Faculty & Staff

Marti Fessenden is General Counsel and a member of the president’s cabinet for Agnes Scott College. For the 2021-2022 and part of the 2022-2023 academic year, she additionally served as Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students. Throughout her 30+ year career, she has provided leadership in legal practice, higher education administration and non-profit board service. Prior to joining Agnes Scott, she practiced law as a civil litigator for more than 26 years in the private sector, most recently with her own law firm – The Fessenden Firm / Higher Ed Advise.
Marti is incredibly excited to be returning to the Spring 2024 shipboard experience. Marti will be sailing with her daughter Sydney, who is a junior at UC Berkeley.

Bob Kling is a micro and environmental economist with a passion for international education and experiential travel. His first SAS voyage was Fall 1998, with spouse and kids. He served as Academic Dean for the Spring 2017 and Spring 2022 voyages, and as SAS Senior Academic Officer, 2017-22.

At CSU, Bob has held many teaching and administration roles. Partnering with Vietnam’s Foreign Trade University, he directed the CSU-FTU Vietnam Economics Curriculum Program, 2008-17. His research has focused on the economics of land management, valuation of historic resources, and regulatory strategy. Bob retired in 2022 and remains engaged with both CSU and SAS.

Vernon A. Wall has accumulated over 30+ years of professional Student Affairs experience at Iowa State University, the University of Georgia, UNC-Charlotte, and UNC-Chapel Hill and has experience in Greek life, new student orientation, student activities, leadership development, global education, and university housing. Vernon currently lives in Washington DC and is the Director for Business Development at LeaderShape, Inc. Vernon is also President and Founder of One Better World, LLC – a consulting firm specializing in engaging others in courageous social justice and equity conversations and is a past President of ACPA – College Student Educators, International.

Theresa A. Vecchio (Terry) was born and raised in the Chicagoland area and is a Midwesterner at heart. She has worked in higher education for 33 years, currently as the Dean of Students at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester Massachusetts. She received a Bachelor of Science in Therapeutic Recreation at Southern Illinois University, a Master of Social Work from the University of Connecticut, and a Doctorate in Higher Educational Leadership from Johnson & Wales University. Terry sailed with Semester at Sea in 1988 as a Residence Director and then again as the Assistant Dean of Student Life on the summer 2014 and spring 2017 voyages respectively. Terry enjoys vacationing at Cape Cod, golfing, kayaking and movies. She is an active member of a rowing club in Massachusetts.

Ryan Barone, PhD (he/him) serves as the Assistant Vice President for Student Success at Colorado State University. In this role, he works between both academic affairs and student affairs and collaborates with units across campus to foster equitable student success. He is also an Assistant Professor in the School of Education teaching and advising doctoral students in the Higher Education Leadership program. Dr. Barone’s research interests include social justice leadership, equity with an emphasis on two-year colleges, violence prevention, and critical qualitative research methods.

Trish is the Executive Director of the Cohousing Association of the United States, a national nonprofit committed to creating a more connected and sustainable future. A social worker to the core, Trish has over a decade of experience working in nonprofit and higher education with a focus on community engagement and strategic partnerships. She served as the Director of Community Engagement at the University of Denver, leading community engagement initiatives and creating gatherings that advance social justice. Her consulting group, Storyspring, provides strategy, facilitation and coaching to nonprofits & social changemakers. She is most alive when gathering people around a common purpose and when traveling around the world with her partner, Adam, and daughter, Cadence.

Alma Jean Billingslea is emerita professor of English at Spelman College. An activist and academic, Professor Billingslea is a veteran of the southern civil rights movement who joined the staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) soon after college to work with Martin Luther King, Jr. Having worked as organizer, editor and writer at SCLC, Professor Billingslea earned her PhD and joined the faculty at Spelman College where she became founding faculty and later director of the African Diaspora studies program. With a focus on comparative Africana literatures, Professor Billingslea has taught at the University of La Salle, Bogota, Colombia, conducted research at the University of Ghana, Legon and has been the recipient of Fulbright and Ford Foundation Fellowships.

