Faculty & Staff

Dr. Tamika Baldwin-Clark is currently an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Prairie View A&M University. She has studied and worked in the field of social work, both internationally and domestically, for over a decade, and previously taught graduate courses online through the University of Nevada-Reno. Some of her other positions include being a foster care worker in Detroit, a therapist at Baylor College of Medicine, a service coordinator at Texas Children’s Hospital, a U.S. Census Bureau Enumerator, and a care manager in London, UK. Dr. Clark is a licensed clinical social worker supervisor as well as a licensed chemical dependency counselor. While her specialization is gerontology, she also has practiced in the areas of child welfare, substance use, and mental health.

Dr. Berk is a Clinical Professor of Management in the Knauss School of Business at the University of San Diego. After a corporate career, Abby joined academia to study how business can have a positive impact on society with a focus on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate business students about finding and creating socially responsible businesses. At USD, Abby has been recognized with awards for exceptional teaching and service to the university and community. Abby was fortunate to teach on two prior SAS voyages, Summer 2014 and Fall 2017, with her family and looks forward to joining the Fall 2024 SAS community.

Born in Mexico City. Raised in Chicago. Mother of a young man. Earned her Bachelorette’s Degree of International Studies and Spanish, minor in French, Certificate in Latin American Studies, her Master’s Degree of Library and Information Science, and is earning a Ph.D. in Education and Human Resource Studies, Specialization in Organizational Learning, Performance, and Change. Interim Head of Student Success, Librarian, Associate Professor at CSU Libraries. Critical, Transnational, and Intersectional Feminist Thought has been a life-long learning pursuit that has steadily influenced and shaped the way she engages in the workplace, approaches cultural change and leadership, and makes sense of her experiences as an aspiring Latine scholar in international librarianship.

Mark Brill is a Semester at Sea alum, having taught on the Spring 2016 Voyage. He is from Mexico City where he grew up, and still considers home. He earned his BA from Oberlin College, his Masters Degree from Tulane University, and his PhD from ther University of California-Davis. He is currently Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Texas-San Antonio. He specializes in the Music of Latin America and Film Music, and has published several books and articles in these fields, inlcuding the textbook Music of Latin America and the Caribbean. He is also an avid stamp collector.

Lori Catalano is an Associate Professor in Landscape Architecture at Colorado State University. As a teacher and licensed landscape architect, she fosters an environment that inspires students to think critically and creatively about the world around them by making complex concepts relevant to the student’s individual experiences. Prior to teaching, she worked for nationally recognized landscape architecture firms designing parks, urban plazas, and college campuses. Her career has been guided by the desire to create a more sustainable and ethical world that is beautiful. She is an avid traveler, runner and artist, and is incredibly grateful to participate in this amazing adventure.

Dr. Victor Evans is an author, journalist and documentarian. He has been teaching in higher education for over 24 years. Before teaching, Dr. Evans was an entertainment journalist, working with many organizations in both New York and Los Angeles, including Entertainment Weekly, People, MTV, Guest Informant, BET and CNN. Dr. Evans is a documentary filmmaker and the author of the LGBTQ middle-grade Evan Sinclair Mysteries series, and he co-wrote the sci-fi space opera trilogy Luminous Void. To learn more about him and his work, visit https://victordevans.com.

Guanlin Gao is an Associate Professor of Economics at Chaminade University of Honolulu and the inaugural Director of the Economic Education Center for Excellence, whose mission is to advance prosperity and economic justice in Hawai‘i and the US-affiliated Pacific through integrated economic education, training, and community-based research. Dr. Gao’s research focuses on building resilience and vital equity in underserved populations and communities. Her current educational endeavor involves incorporating culturally appropriate content for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders in economics education, as well as providing accessible, sustainable professional development training for K-12 educators in Hawai’i. Dr. Gao has received multiple awards for teaching, research, and student mentoring.

Dr. Dulce María Gray comes from a long line of immigrants who have moved widely in the world—and that’s probably why she has such an urgent sense of wanderlust, and why a SAS voyage is thrilling to her: she gets to teach, to learn, and to experience traveling with people who share her passions. Dr. Gray has taught undergraduate and graduate level courses at universities in New York City, Indiana, Virginia, and currently in California’s Silicon Valley where she teaches in face-to-face and online modes. Being a global citizen, she believes, enriches her personal and professional life, focuses her on being empathic and socially conscious, and allows her to be enormously grateful for the privilege of being able to move about the world.

Sarah Gray loves her job as a Professor of Environmental and Ocean Sciences at the Univ. of San Diego where she teaches courses in geological oceanography, paleoclimatology, and coral reefs and climate change. She enjoys engaging students in hands-on field experiences, such as oceanographic research cruises and field trips to the coast and deserts. Her research examines human impacts in coastal environments, marine sedimentation, the geology of coral reefs, and past environmental change. She has conducted field research around the world including remote tropical islands of the Pacific, Caribbean, offshore San Diego, and Antarctica. Her interest in cultural exploration was shaped when she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Kenya, back in the days before cell phones.

