Faculty & Staff

Dr. Anderson is a Geology Professor and the Winchester Distinguished Scholar at the University of Northern Colorado. His research focuses on how active lava flow surfaces are influenced by volcanic behavior. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed scientific articles, including two in Nature. He has studied active volcanoes in more than a dozen countries, and is funded by NASA to study lava flows on Mars and Venus. He has been interviewed by the BBC, the Discovery Channel, and the New York Times regarding his work on active volcanoes. Dr. Anderson received several awards as an educator, including the EPA’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Environmental Education. One of his greatest passions is teaching in field settings, and he has taught field courses for 7 different universities.

Carlee Arnett is from Colorado, which she left after high school in order to be an AFS exchange student to Germany. After college, Dr. Arnett worked for the Institute of International Education. In this job she became familiar with Semester at Sea. Currently, in addition to teaching at Davis, Dr. Arnett is part of two working groups based in Belgium. Dr. Arnett does not speak nor has she learned any of the languages we will encounter on the voyage, but she expects she will probably be able to locate some German speakers along the way.
Outside of the classroom, Dr. Arnett plays cello in the pit orchestra of the local musical theater. While on the voyage, she will be leaving behind a competitive dressage horse, so if there is a horse in any port on this voyage, she will find it!

Linda Austin is an award-winning editor and educator, schooled in instructional design and experienced in international teaching, online learning, journalism-curriculum and training development.
She taught on the Spring 2020 voyage, after which one student wrote:
“Professor Austin challenged us, she informed us, she cared about us, and most importantly, she prepared us to go back into the world with a new appreciation, discernment, and understanding of the role journalism plays in our daily lives.”
She was a Fulbright Scholar in Burma, Luce Scholar in Singapore, visiting professor in China, Fulbright Specialist in Romania and Nepal, and Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow in the U.S.
Before becoming an educator, she led three local newsrooms to seven national and 41 state awards.

Dr. Adina Batnitzky is a sociologist whose research and teaching have revolved around the intersections of gender, health and labor in a global/transnational context with a particular regional expertise and field experience in the Middle East/North Africa and Western Europe. Her past research has included work on Arab-American health disparities; women’s health and household labor in Morocco; the built environment and obesity in India; food insecurity among East African refugees in Southern California; and embodied labor in London’s globalized service sector. Building on her two years of Peace Corps service in Morocco, Adina remains committed to community service, working collaboratively with diverse community actors, as well as students from diverse backgrounds.

She began her career in advertising/publishing, later entering academics to combine practical, experience with theoretical applications in the classroom. She teaches several theory-based courses such as Media Studies, Media Effects and Political Communication and practical courses – Public Speaking, Advertising, and Research Methods. Dr. Brinson has always been drawn to international issues, her doctorate explored how images of Muslims in the media cultivate false perceptions, impacting Muslims’ self-esteem, identity, acculturation, and relationships with non-Muslims. She often travels internationally, but is most proud of her dedication to international non-profit organizations, and has spent quite a bit of time doing volunteer work internationally in India, Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize.

Brian is a former SAS student, and this is his second voyage as a faculty member. Off the ship, he teaches courses in public health, sport/performance psychology, coaching leadership, and health behavior. He uses a very involved approach to teaching, preferring stories, discussions, and activities for improved conceptual and applied knowledge.
His research interests center on children and exercise behavior. Motivation, social psychology, parental influences, and cultural factors are all key factors in this line of inquiry. Brian is also the Director of the CSU Youth Sport Camps, which focus on increasing and promoting physical activity among children. He enjoys forming relationships with children and families and influencing the future through healthy programming and outreach.

Dr. Colla is a Professor of Health Policy and Clinical Practice at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. An economist, her expertise lies in provider payment, health insurance markets, and insurance benefit design. Colla was recently Director of Health Analysis at the Congressional Budget Office, producing independent, non-partisan analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the U.S. Congress. Dr. Colla was previously a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, with placements in the House of Representatives and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. In 2020, Dr. Colla was selected as an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar by the National Academy of Medicine.

