For Sarah Olson, global travel – and a deep appreciation for the cultural perspective, community, conversation, and global impact that it brings – runs incredibly deep, not only in her storied history with the Semester at Sea program but also in her career path and in her family roots. Having recently returned from a family cruise to Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom to celebrate her mother’s 70th birthday, Sarah has been traveling most of her life. Norway marked the 45th country Sarah has visited!
Sarah grew up having a strong affinity for making international friendships and pursuing global travel opportunities. Her grandparents hosted international students and international foster children, and Sarah recalls many of her closest friends were of international origin. She was a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in her senior year of high school in Bolivia. She studied abroad as a junior in college through the Gonzaga University in Florence program for a year. Sarah’s grandmother sailed on Semester at Sea on a 1990s enrichment voyage, and Sarah’s mother served as the Dean of Students in Spring 2007, with Sarah’s brother joining along as a student. In Summer 2011 Sarah’s mother sailed again as Dean of Students, and her brother sailed again, this time as staff. On that voyage, Sarah was able to visit her mother and brother on the ship.
Sarah also worked at the University of Virginia when Semester at Sea was academically partnered with the program at the time, so Sarah knew faculty and staff as well as home office staff from across many years and many voyages. In Fall 2013, Sarah was able to make her first official Semester at Sea voyage while serving as a Resident Director. She is still in touch with her student life team from that voyage and is still “very close” with the group. “We just clicked,” Sarah said. “We had an awesome experience together, and I want to support that. I formed those important bonds with colleagues, and SAS offers such an important opportunity to develop.” In 2015, Sarah was able to sail again, this time with her mother, who served as Executive Dean.
Sarah has also dedicated her career to global travel-related work. She worked for Colorado State University in the Office of International Programs in Partnerships for almost seven years, and she started in her position there as the International Partnerships Coordinator just as Semester at Sea became academic partners with the university. She left CSU in 2022 as the Manager for International Partnerships and Faculty Global Engagement.
Recently, Sarah transitioned from a position as the Director of Global Partnerships at North Carolina State University to a new role in May at the University of California, Davis, where she is leading faculty and staff in their global endeavors as their Director of Global Partnerships. She was also awarded an International Education Administrator Fulbright award for Germany in recent years. In the years since her last voyage, Sarah has also been active in the Faculty and Staff Council and attended various alumni events.
With Sarah’s obvious long-standing ties to the SAS organization, it has also become important to her to give to the organization that has meant so much to her and her family, and she does so as a monthly donor. “This program has been so impactful, not only to me and my family, but I also see the transformation of the people who go on it, particularly the students who go on it,” Sarah said. “The continuation of this program is going to have benefits for years and years to come–just to be able to have this opportunity to be transformed by this type of program. To me, it’s one of the most unique and interesting study abroad programs out there, and if I can support it with a monthly donation, I want to do that as long as I’m able.”
Sarah gives her monthly funds to the Annual Fund, which is an open fund that can meet the ongoing needs of the program, whatever that may be for a given voyage. “What I want to see most of all is the continuation of the voyage for many, many years to come, and the annual fund is a resource where the funds that I can give can go where they’re needed most, and I recognize that might shift,” Sarah said. “I want Semester at Sea to be able to determine where my dollars can make the most impact for the continuation of the program in the long run.”
Even with all of Sarah’s ties to global travel and the many destinations she’s seen along the journey, she affirms that, on Semester at Sea, the ship was her favorite and most impactful experience. “I loved being with that community of fellow-minded, curious, adventurous, flexible, interesting people,” she said. “As much as I loved traveling, the relationships that you form on Semester at Sea, and the openness of the people on board – that’s where you get the most robust conversations, and you learn and grow through this experience together. I learned so much and got so much from hearing about the experiences of my fellow voyagers, and that’s so hard to recreate anywhere else. I’m always chasing that: trying to find communities like I found on Semester at Sea.”
To set up a monthly or one-time gift to Semester at Sea, please see https://www.semesteratsea.org/giving/donate/
