyage. In addition to being the photographer for several reunion voyages, SAS special events and the Leadership Forums, Michael has sailed on the S03, S06 (partial) and A08 voyages.
While still taking on travel and Associated Press assignments, Michael now focuses on his cinematography projects, as well as travel workshops for Nikonians Academy and university lecture engagements so as to instruct others on the analytical, cultural and visual approaches to photography and cinematography. Traveling with Michael are his wife, Dawn, and their two daughters: Rachael (7-years-old) and Riley (5-years-old).
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Donna McNiel (Living Learning Coordinator: Religion / Spirituality)

Donna is the University Multifaith Chaplain at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California and an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of San Joaquin. She works with the various student religious and social justice organizations on campus and coordinates the annual Festival of Lights and Interfaith Baccalaureate services. She is also an anti-racism trainer for Pacific. She has led trips for college students and church youth groups to the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, and Mexico, as well as a number of domestic service trips. She completed a year-long internship at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland and has served on two national ecumenical committees of the Episcopal Church. She is currently a board member of the California Council of Churches and a regular at the Stockton Interfaith Clergy lunches. She earned her B.A. from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, a Master of Divinity from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and a Doctor of Ministry from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The best part of Donna’s job – and what she is most excited about on her first Semester at Sea voyage – is hanging out with students and talking about the stuff that matters most.
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Courtney Miller (AV Coordinator)

Courtney holds a B.A. in Cinema-Television and an MFA in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California. She spent two years as a Field Producer for Oprah’s Oxygen Television Network, where she produced short documentaries for their primetime news magazine show, including coverage of the Democratic National Convention, Emmys and Oscars. She has worked for audio engineer Tomlinson Holman, the “TH” of THX sound, for various networks as a freelance journalist, and as the former head of production for the USC Thornton School of Music, has produced hundreds of concerts throughout Southern California with world-renown artists including Yo Yo Ma and John Williams, in collaboration with Sony Classical, the Metropolitan Opera, Public Radio International and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She has further worked with the Recording Academy to grow the annual “GRAMMY Career Day,” has published stories, written, directed and scored films, and has lectured at Chapman University and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She is the youngest recipient to date of the USC President’s Award and is a founding member of the LA Center’s Young Professionals Council. An alumna of Semester at Sea, she has traveled to over 60 countries and will be embarking upon her 6th voyage. In addition to travel, she enjoys Scuba diving, playing percussion, and discussing 80s pop culture.
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Christopher Morris (Lifelong Learner Co-Coordinator)

Chris is a PhD candidate in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Colorado at Boulder with an interest in political, legal, and medical anthropology. His undergraduate and MA research endeavors took him to Germany (where he lived for two years as a foreign exchange student) and Tanzania. His current dissertation project concerns pharmaceutical bioprospecting and intellectual property in South Africa. Prior to graduate school, he worked for over two years on eco-tourist cruise ships operating in Southeast Alaska, Baja California, and Antarctica, earning a U.S. Coast Guard Captain’s License along the way. His work at sea afforded him the opportunity to facilitate the adventures of many “lifelong learners,” and he likes to think that his passion for teaching anthropology has equally facilitated many adventures of the mind among traditional and nontraditional students in the classroom. Although he considers himself a travel enthusiast who has had many journeys abroad, he has only been to one of the thirteen destinations the SAS ship will visit this fall. Chris is thrilled to be visiting so many unfamiliar places with equally enthusiastic explorers.
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Keri Oberly (Photographer)