Lisa Daunhauer is an Associate Professor at Colorado State University (CSU) with a taste for adventure, a passion for research, and a love of caffeine. Lisa conducted research and intervention in Eastern European orphanages which fueled her career as a developmentalist and perhaps her taste for thick and chewy coffee. Thanks to this experience, Lisa loves the challenge of addressing intercultural perspectives. At CSU, she oversees an active federally-funded research program while also teaching and developing courses on pediatrics, lifespan development, health, and disability. She builds strong relationships with her students. When not at work, you can find her on a mountain bike or paddleboard. Lisa will be traveling with her equally adventurous kiddo, who sailed with her Spring 2019.

Fugan Dineen is an ethnomusicologist, musician, and Zen Buddhist priest/teacher. He has been offering various ethnomusicology courses at Boston College since 2015, where he is also a Master Musician in Residence. In addition, Fugan is a Lecturer in the Department of Music at Yale University and has taught at Wesleyan University and Berklee College of Music. Fugan’s primary research is on South Indian music with a focus on rhythm syllables. His secondary area of research is in Deaf Studies exploring Deaf innovations in Zen liturgy. In addition to teaching and performing konakkol and mṛdaṅgam (two Indian percussive arts), Fugan is a specialist in various musical traditions and has toured and recorded widely. Fugan was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone and Paraguay and loves to travel.

This is Dan’s third SAS voyage. He is a proud Chicano, the first of his family to complete HS and earn BA/Masters from UCB and PhD from UW-Madison. He spent twenty-five years in the international corporate world prior to college teaching. Dan is proud to be an entrepreneur and started three firms, the last focusing on sustainable energy and water practices. His primary teaching and research areas include International Business/Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainable Development. Dan retired last year after serving as a Fulbright Scholar in Madrid and is now a Professor Emeritus. Over the last twenty years he planned/led upwards of 200 field trips for students in more than twenty nations. He believes that the best learning experiences require academic studies that meet the real world.

Dr. Trevor G. Gates (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Colorado State University and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Trevor was a Fulbright Scholar to Vietnam during AY2022-2023. Trevor is a clinical social worker with expertise in affirming practice for LGBTQ+ individuals. Trevor is interested in global social work education and volunteerism in LGBTQ+ communities.

In all of Laurie Glover’s work, she thinks about humans’ relationships to place: how they make themselves at home, how they treat the habitats and homelands of others. This has led her to seek out unusual teaching assignments and to write across many genres. For example, after spending three years leading study abroad programs in Sydney, Australia, she completed a travel memoir, Travelling Alone in the Company of Others, and she is currently in the midst of finishing a book of poetry arising from a shipboard residency in the Arctic seas of Svalbard, halfway between Norway and the North Pole. Upon return from the Fall 2023 voyage, she will be taking up a part-time position in the Environment, Spirituality and Religion graduate program at the California Institute of Integrated Studies.

Katherine Grasso is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at DeSales University. She teaches a wide range of course, inlcuding gender communication, media effects, health communication, persuasion, and quantitative research methods. Her research explores young people’s safer sex communication and women’s sexual agency. She has led students on international travel to India, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam.

Shelley Haddock is a professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program and the Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State University (CSU). Dr. Haddock is a dedicated educator who cares deeply about students’ professional and personal growth. She is passionate about learning about other cultures and the promotion of social justice. She co-developed a the nationally recognized Campus Connections Youth Mentoring program and service-learning course at CSU. In the course, undergraduate students are paired in one-on-one mentoring relationships with youth who have experienced adversity. Dr. Haddock sailed on the Fall 2018 voyage, during which she served as the counselor on the ship. She also volunteers for Global Volunteers to support a mental health initiative in rural Tanzania.

Aaron J. Hahn Tapper, the Mae and Benjamin Swig Professor in Jewish Studies and the founding Director of the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, has been at USF since 2007. As a student and professor, he has lived and studied abroad in several places including Bir Zeit, Cairo, Fes, the Hague, Jerusalem, and Melbourne.

He has co-edited two volumes—Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities, with Reza Aslan (2011) and Social Justice and Israel/Palestine: Foundational and Contemporary Debates, with Mira Sucharov (2019)—and is the author of Judaisms: A Twenty-First-Century Introduction to Jews and Jewish Identities (2016). He is currently working on a book about Indigenous Peoples in Australia and the United States.

