Dr. Kenneth (Ken) Cushner—educator, prolific author, global adventurer, and six-time Semester at Sea faculty member—was presented with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Academy for Intercultural Research (IAIR) this summer. The honor, recognizing his decades of global work in intercultural scholarship and practice, was awarded at the 5th Biennial Joint Conference of IAIR and IACCP in Brisbane, Australia, June 28-July 1, 2025.
“This award is a nice validation that the work I’ve done over the years has been recognized and appreciated by many of the leaders in this field,” said Ken, who is also a past president and current Executive Director of IAIR. “It’s also been nice to know Semester at Sea has validated and appreciated this work over the years.”
For many in the wider SAS community, Ken’s strong influence is already well known. For nearly two decades, he has helped shape SAS’s Global Studies course, first sailing as the Director of Teachers at Sea in the summers of 2010 and 2011, and then as Intercultural Specialist and later Director of Global Studies across four additional voyages, spanning Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2022, and Spring 2024. He also currently serves on the SAS Board as an Advisory Committee Member. “Semester at Sea gives you four months to plant some seeds in the minds of our students,” Ken shared. “There is tremendous value in the transitions that occur both on and off the ship. It’s great to be able to witness these transformations.”
Dr. Mary Vogl, Chief Academic Officer for ISE/SAS, has witnessed Cushner’s influence firsthand. “Intercultural Communication has been an integral aspect of the Global Studies course on Semester at Sea, and our program has benefited enormously from Ken’s expertise in this area,” Mary said. “Not only has he taught multiple times on the ship, he’s also developed a handbook for post-port reflections that subsequent teams have adopted and adapted.”
A longtime presence in global education, Ken’s impact also spans continents and classrooms. Currently Executive Director of IAIR, and a Founding Fellow, past president, board member, and two-time IAIR conference host, he is also Professor Emeritus at Kent State University, where he served as professor, Associate Dean of Education, and Executive Director of International Affairs.
Throughout his career, Ken has helped shape how educators are trained to work in today’s multicultural world. He is the author or co-author of nine books and numerous journal articles on global education and intercultural competence, including the widely used textbook Human Diversity in Education: An Intercultural Approach, which is now in its 11th edition. The book builds upon an intercultural training framework Ken co-developed at the East-West Center, expanding it into practical strategies for educators facing diverse and international classrooms.
Decades ago, intercultural competence was not considered in teacher preparation programs. But Ken was already guiding future educators through real-world global experiences. He began traveling internationally with young students early in his teaching career. He twice served as director of the Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching (COST), helping undergraduate preservice teachers train abroad in up to 20 different countries. He also received two Fulbright awards to Poland and Sweden, has held visiting professorships in six nations, and led intercultural training efforts in conflict regions from rural Kenya to southeastern Turkey, working with environmentalists from Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria.
Ken’s commitment to real-world, community-driven global learning has also extended beyond the ship. A longtime supporter of the Orkeeswa School, a Maasai community school in northern Tanzania, he served on the school’s board from 2019-2024 and continues to offer professional development for its teachers. He is also a board member for Givat Haviva, the oldest organization in Israel devoted to shared society among Israeli Jews and Arabs.
Since retiring from Kent State in 2015, Cushner and his wife, Hyla Cushner—herself a long-time educator and former SAS instructional coordinator—have continued their global work in local schools near their home in Ohio. Known as the local “Global Grandparents,” they’ve spearheaded several outreach initiatives in local schools. Through the Cushners’ work, students in Ohio and elsewhere have followed SAS voyages, viewed videos from each country, connected with SAS voyagers and children abroad, and facilitated personal visits and collaborative writing projects with children in Tanzania.
Ken and Hyla have been traveling the world together since their undergraduate years. They will soon embark on a multigenerational trip to Hawaii with their children and grandchildren in July 2025. They also continue to volunteer at the Cleveland Zoo, where they especially enjoy working with elephants. “We are eager to remain connected with and continue to contribute to Semester at Sea for many years to come,” Ken shared. The couple hopes to join a portion of a future voyage.
Across decades and oceans, classrooms, and continents, Dr. Ken Cushner’s work has helped shape a more culturally aware, globally conscious generation of educators—and voyagers. As for the IAIR Lifetime Achievement award, the honor underscores the power of Ken’s career spent bridging worlds—between students and teachers as well as cultures and classrooms. “The ultimate goal of the Academy is to promote peace and prosperity through the betterment of human realities,” IAIR states. Ken Cushner’s life work—and his ongoing commitments to Semester at Sea and global education efforts—suggests he’s been doing exactly that all along.