Stephanie is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Alberta, where her research and teaching focus on how ocean ecosystems are changing and what it means for people. Stephanie is interested in questions like: Can coral restoration save reefs? How are ocean fish and fisheries adapting to climate change? and When is eating an invasive species a good idea? Her research has taken her on thousands of scuba dives around the world and even led to close encounters with toothy critters. Previously Stephanie was a Banting Fellow at Stanford University and a David H. Smith Conservation Fellow at Oregon State University. This is Stephanie’s second SAS voyage and she is excited to sail again, this time with her husband (whom she met on SAS Spring ’16) and toddler son.

Jonathan is a leadership educator and entrepreneur. He began his career in Student Affairs by focusing on student leadership training and development. Jonathan is the Executive Director of Leadership Trainer, a nonprofit specializing in trainer preparation. He has served as an Assistant Teaching Professor and Program Director of the Professional Leadership Studies program at the University of Rhode Island.

Jonathan has a PhD in Leadership from Fielding Graduate University. He has facilitated hundreds of leadership workshops, trainings, retreats, courses, and conference presentations to 1,000s of participants across 5 continents and is the award-winning author of Preparing Leadership Educators. He coaches, consults, teaches, trains, and writes about leadership and training/facilitation.

Dr. Stephen Lloyd-Moffett is Professor of Religious Studies at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. After college, he received a Watson Fellowship to travel around the world by living in monasteries, seeking to understand the happiness of monks. He then went to work for The Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm. For a year, he journeyed from Canada to Tierra del Feugo in an old Toyota Landcruiser. Later, he was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to Greece. After receiving his PhD in Comparative Religion, his research has been on the spirituality life of labor leader Cesar Chavez, religion in contemporary Greece, the rise of monasticism in the Christian East and India, the neuroscience behind spiritual experiences, and the spirituality of wine.

Dr. Kelly McKenna is an associate professor in the Adult Education & Training Graduate Program in the School of Education at Colorado State University. She completed her Ph.D. in Educational Technology and earned a master’s degree in Education and Human Resource Studies. Dr. McKenna’s teaching experience includes face-to-face, hybrid, and online instruction. Her scholarship focuses on adult and higher distance education, with research objectives aimed to support learners in their educational and occupational endeavors by creating optimal learning environments and facilitating successful student experiences.
Dr. McKenna is excited to introduce her daughter Maren (3) to the transformational experience of Semester at Sea.

Dr. Marek Payerhin is professor emeritus of political science and international relations at University of Lynchburg, after his early retirement in 2023 to pursue full time research, writing, and educational adventures. His main interests in international relations and comparative politics are social movements, terrorism, European and global politics, environmentalism, democratization, and the role of music in social mobilization. He authored “Nordic, Central, and Southeastern Europe” (Rowman & Littlefield 2017) and directed an award-winning European Union Simulation program at UL. Traveling with students to Asia, South America, Europe, and Alaska, he crossed both the Arctic Circle and the Equator. Among other adventures, he circumnavigated the northernmost point of Europe in a kayak.

Viviana travelled to more than 50 countries and lived in Italy, Brazil, Canada, Portugal, The Netherlands, USA and Malta where she set up her international social enterprise, Global Mindset Development. GMD Training and Consultancy Services Ltd. provides online and in-person consulting, training and mentoring services to companies and organizations all over the world to help them to develop an open and curious mindset to work effectively across cultures and promote diverse and inclusive workplaces and societies.
PhD in Sociology of Migration, she has been a researcher and adjunct professor for universities, business schools and research institutes in Europe and North America. Her aim is to always bridge research with practice and fieldwork.

Dr. David A. Shirk is a professor at the USD Department of Political Science and International Relations. He received his B.A. from Lock Haven University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from UCSD. His teaching and research focuses on comparative politics and international relations, with an emphasis on international security and U.S. foreign relations. Dr. Shirk directs “Justice in Mexico,” a research and policy initiative on criminal justice and the rule of law in Mexico. He’s been a consultant for international organizations such as the World Bank and USAID, and is a fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C.

Anne Simpkins Completed her master of Fine Arts degree at University of Iowa.
She went on to a fellowship at the Glassell School of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. In her early career she taught for the Glassell School, Earlham College, and was a Tenured Associate Professor at Elon University, when she retired in 2022. While at Elon, she taught Drawing, Painting, and Design. And Anne led study abroad programs in both Florence and London for many years.
Over her career, Simpkins created artwork and exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions. Her paintings/drawings have been featured in books and publications. She continues to make art, when not walking her dogs or reading a good book.