Dr. Laurel Hiebert is a biologist and marine scientist with a passion for teaching and research. She currently holds the position of research associate and lecturer at the University of California Santa Barbara, where her research focuses on regeneration in sea squirts. Laurel has also completed postdoctoral work in Brazil and France. As a faculty member for the Semester at Sea program, Laurel is excited to offer students unique and enriching international experiences both on land and at sea.

Mohammad Homayounvash is the founding director of the Institute for Interfaith
Dialogue and Education at Miami-Dade College and a lecturer at the School of
International & Public Affairs at Florida International University (FIU) and the Religious Studies Department at the University of Miami. He is the author of Iran and the Nuclear Question (Routledge,2017). Formerly, he has been a fellow at Hertog Global Strategy Initiative at Columbia University and a Nuclear History Research fellow for Wilson Center’s Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP) at Monash University in South Africa. He has previously taught as a visiting professor of international relations at Louisiana State University (LSU).

Scott is an Associate Professor of Archaeological Anthropology at a liberal arts college distinguished by its academic “block plan” – intensive 3.5-week courses with abundant experiential learning and field work opportunities. His teaching and research agenda focus on applications of archaeology to contemporary socio-environmental problems such as human vulnerability to climate change and sustainability.

Scott was a staff member with Semester at Sea during three voyages in the 1980s. This led directly to his decision to become a US Peace Corps volunteer. His careers included: Executive Director of a non-profit outdoor education center, Chief Operating Officer of a purified drinking water business, VP of Product Design at an internet startup, and leading a staff of backpacking guides.

Jeff Leopold is Assistant Professor at UVA McIntire School of Commerce. He has taught several business courses and all years of undergraduate students. He served as a career advisor at UVA Darden. Jeff is an engaged and committed teacher who is interested in spending time with students to discuss the course, careers, and life.
Before teaching, Jeff pursued a multi-decade business career in strategy, operations, marketing, and consulting. He brings relevant stories and lessons learned into the classroom. Jeff received his BSE from Wharton at UPenn and his MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern.
Jeff has lived and conducted business abroad and traveled extensively. He enjoys exploration, adventure, and being active. He is excited to do these things with the students and staculty on the voyage!

Alex Nalbach is an independent scholar with a Ph.D. in World and European History from the University of Chicago. He is currently completing a World History textbook, Discovering the World: Inquiries into the Global Past, an active-learning resource that encourages comparative and connective investigations into environmental and demographic, political and military, economic and technological, cultural and gendered dimensions of the human past. Alex draws on decades of theatrical experience, world travel, and classroom teaching to craft dynamic, engaging, and informative lectures for academic and commercial travelers. He was privileged to have taught with Semester at Sea in Summer 2009, Spring 2012, Fall 2014, and Spring 2018. He currently resides in Vermont with husband Marc and dog Penny.

Alex Reczkowski brings to our ship over twenty years of experience in public and academic libraries. In 2022-2023, he served as the president of CW MARS, a network of 150+ libraries in Central and Western Massachusetts. He also serves on the Community Advisory Board for both the Liberal Arts program of Berkshire Community College and Barrington Stage Company. Aside from his career in libraries, Alex is active in community and international service, including having served as a Rotary Club president. His work with Rotary has taken him to Szeged, Hungary, where he served as an ambassadorial scholar, and to Bor, Serbia, for a global grant project bringing equipment, supplies, and curricula to preschools. During tax season, he keeps busy with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

Katrina Savitskie (Ph.D. Michigan State University) was most recently a Fellow in the Supply Chain Management Center of Excellence at the University of West Florida. Her research focuses on the strategic role of information and performance metrics in the supply chain. Past projects examined service operations performance, information technology processes, Indian supply chain management practices, food truck marketing, and corporate social responsibility. Consulting efforts addressed operational performance assessment, distribution network evaluations, and transportation cost analysis. Having traveled to over 80 countries to date, Dr. Savitskie looks forward to sharing her insights into the countries she’s visited and learning about new places along with her students.