Jennifer Bousselot, Ph.D., specializes in green roof research on native species evaluations, plant drought tolerance, integration with solar panels, and rooftop agrivoltaics. Jen is the Editor of the Journal of Living Architecture, a longtime member of the Research Committee for Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC), and Board Member of GRHC and the High Plains Environmental Center in Loveland, Colorado. Jen is an accredited Green Roof Professional and leads the Colorado Regional Center for Excellence in Living Architecture, both designated by GRHC. She was a technical advisor for the 2017 Green Roof Ordinance in Denver and is on the Green Building Ordinance Technical Advisory Committee for the City of Denver. Due to her expertise in green roofing, Jen regularly consults on green roofs.

Jonathan M. Bowman loves teaching about relevant topics like body language and personal relationships, and he enjoys helping people think about the ways that people send messages to friends, family members, colleagues, and romantic partners. When he’s not hiking or swimming, Dr. Bowman can often be found navigating the beaches and parks of Southern California with an energetic rescue dog named Nala the Noodle. (She’s the best.) He’s regularly featured in the media, talking about ways that people share information with one another in close relationships. Bowman has been awarded the highest teaching recognitions in his field, and he often mentors students in Greek life, student government, and/or campus faith-based organizations.

Dr. David Bybee is a marine biologist on the faculty of Brigham Young University-Hawaii on the Island of Oahu. He has also worked as an environmental consultant. He holds a PhD from the University of Hawaii. His research focuses mainly on biodiversity and life histories of marine invertebrates on coral reefs. His work has taken him to many parts of the Pacific including Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. In recent years he has also done research on seabird migrations between French Polynesia and the arctic.
His interests include linguistics, history and cultural anthropology. His wife Herenui is from French Polynesia and received her degree in Pacific Island studies. Together with their four children they enjoy the rich biological and cultural heritage of the Pacific.

I have taught at the college level for 21+ years. While my specialty is marketing, I have taught courses including Principles of Mgt, Personal Finance, HR Management & Dev. I led several student study abroad trips, visiting China, Western and Eastern Europe. Additionally, I have lead students on 4 Maymester study abroad trips (3 Argentina, 1 Spain). I retired from IBM after 35 years and enjoyed a varied career in sales, marketing and management. As a global brand manager, I had extensive responsibilities for project/product management & channel strategy. I managed several sales teams in the US as well as global representatives. I was a SCORE counsellor providing business support for SMB and entrepreneurs. I am married and have 4 adult children living in NYC and NC.

Vivian Chávez has studied in India, Guatemala, and Spain. She worked in youth media and child abuse prevention for a decade before obtaining her doctorate Public Health. She became a tenured professor at her alma mater where she has been teaching global health, community well-being, and health promotion. A storyteller by nature, she has written and presented on Violence Prevention, Media Advocacy, Cultural Humility, and Community-based Participatory Research. Vivian was a traveling faculty with the International Honors Program at Boston University and a visiting professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, Preventative Medicine Program. She is a life-long student of contemplative practices and has presented her work internationally in Cuba, Peru, Japan, and Argentina.

Sarah Cronin, PhD, LP (she/they) is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Bemidji State University in Minnesota. They are an alum of Semester at Sea and thrilled to return as a faculty member. The chance to gain a global perspective while studying psychology was truly transformative, and she is excited to go through the process again with her students. Sarah’s approach in the classroom is collaborative and encourages self-exploration and identity formation. As a counseling psychologist, she works to integrate her lens as a scientist-practitioner into professional settings. At her home institution, Sarah co-directs the Indigenous Students in Psychology Training (InPsyT) program, which supports Indigenous psychology majors on their paths to graduate school and serving their communities.

Ken taught in schools in Switzerland, Australia, and the USA before becoming a professor of international teacher education. He has been a Fulbright Scholar to Sweden and Poland, and a visiting professor in China, Serbia, Bahamas, and Australia. Ken has traveled with young people and teachers on all seven continents. Ken serves as Executive Director of the Int’l Academy for Intercultural Research; has become active with Givat Haviva, an Israeli organization devoted to Arab and Jewish reconciliation; and the Orkeeswa School, a Maasai community school in northern Tanzania. This will be his 6th voyage with SAS.