Diane Stutey, Ph.D, RPT-S, LPC, NCC is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. She is a member of the American Counseling Association, American School Counseling Association, Association for Play Therapy, and is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed School Counselor, and a Registered-Play Therapist-Supervisor. She was a school counselor and has worked as a play therapist in schools and clinical settings. Her research interests include examining non-cognitive life stressors that impact children and adolescents in the school setting such as grief and loss, sibling abuse, and teen dating violence, and suicide. She also studies the effectiveness of creative interventions such as play therapy and canine-assisted interventions.

Dr. Kate Transchel has taught courses in Russian, Soviet, and Eastern European History, as well as Modern Europe, World History, and the History of Gender and Sexuality at California State University, Chico. With an eye toward cultural history, her courses explore the interplay between sex, race, gender, and power as important categories of historical analysis. She has lived, worked, and taught in numerous countries including England, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and the Czech Republic, and has traveled extensively throughout the world. She has received several prestigious grants and awards, and her publications include a forthcoming book on human trafficking based on interviews with trafficking survivors. Her TEDx talk and anti-trafficking work has gained a wide following.

Fernando Valerio-Holguin is a Professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Colorado State University, where he garnered the John N. Stern Distinguished Professor Award. He holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Literature from Tulane University and has published several books and articles on Latin American Literature and cultures. He has received several teaching and research grants including British Academy for International Cultural Activities, U. S. Department of Education Undergraduate Enhancement Project, Culpeper Teaching with Technology, and Mellon Summer Seminar Teaching for Language Instruction for the 21st Century. He has taught in several international Study Abroad programs and traveled with students in Latin America and Spain.

Bert Vermeulen was born in Switzerland and grew up in the Netherlands and in Colorado. His mother’s family owned an international shipping company and his father’s family has engineering backgrounds. He has master’s degrees in both business and engineering. Bert has worked in the US, UK, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Antarctica, and Hungary in a engineering, management, and business ownership roles. Since 2009 he has taught a variety of engineering and entrepreneurship courses at CSU. He also works as a patent consultant. He currently has seven issued US Patents. To date, Bert has visited 97 countries.

Brittany Bing (she/her) is a native from Tampa, Florida. Brittany attended The University of Tampa and earned their B.A. Psychology and M.S. Instructional Design and Technology degree. Brittany’s expertise in learning design comes from various sectors. She worked for City University of Seattle, Amazon, and currently works for assignment at Microsoft. Brittany focuses her design approach for curriculum to be simple, digestible, easy to understand for global audiences with a blend of her expertises: gamification, accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In addition, Brittany has presented at conferences at ATD Florida Suncoast Chapter, TESOL, and the International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies.

Dee Colombini, MA, LPC, LAC has provided clinical services in various community mental health centers, in private practice, and in academic settings ranging from pre-school through college age students.
Dee served as the Program Coordinator for both Juvenile and Adult Drug Courts for the 8th Judicial District in Fort Collins for many years, has served as faculty for National Drug Court Institute trainings, coordinated/written national grants and conducted program evaluations. She also served as the Connections Program Manager at the Health District of Northern Larimer County.
Dee has worked at the Colorado State University Counseling Center for 9 years. She is a Senior Staff member of the DAY, Drugs Alcohol and You, team.

Carrie Fleider is the Director of Counseling Services (CS) at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. She is a licensed clinical social worker, having graduated from Tulane University with an MSW in 2001. She is honored to run trauma-related therapy groups for over 10 years and is passionate about working with survivors! She works from a feminist, social justice and systems perspective.

I served for 21 years in the US Army in the field of Military Intelligence where I was a Russian and Serbo-Croatian linguist. I entered nursing school upon retirement from the Army. My wife Stephanie is a school counselor and we enjoy traveling around the country in our camper van. We live at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. I have two adult children and 4 granddaughters who all live in Colorado.

Katie Moran has worked in nonprofit management as the Executive Director at The Art Garage in Denver, CO for over 10 years. Leading the organization to provide access to visual art programming. Katie has taught in the NYC public schools to children with special needs. She served in the Peace Corps in the Eastern Caribbean where she worked in community development focusing on special education teaching and teacher and administrative training. She also co-directed Grenada’s inaugural nationwide Camp G.L.O.W. (Girls Leading Our World) to empower secondary school girls to assess and take action on personal goals and community issues. Katie is also a practicing artist specializing in drawing and oil painting.

I’m Kathleen (she/her), and I’m thrilled to go on my first Semester at Sea voyage. I grew up in NYC and spent many years in Indiana for school. I’ve worked for 15 years in university counseling centers (at Ball State, Penn, Princeton, and Barnard). My clinical interests include disordered eating, grief and loss, identity, adjustment, trauma, crisis intervention, and chronic illness. My counseling style is warm, active, and collaborative, and I center social and cultural identities, relationship dynamics, emotions, and skill-building.

I owe so much of my personal growth to my study abroad trips in college and grad school (a semester in Juárez, Mexico and shorter programs in Kyoto, Japan; the Camino de Santiago in Spain; Saint Lucia; and Iceland). I’m grateful to journey with you all!