Avi Spiegel is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of International Relations Graduate Programs at the University of San Diego. He was a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a Fulbright Scholar and Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. His first book, Young Islam: The New Politics of Religion in Morocco and the Arab World (Princeton University Press), uncovers the rivalries that are redefining the next generation of political Islam, and received book awards from the Washington Post, the International Studies Association, and the American Political Science Association. Spiegel is passionate about teaching, dedicated to student success, and committed to building a vibrant and inclusive community in every classroom.

José Luis Suárez-García, Professor of Spanish Literature and Culture at Colorado State U. He has published several articles, editions, and books on Spanish Golden Age theatre, literatures, and cultures. He has been the recipient of major grants for teaching and learning program redesign; he has also worked on different areas of learning analytics to promote student inclusion and success. Professor Suárez-García has worked with education abroad directing programs and traveling with students in Spain, Morocco, and Latin America most of his academic career. He sailed as CSU Global Scholar (Semester at Sea) in Fall 2019 and 2023. His teaching (Honors Program, and Spanish seminars) regularly focuses on culture with strong components on human rights: human trafficking in Spain, minority groups.

Cynthia Vannucci is an enthusiastic supporter of the hospitality, convention, and tourism industry. She worked for 20 years in the hospitality industry, working primarily in the Southwestern portion of the US before entering academia.

She is a recipient of the Life Time Achievement Award from Professional Convention Management Association, the Meeting Industry Council Leadership Award, Educator of the Year Award and holds a Level II Sommelier Certification.

Cynthia has flunked retirement! Her third act now includes service as a Certified Career Coach, Job Coach with the State of Colorado for the Intellectually Developmental Disabled, and she is certified to teach English as a Second Language (ESL), where she taught ESL in Montefiascone, Italy in Fall 2022.

Marc Vincent was born and raised in Paris, France and moved to the Philadelphia area as a boy. After completing his education, he was on the faculty at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio (near Cleveland), where he taught art and architectural history and was the co-director of the “Seminar in Europe”, a full-semester program of study and travel in Europe. Marc has sailed on three previous Semester at Sea voyages, and his class in Fall 2023 will focus on architecture and urban planning. Now living in Shelburne, Vermont (near Burlington), Marc is a mentor at Shelburne Community School and is a guide at the Shelburne Museum. He also serves on the town’s Historic Preservation and Design Review Commission, and regularly writes book reviews for the “Shelburne News.”

Marc Zimmer has a passion for bioluminescent organisms. He has written eight books and published over 65 research papers about computational chemistry and bioluminescence in fireflies and jellyfish. He was named the Connecticut Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and named one of “Thirteen of the best college professors in the country” in the Huffington Post. He has published articles on science and medicine for the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune, and has been interviewed and quoted in The Economist, Science and Nature. In 2008 Marc was a consultant for the Chemistry Nobel Prize, and he and his wife attended the award ceremony in Stockholm. This will be his 4th SAS voyage. He and his wife Dianne can’t wait to rejoin the community on board.

Asa Bailey serves as the Associate Director of Residence Life and a Residence Director at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. She moved to Nashville from her hometown, Houston, Texas, in 2020. Asa has experience in Higher-Ed through her previous work in career development, residence life, intercultural affairs, and university event planning. Recently she obtained her Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Lipscomb and has a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Pepperdine University. Asa is grateful for the ways she gets to champion students’ well-being daily and create inclusive, safe, and joy-filled spaces for those around her.

Isobel’s love for exploring new countries, meeting new people and learning about other cultures led her to pursue a career in international education as a music instructor and director. Influenced by her experience growing up in Southeast Asia during her father’s career in the U.S. State Department, Isobel has continued her travels, teaching in different international baccalaureate schools in both Europe and China.

After receiving her DMA at UNCG-Greensboro, she served as an adjunct professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and an assistant professor at St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, NC and before moving into international music education. As an alumni of the Semester at Sea 2020 Voyage, Isobel is very excited to be joining this Fall 2023 Voyage and learning alongside other Staculty.

