Whether contributing toward their major, minor, or lifelong passion, students selected from 77 courses offered on the Fall 2014 voyage to make every minute of their schedules count. The semester opened aboard the MV Explorer with classes as diverse as the students attending them. With concentrations in the arts, sciences, humanities, and business curriculums, the academic calendar responded to the needs of many students’ land based campuses.
As Academic Dean, David Breneman had the challenge of combining a compelling course list with meaningful tie-ins to the countries on the itinerary. “We looked at student needs similar to what’s done on every campus and put together courses that couldn’t be done the same way on a ship‚Ķ They needed to be taught differently,” said Breneman. Many subjects offered took on specialized subject matter that could be taught with a cross-cultural comparison highlighting the 16 upcoming port cities.
Kendra Hamblin, a math major at University of Colorado Bolder, followed her passion to add a class in “Trans-Atlantic Film as History” onto her schedule. “If I didn’t do math this would be another route I would pursue,” she said. Hamblin was relieved to find this class of interest would also count at her home university.
As a sociology and music major at The New School, Ryann Bieber has all her credits transferring to her land campus. Trying to connect the dots between her majors and a career path, she enrolled in an international marketing class aboard the ship. “I am interested in non-profit music event planning and thought this would be a way to learn more,” said Bieber. She hopes the learnings from this class will better prepare her professionally and connect marketing principles on a global scale.
After having his internship opportunity in Antarctica cancelled, Adam Field of Oregon State University had to find a new adventure. Field will spend the voyage concentrating on his recreation management minor, with three of his four courses applying to credits needed on his home campus. Taking a deeper look, even his World Geography course that seemed outside his normal academic box has relevance in his studies. “There is a tie in to recreation management‚ĶI’m choosing to apply it,” said Field. With a field lab coming up in Russia he is excited to see the connections between his classes and minors take place.
Heading toward the first port of Saint Petersburg, instructors prepare students to apply their curriculum throughout their explorations. Students absorb all they can about this first port so they can continue to compare along the voyage.
Photos by ISE photographer, Joshua Gates Weisberg
