Semester after semester, students walk away from their voyage forever changed; changed on how they see the world, how they prioritize and view their education, and ideas of how to engage in the world to make a positive impact. Because of this, it is not uncommon for Semester at Sea to welcome repeat voyagers, where many who once sailed as students later return to the program as voyage faculty, staff, or lifelong learners.
One return voyager and professor from the Spring 2015 voyage put a unique twist on the typical repeat voyager narrative. Caleb Everett, an anthropology professor at the University of Miami and a recently named Carnegie Fellow, sailed with Semester at Sea first as a dependent, then as a student, and finally as a faculty member.
Caleb first sailed with Semester at Sea in the fall of 1992 as a dependent child when his father was a professor. He went on to sail in 1995 as an undergraduate student, beginning his first semester of college on a shipboard campus. Loving his experiences, Caleb says, “I always had this idea in the back of my mind that if I became a tenured professor, I would head back on [the ship] with my wife and son.”
And so he did. With his wife Jamie and son Jude in tow, Caleb came aboard the MV Explorer as a professor of three courses: Intro to Anthropology; Sex, Gender, and Culture; and Languages of the World.
Caleb found that teaching on a shipboard campus versus a land campus is an experience in and of itself. “Campus wise, the coolest difference is the social integration with your students and other faculty,” he notes. “At the end of the voyage you’re left with a tighter bond with many of your students and fellow faculty than you would ever develop over one semester on a land campus.”
Outside of the classroom, Caleb and his family explored the globe together, embarking on varied experiences in each new port. From visiting Angkor Wat, to riding a helicopter around Cape Town, he and his family were able to share once-in-a-lifetime moments with one another.
“I was going through pictures the other day, and it was incredible to see how many places Jude was on my shoulders,” said Caleb. “In front of pagodas in Burma, in front of the cityscape of Hong Kong, on Table Mountain in Cape Town. It was such a privilege to have shared those moments with him and Jamie.”
Individually, Caleb is no rookie when it comes to international travel; he has lived abroad for almost half of his life. Now as a professor of social sciences, he recognizes the importance of comparative education.
“A comparative global education can play a pivotal and substantive role in one’s development as a global citizen, but also in one’s development as a scholar. I think many undergrad and grad-school curricula would benefit in numerous ways from a clearer integration of cross-cultural studies.”
Now that the voyage has ended, Caleb will return to the University of Miami in the fall to resume teaching anthropology class. His Carnegie Fellow award, a competitive grant awarded to outstanding scholars in the social sciences and humanities to support their research, will lead him to continue documenting cases of endangered languages in Amazonia, Australia, and New Guinea.