Erin Bevan is a Family Nurse Practitioner who has been working in healthcare for the past 20 years. She first worked as a registered nurse in critical care at Oregon Health & Science University, and then as a nurse practitioner in rural Montana and the Alaskan Bush. She works in both the primary and emergency setting, and enjoys the diversity she sees in the rural area. Erin is originally from Portland, OR, but currently lives in West Yellowstone, MT. When Erin isn’t working or driving her kids to activities, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, welcoming exchange students into her home, and watching all the wildlife that visits her property. Erin is thrilled to join the SAS voyage and will be traveling with her husband, Mike, and their two kids, Liam (14) and Maeve (11).

Debbie spent 26 years at Oregon State University. As Director of Student Services and Head Advisor she led student recruitment, orientation, advising, scholarships/fellowships, International exchanges, transfer articulations, student clubs, academic standing, and graduation audits.
Debbie has a passion for education and empowering others to achieve their goals and is successful in being a collaborative, inclusive and supportive team member.
Debbie ran a capital campaign to build an advocacy center for the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence, Corvallis, Oregon. In Colorado, she created Women Investing in Strategies for Health, a women’s giving circle with UCHealth. She’s a past board chair for Project Self-Sufficiency, and currently serves on the board of the Boys and Girls Clubs.

Courtenay Biser-Suárez grew up in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During her junior year of college she studied abroad in Granada, Spain where she met her future husband. She fell in love with the language and culture and upon graduation decided to further her education in Spanish by earning a Master’s Degree at the University of Illinois where she also became certified to teach Spanish. Upon receiving her degree she and her husband moved to El Paso, Texas where she taught Spanish to Heritage Speakers of Spanish at the High School level and their first child was born. Colorado called so they moved to Fort Collins where her second child was born and where she has been teaching Spanish at Colorado State University for twenty-five years. The family spends most vacation time in Granada, Spain.

Matt (“Dr Matt”) was born and raised in Wisconsin, now happy to be part owner of the Green Bay Packers. He went to the University of Wisconsin for undergrad, Loyola University Chicago for Medical School and the Medical College of Wisconsin for Emergency Medicine Training. He has worked in Wisconsin all his career, other than brief work with Holland America Cruise Lines and in the Caribbean. He enjoys all aspects of Emergency Medicine, taking care of all ages, illnesses and injures. He is married, his wife Monica being a Semester at Sea alumni. He has two children. In his spare time he enjoys Wisconsin sports, being a chauffeur to children’s activities, and being outdoors.

Brooke Dolin is research consultant at Kula No Nā Poʻe Hawai’i, working to advance health equity for Native Hawaiians by utilizing community based participatory research to approach artificial intelligence and develop a machine learning model as part the AIM-AHEAD grant.

Before attending graduate school, Brooke spent 12-years as a successful New York City-based Disc Jockey (DJ) for clubs and events worldwide. Her career highlights include DJ residencies in Tokyo, Japan, Florence, Italy, 1 Oak, The Box NYC, and opening for Shakira at Madison Square Garden.

Brooke enjoys being outside, surfing, any ocean related activity, exercising, reading, meditating, learning new things/skills, rap, live music and good DJs.

Georganne Eibe is excited to work as a Medical Swing for her first Semester at Sea voyage. She has more than 40 years experience working in hospital and doctors office settings as a registrar in Outpatient Center and Emergency, patient liaison coordinating with insurance companies on the patient’s and their family’s behalf, supervising customer service staff, and organizing meetings, etc., with other departments within the hospital system.

Jesse is a higher education strategy consultant with Eduvantis, LLC., working with universities across the country to develop effective growth strategies and identify new opportunities for sustained success in the ever-disrupted landscape of higher education. He is also a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois. Jesse sailed with Semester at Sea on the Spring 2015 voyage along with his wife Gabrielle.

Gabrielle Golenberg, PhD is excited to be sailing as the Counselor on the Fall 2023 voyage. She is a psychologist with experience working in outpatient, college counseling, and partial hospitalization/ intensive outpatient levels of care. She sailed on the Spring 2015 voyage and can’t wait to sail again.