Kim Euell is a professional theatre artist with a passion for teaching. Her most recent production, Flex by Candrice Jones, debuted to critical acclaim Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center in June 2023. Kim edited the first play anthology devoted to hip-hop theatre and her plays have been performed across the U.S. and in Cape Town. As a Visiting Artist at Cape Town’s University of the Western Cape from 2017-19, she conducted script writing workshops and theatre excursions as part of her courses. Kim also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she was Playwright in Residence from 2014-18. Kim was the August Wilson Fellow in Theatre and a MacArthur Scholar in Development Studies & Social Change at the University of Minnesota.

Brian Goeltzenleuchter is the Darlene Shiley Honors Faculty Fellow in the Weber Honors College, San Diego State University. He is a conceptual artist working at the intersection of social engagement, olfactory art, and drawing. His artwork has been exhibited in over 60 museums and galleries in 9 countries. He has held residencies at Banff Centre (Canada), Centrum Beeldende Kunst (The Netherlands), Sculpture Space (New York), and Institute for Art and Olfaction (Los Angeles). Having taught at universities since he was 21 years old, Brian has developed teaching methods that are marked by interdisciplinary research, experiential learning, collaboration, and humor. Brian is an alumnus of Semester at Sea (Summer 1996), which he attended with his then-girlfriend and now-wife of 25 years, Amy.

For his first voyage, Samuel Granoff will serve as the Director of the Writing Center while also teaching E 238 Contemporary Global Fiction and E 311A Intermediate Creative Writing. Both courses will hone students’ critical and creative skills by engaging work from an array of award-winning international authors. Having founded a literary journal, worked in publishing, and helped students place work from Ms. Magazine to The New York Times, Sam aims to support writers both on and off the page.

Aside from creative writing and composition, he has taught classes on The Beatles, Westerns, and baseball. Sam pitched professionally in Europe last summer and will coach in Argentina this fall. He is currently working on a novel about the game.

Dr. Doris H. Gray directed the Hillary Clinton Center for Women’s Empowerment at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, where she served as Professor of Women and Gender Studies.She moved to Morocco from Tallahassee, Florida, where she taught Women Studies and in the Modern Languages Department at Florida State University.
Before becoming an academic, Doris worked as a foreign correspondent from South Africa and then for 10 years in Nairobi, Kenya.
Her books: Leaving the Shadow of Pain: a cross-cultural exploration of truth, trauma, reconciliation and healing, Women and Social Change in North Africa: What counts as Revolutionary?, Beyond Feminism and Islamism: Gender and Equality in North Africa, Muslim Women on the Move: Moroccan Women and French Women of Moroccan Origin Speak Out.

Joseph Itaya is an award-winning film director, digital content creator, technology innovator, educator, and entrepreneur. He specializes in the fusion of storytelling and business, synthesizing brand identity and strategy into compelling multi-media content for defined audiences.

For over 20 years, Itaya has produced and directed multitiered digital campaigns for global brands including Sony, CBS, NBCUniversal, Fox, Walmart, Mattel, and Coca-Cola. He founded Legacy Films in 2007 and has produced documentaries for notable clients in the fields of politics, real estate, finance, sports, and entrepreneurship. A pioneer in the live-action VR industry, Itaya also founded EVRLAND, to bring travel/wellness/education VR experiences to sick and disadvantaged children.

Heidi Keller-Lapp is a historian with a PhD in European history/French empire, focusing on gender, religion, and the impact of maritime voyages on identity. On this voyage, she will teach Global Studies and Modern World History. She taught and administered a global studies program at UC San Diego and is now at San Diego State University where her courses include the global history of religion, ideas, revolutions, social movements, and gender/sexuality. As a first-gen student, Prof. Heidi values education as her best investment and is passionate about learning and teaching. She has lived and worked in Europe and the Mediterranean. Teaching Global Studies on the Spring ‘22 voyage is her most rewarding professional and personal experience. She can’t wait to see what this voyage will bring!