Keri is a visual journalist specializing in documentary photo, video, multimedia, and travel storytelling. She is a graduate of the Brooks Institute of Photography’s Visual Journalism program and the University of Nevada, Reno, concentrating in Journalism. With over 30 countries under her belt, travel and humanitarian work are Keri’s passions. She has worked with various non-profits in South Central Los Angeles, Watts, and Tanzania, Africa. Keri recently co-directed a documentary about a group of individuals living openly with HIV/AIDS in rural Tanzania. A trailer to the film, Wazi, can be viewed at http://wazifilm.com. She is curious about new cultures, traditions, religions, and food, exploring new places, meeting people, and sharing their stories. This will be Keri’s second voyage with Semester at Sea; she sailed as a student in 2004. Keri’s work can be viewed at http://kerioberlyphotography.com, http://kerioberly.com/, and http://blog.kerioberly.com.
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Lucille Renwick (Communications Coordinator)

Lucille is president of Renwick Communications, an L.A.-based strategic communications consulting firm that specializes in K-16 education marketing and development. Lucille is a recent SAS staff alum; she sailed on the Summer 2009 voyage. She was recently a senior account executive with Laufer Green Isaac, an L.A.-based public relations firm. Lucille has more than 20 years of communications, publishing and journalism experience. She spent five years at Scholastic, Inc., where she worked as senior managing editor and executive editor, helping to launch an education-technology magazine for administrators and developing and editing stories for several magazines at the company. Prior to joining Scholastic, Lucille was director of the New York Annenberg Challenge, a nonprofit education organization that helped create and sustain small public schools in New York City. She spent 10 years as a journalist working for The Hartford (Conn.) Courant and the Los Angeles Times. Her work as a reporter took her to the Mississippi Delta, Haiti, and South Africa. While at the L.A. Times, Lucille was part of the 1998 and 1995 Pulitzer Prize winning teams that covered the North Hollywood shootout and the Northridge earthquake. Lucille earned a bachelor’s in American Studies from Wesleyan University and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, with a concentration in education policy. She is the mother of three children and enjoys running, dancing, and almost any outdoor activity. She is very much looking forward to returning to the MV Explorer, seeing more of the World, and meeting new students.
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Becca Rowland (Field Office Coordinator)

Becca Rowland holds a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Since university, she has spent ten years traveling the globe. Her love of ship life and travel began on the SS Universe Explorer where she spent five years traveling through Central America and Alaska. Then she continued her adventures on the Ocean Explorer I on a world voyage that visited all seven of the world's continents. She has also lived for a year in Japan, Ireland and most recently in New Zealand. This will be Becca's fifth Semester at Sea and she still cannot believe her luck!
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Maria Sakaria (Administrative Assistant)

Maria is currently the administrative assistant of AHEPA, a non-profit American Hellenic Educational Association in Washington, DC. Being trilingual, she is responsible for the organization’s international correspondence, networking and translation projects in addition to the day to day general duties of her work environment. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Romance Languages (Italian and Spanish literature) from University of Maryland. She completed her Masters studies in Applied Linguistics and ESL studies in Costa Rica, while teaching ESL to children and adult students of diverse backgrounds, as well as traveling all throughout Central and South America. She has done volunteer work protecting the national parks of Latin America, and has devoted her time to get to know the locals of each country, their traditions, culture, food and life style. Having traveled extensively for most of her life, new languages, different cultures and getting to know more countries are her biggest passion and motivation in life. Maria is very much looking forward to meeting the students, faculty and staff of this voyage and she is ready for the remarkable life lessons this experience has to offer!
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Jodi Schneiderman (Living Learning Coordinator: Career Development)

Jodi is currently a Career Counselor at University of Colorado at Boulder. Jodi has received two master's degrees: Community Counseling and Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Her past experience includes working as a Change Management Specialist for Harley-Davidson Motor Company and a Therapist for Third Way Center, a residential treatment center for at-risk youth. In her spare time, Jodi enjoys volleyball, snowboarding, reading, running and traveling. She has traveled to Europe and the UK, Australia, South America, and Central America; and, looks forward to seeing all the new and interesting places on this voyage! At the same time, she plans to work extremely hard to make it a positive experience for the students in both the cultural and career development aspects.
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Katie Taylor (Living Learning Coordinator: Health & Wellness)