Addy is a professional videographer and photographer based in Raleigh, NC. He has a background in sports, travel and doc-style videography, as well as a strong passion for analog photography. He spends his summers in the Caribbean creating content for Broadreach, a scuba diving and sailing company, and is happiest in, on, under and around the water. He sailed previously as the videographer for the Spring 23 Semester, and jumped at the opportunity to extend his contract into the fall.

Louise Hudson is a freelance journalist living in Portugal during summer and Canada in winter. She has collaborated with husband and travel companion, Dr Simon Hudson on many of his books and research projects. Originally trained in journalism in England, she writes about travel and tourism for many publications including Ski Canada magazine, Sun Peaks Independent News, Style Altitude mag, Tomorrow Algarve, her own blog (One, Two, Ski!) and in the past LA Times, Dallas Morning News, Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, Canada’s Globe and Mail, Calgary Herald, MORE magazine, SNOW mag and many more. She’s a CSIA ski instructor, a ski guide at Sun Peaks, BC, Canada, and also runs a 200-member padel tennis club in the Algarve. She regularly volunteers to help run events at both destinations.

Dr Simon Hudson is a tourism and hospitality professor at the University of South Carolina (now part-time and virtual living in Portugal). Prior to South Carolina, he held full-time academic positions at universities in Canada and England, has worked as a visiting professor in Australia, Austria, Fiji, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland, and has taught three times on Semester at Sea. Simon has written 12 books on subjects such as tourism marketing, customer service, golf tourism, the international ski industry, sports and adventure tourism, and COVID-19 and travel.

Lila serves as the Senior Business Officer at USC Institute for Creative Technologies, a research institute specializing in immersive technology, simulation and artificial intelligence. She has over 20 years of experience working in higher education in a variety of leadership and management roles, and is committed to ethics, cultural diversity and cross-functional relationships. Sailing as the companion of Julie Hurst, Assistant Executive Dean (her favorite aunt), she has previously sailed a partial voyage in Summer 2014 and the 2006 Alumni voyage.

Sean will be joining his wife and daughter on his first voyage on Semester at Sea and is looking forward to co-leading the dependent children aboard. He has been an elementary physical education teacher for the past 11 years, a cooperating teacher for UNH students since 2014 and is currently the K-12 department head for PE & Health in his home district. Sean spends a lot of time in his community leading learn-to-bike programs, summer mountain bike camps and coaching the high school cycling team.

Along with personal trips to Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Sean has been lucky enough to be part of a UNH teacher education course; traveling to Belize, visiting remote schools and villages, along with the opportunity to co-lead a school trip to Tanzania.

As a Fall 2009 alumni, Allie McGrimley has dreamt of returning to work for Semester at Sea. Allie’s semester abroad instilled in her a newfound appreciation for learning and inspired her to switch her college major to history education. Allie works as a high school history, global studies, and service learning teacher in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Additionally, she is a Cooperating Teacher for graduate students in the M.Ed. program at the University of New Hampshire.
Allie has led and chaperoned a variety of student trips, including Tanzania, Haiti, Belize, and Washington D.C. She hopes these real world opportunities continue to broaden her students’ global perspectives. Allie is thrilled to sail again and serve as one of the Global Studies Instructional Coordinators for the FA23 voyage.

Andrea is currently the Apartment Complex Coordinator for Housing and Residence Life at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. She recently served as the Interim Director of Student Conduct at WMU. Other previous experience includes being a Residence Hall Director and a student conduct Hearing Officer, as well as instructing a First Year Experience class, all at WMU. Her graduate research focused on organizational training and development for student conduct professionals.

Andrea is originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan. She resides in Kalamazoo with her cat Maisy. She believes in finding adventures in all of life’s moments – big and small.

Connor became interested in working in higher education as an undergraduate student. He complained to the Dean of Students about the transparent shower curtains that had been installed in the residence hall bathrooms. In that conversation the Dean suggested that Connor might enjoy a career in student affairs and the idea was planted (and the shower curtains were replaced).
Connor worked mainly at small arts colleges before deciding to take a year off to travel, but ended up working onboard cruise ships for four years instead. He was able to travel extensively around Europe, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. He was also able to travel alone to India and Japan.
After some pandemic-induced time off, Connor is excited to join Semester at Sea and bring his career paths together.