A South African Theatre & Film scholar and Distinguished Teacher, this is Dr. Lewis’ second voyage with Semester at Sea. A fierce advocate for international education, she leads her own study abroad program, Arts & Culture in South Africa, and believes that the performing arts offer a lens through which to examine social justice, race, class and gender politics, history, & memory. Study abroad builds our global citizenship skills, capacity for empathy, and understanding of difference & diversity. Lewis is author of Magnet Theatre: Three Decades of Making Space (2016) and Performing Whitely in the Postolony: Afrikaners in South African Theatrical and Public Life (2016). She is the Director of Theatre at Colorado State University.

Laurie McConnico is marine biologist and native Californian who grew up in Fresno (the hot, land-locked central valley). Her interests in marine biology developed as a child, often camping along the coast with her family (although her mother never liked to admit to having once tolerated camping). At her home campus, Laurie teaches marine biology, general biology and field studies courses, including some in Baja, Mexico. She has received several awards for teaching and faculty excellence over the years and is passionate about field courses that take her students throughout California and abroad. Research and professional highlights, so far, include diving 2 miles below the ocean’s surface, nerding-out on algae anywhere she can, and of course sailing with Semester at Sea!

Daniel Montoya holds a Ph.D. in Biological Psychology and training in Neurosciences. He graduated from the National University of Córdoba in 1998, where he worked at a private research institute with grants from the Argentinian government to study how learning and memory work in the hippocampus. After moving to the USA in the same year, he completed postdoctoral training in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University. Then, he pursued post docs at Wake Forest University, NC, and Bowling Green State University, Ohio. In 2005, Dr. Montoya began his career as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at FSU, where he is currently a tenured associate professor. His main research interests are cognition, consciousness, and their relationship with Artificial Intelligence.

Ursula Quillmann is passionate about the role the ocean plays on shaping the Earth’s environment, our climate, and life. She began her career in researching the link between ocean and abrupt climate changes during the past 12,000 years in the northern North Atlantic. Today, she focuses on investigating how human activity affects ocean environments.
Ursula sailed on Semester at Sea for the first time in Spring 2017, a voyage that crossed the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans. Here she witnessed first-hand some of global challenges human activities created. She firmly believes that we can work towards solving global challenges we created. In Spring 2022, Ursula sailed as part of the Global Studies team on the first SAS voyage since Covid was declared a pandemic.

Andrew (Andy) Seidl has been CSU professor of environmental and development economics since before the invention of wifi and the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy. His work focuses on natural resource-based economic development and private (agricultural) lands conservation in Colorado and biodiversity finance and World Heritage tourism internationally.

Andy has taught courses and/or lived in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras, England, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and Vietnam, and has travelled to about 80 countries. He has worked with the Brazilian government in the Pantanal, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Dr. Shi is an expert in contemporary business and management. His interests center on competitive strategy, business model and impact management for sustainable enterprises. He published dozens of papers in peer-reviewed journals, several books and book chapters and numerous articles in popular media. An innovator in pedagogy, course and program design, Dr. Shi led the development of award-winning programs such as the FMS Fellowship Program and the Blue Pioneers Accelerator Program. He was Dean of Graduate School of International Policy and Management at Middlebury Institute and had twenty years of experience as founder of tech venture, advisory partner at venture capital firm, and consultant to well-known management consulting firms. He lives with his wife in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I grew up in Philadelphia PA in USA and studied religion and Asian Studies for BA, MA and PhD at Temple University. After a post-doc at Harvard U, I taught American studies at East China Normal U in Shanghai, China. Was assistant dean at East West Center in Hawaii (1982-86) and Scholar in Residence at the Fulbright office in Washington DC. I joined Institute of International Education (IIE) as director of IIE/Hong Kong in 1988. Established the Hong Kong America Center (HKAC) and was a Fulbright scholar in CUHK. From 2000-2020 was CEO of the HKAC, until I retired to Scotland, where I now live.