Katie is currently finishing up her graduate degree in Student Development Administration at Seattle University with a focus on student conduct and alcohol and other drug education and will graduate in the Summer of 2010. During her time at Seattle U, she has participated in a marijuana cessation research study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and presented at a regional international education conference on addressing alcohol consumption among study abroad students. In the summer of 2009, she worked at a college in Thessaloniki, Greece creating a comprehensive alcohol education workshop for American students dinking in the Greek cultural context, and then travelled on to Uppsala, Sweden and attended a course on public policy and higher education. Prior to her graduate work, Katie attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington where she received her BA and then worked professionally both as a conference coordinator and a resident director of freshman halls. Katie is looking forward to getting better acquainted with the world and sharing the privilege with a ship-full of amazing people!
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Chris Tonozzi (Physician)

Dr. Tonozzi is a family doctor working in Glenwood Springs, CO. He earned his M.D. at University of Colorado School of Medicine and did his residency at the University Of Colorado Department Of Family Medicine. Prior to medical school, he travelled extensively in Africa and Latin America, leading him to practice medicine here in the US providing care to low-income and uninsured patients. He spent a year providing care in the jungle territory on the border of Mexico and Guatemala. He is fluent in Spanish and enjoys providing care in multi-cultural settings. He led his current practice through computerization of their medical records and continues to manage the electronic infrastructure necessary to take advantage of these records. He has a special interest in Travel Medicine, the practice of helping travelers prepare for health issues in exotic destinations. He also supports community groups providing outdoor emergency care in adventurous settings. When Dr. Tonozzi is not in the office you’ll find him on the ski slopes and rivers enjoying time with his family.
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Betty Waldron (Lifelong Learners Coordinator)

Betty and her family have sailed on many voyages since 1983 and it has always been a thrill to come back. Old friends-New friends. SAS has been a big part of their lives. She has sailed as both spouse and as staff. As the Lifelong Learners Coordinator she encourages all participants to welcome, get to know and enjoy the LLL’s (lifelong learners).
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Dave Weitz (Assistant IT Coordinator)

Dave is the Senior Manager for Enterprise Electronic Communications at The Boeing Company. He is responsible for applying computer technology and applications to the processes used to communicate to Boeing employees, public media, Boeing shareholders and the general public. His specific responsibilities include management of the Boeing public web site, www.boeing.com, and several top level internal Boeing web sites, news and information distribution.Dave started working for Boeing after earning a BS degree in mathematics from the University of Idaho in 1967. His 43 year Boeing career has been centered on Information Technology and its application to the Boeing business environment. His assignments have included management positions in IT Training and Development, nationwide marketing, business management, IT service sales, project management and web technology. He has published articles and presented to nationwide audiences on the subject of computer-based training, and was responsible for installing the Boeing Education Network. Dave spent two years on assignment in Canberra, Australia, and has experience in working the fields of banking, insurance, communications, and federal and local governments. He is looking forward to this voyage as an opportunity to establish new friendships, achieve a better understanding of the next generation workforce and increase his awareness of some of the world’s cultures and the people who populate them.
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Liz Zavodsky (Alumni and Development Coordinator)

Liz is excited to be sailing this voyage as the Alumni and Development Coordinator. She has had the honor of sailing two previous voyages and knows first hand what an incredible impact Semester at Sea has on the shipboard community and our world. Since sailing in 2004 she has been a volunteer part time recruiter for Semester at Sea and has been a part of the Alumni Association Board of Directors since sailing the summer voyage in 2008. Semester at Sea has been a very important piece of Liz’s life and she is committed to the program and its mission. Liz’s professional background is 11 years working in Higher Education where she was recently at The University of Arizona as the Coordinator of Sustainability Education for Residence Life. She has a BA in Human Communication from the University of Northern Colorado and a MA in Higher Education from The University of Denver. Liz enjoys many things including, travel, photography, reading, dancing, and spending time with her husband, friends, and family. She and her husband just returned to the United States after living in Edinburgh, Scotland for the past year.
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