Stephen was born in the State of Washington, living in the City of Seattle near Lake Washington (29 miles circumference) enjoying the views of Mt. Rainier. Apart from school he grew up swimming, playing ping pong/tennis, basketball and skiing. He stayed in the city to attend the University of Washington before moving to the greater Los Angeles area to attend graduate school.

Once finishing graduate school, Stephen stayed on the west coast, fortunately developing his career as Psychologist by working in varied settings & 4 universities. At CSU, he is senior staff counselor providing mental health counseling: individual, crisis & group counseling and outreach to diverse and marginalized students.

Stephen delights in his opportunity to join this epic Fall 2023 Voyage with y’all.

Dr. Cheryl Pence is excited to be the Care Team Coordinator for her first Semester at Sea voyage, working closely with Student Life, Medical, Academic Affairs, and Voyage Leadership teams to support student well-being. Her preferred way to travel the globe is by ship; she has taken more than 20 cruises and spent 11 years in the U.S. Navy, almost 4 of them at sea as a naval officer on ships. At WKU, she served 7 years as full-time graduate counseling faculty and is now the Project Director for a large federal grant. Cheryl is a Licensed Professional Counselor and approved clinical supervisor in Arizona and Kentucky (LPC, LPCC-S), National Certified Counselor (NCC), and has counseled in a variety of areas including hospice, crisis, traumatic grief, career, wellness, and refugee services.

Valerie is a digital media storyteller and entrepreneur. She first sailed with Semester at Sea as a student in the Fall of 2014 as a Presidential Scholar and has dedicated her life to telling stories that help students get excited about the world at large.

She’s spent much of her career at TED on the TED-Ed team, helping students and educators in over 100 countries share their best ideas. She is also the co-founder of two educational programs: “Post Pigeon EDU” and “The Great Untold EDU,” launching the latter during her yearlong van-life journey driving from the US to South America, bringing classrooms along with her virtually. Her goal is to build educational experiences that inspire people to explore the world in all sorts of ways–cultivating curiosity, empowerment, and connection.

Though she is always keen to explore the world, Olivia cherishes her family, her home state of Colorado, and her dogs. She loves to discuss international policy, conflict, and new workout routines. She enjoys playing volleyball, skiing, hiking, reading, the color green, going for coffee with friends, and walking her dogs! Olivia is overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to sail again. Having sailed as a first-year university student in Spring 2017 and in the field office in Spring 2023 she recognizes the value of the experience for young learners.

Amy Walenga is a board certified nurse practitioner with clinical experience in primary care and reproductive health care. Amy served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay 1993-1995. She worked with Doctors Without Borders in Brazil in 1996 and then in Zambia in 2000. She loves the international community she serves as a primary care provider on cape cod, speaking Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish, and every day learning new words and phrases!

Jericho (she/her) sailed in the Spring 2017 working the Field Office and is excited to return to what she’d say is the best job on the ship, but she may be a bit biased. Jericho has worked in International Education since 2013 designing and leading experiential learning programs as well as living on-site with students in various countries. Jericho is originally from Minnesota but currently calls Seattle home.

I spent the first half of my life growing up in the Bay Area and then attended college in Los Angeles. Since then, I lived in Japan and taught English, Maryland for graduate school, and have called Colorado home since 2004. I began my student affairs career as a Residential Life Coordinator (coming back to my roots as an RD on the voyage!) and then pursued my Ph.D. in Higher Education and Student Affairs Leadership. After 12 years of administrative experience in a variety of student affairs areas, I transitioned to faculty life and currently serve as an Associate Professor in the Department of Leadership, Research, and Foundations at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. I am very excited to journey along with students as they develop their global perspective on Semester at Sea!!!

Dianne was born and raised in South Africa, and despite having spent her adult life in the US she still has the accent to prove it! Most of Dianne’s professional career has been in elementary education in Connecticut as a classroom teacher and tutor. She has been fortunate to spend numerous sabbaticals with her husband, Marc, in Heidelberg, Germany and Cape Town (South Africa). This will be their fourth voyage on Semester at Sea, but the first one without children, a bittersweet milestone.