Dr. Irit Shmuel is Head of Tourism Studies in the Management Department at Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel. Trained in geography, her main research interest is in the field of tourism and includes the following: touristic imagination, cultural tourism, rural tourism, and host-guest relationship. Dr. Shmuel holds BA (1997) and MA (2008) in geography from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Ph.D. (2021) in Tourism and Geography from Bar Ilan University in Israel. Dr. Shmuel lectures at conferences, workshops, and seminars worldwide and collaborates with researchers from Israel and abroad.

Dr. Sharon Simmons is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Jackson State University. She holds many social identities that allows her to connect with community members with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds – professor, lawyer, CPA, business advisor and habitual entrepreneur. She owns a commercial real estate company. She is the 2023 Converge Pitch Competition Winner for the FEDTECH Homeland Security Startup Studio. Her published research focuses on how formal and informal institutional contexts shape the venturing activities of experienced entrepreneurs. Dr. Simmons has global experience working with public and private institutions in the United States, United Kingdom, Asia, Australia and Caribbean. Dr. Simmons has extensive advisory experience as a national senior manager.

Melissa Stewart is professor of religious studies and gender studies at Adrian College, in SE Michigan, where she won the teaching award in 2013. She sailed with SAS Fall 16 which she considers one of the best experiences of her life. Thanks to a Lilly Grant, she trained in active pedagogies and teaching civic engagement. And as the current Adrian College Study Abroad Director, she helps students pursue their passion for studying across cultures. She has spent semesters studying in Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Spain, the DR, Germany and Sweden. Melissa enjoys time with her partner Brad and three boys Walker, Oscar and William. She likes to travel, swim, and play cards, and hopes to do as many of these as possible with the SAS Spring 24 students.

Julie is an independent scholar living in Portland, OR. She is an SAS veteran, having taught on the Spring ‘07 voyage, which included shipmate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as the Spring ’12 and Fall ’13 voyages. Julie’s areas of expertise include music and cultures from West Africa and Indonesia and has led non-SAS study abroad programs to Ghana and Bali while teaching at Northeastern University in Boston. She was profiled alongside other scholars in the book, Living Ethnomusicology: Paths and Practices by M. Sarkissian and T. Solis (U of Illinois, 2019). Presently, Julie co-directs a Portland-based Balinese Gamelan ensemble called Gamelan Wahyu Dari Langit (Revelations from the Sky) and is completing a book about Obo Addy, a renowned master drummer from Ghana and local Portland icon.

I love helping people share their story for their love of libraries. I am a trained educator and information specialist. While on land, I collaborate with a highly skilled team of librarians and library staff at CSU. We put credible resources into the hands of curious users. I enjoy presenting to students and educators on navigating the internet and exploring the research process in a fast and fluid manner. No matter the question, I’m determined to provide library users with a credible and speedy answer.

My main life objectives are to motivate life-long learners, to cultivate information literacy skills, and to fuel and embrace positive change. I look forward to meeting each of you on the ship and welcoming everyone to the library, a space and place where academic creativity blossoms.

Hyla Cushner (M.Ed.) retired from a 30 year career teaching and advocating for children with special needs at all levels of K-12 education. Her career included teaching ESL at Case Western Reserve University, teaching Intervention Specialists at the University of Hawaii, and 30 years as a Case Manager. Post retirement, Hyla has consulted with the Autism Society of Greater Akron in support of families and children with their inclusion concerns pertaining to schools and community agencies, served as Project Director on a Transition Project at Kent State University, and offering professional development at a Maasai school in Tanzania. This will be Hyla’s fourth voyage. Travel is a big part of her life having lived in Australia and Hawaii in addition to Ohio.

SuEllen Hamkins, MD is a psychiatrist specializing in college mental health and narrative therapy. Her passion is helping people thrive in the face of challenges and difficulties. As Assistant Professor at UMass Chan Medical School, she cherishes providing psychotherapy and psychiatric treatment to students, as well as offering psychotherapy supervision. She has been an Assistant Director at the Center for Counseling at UMass-Amherst and College Psychiatrist at Smith College. Her book, The Art of Narrative Psychiatry (Oxford University Press, 2013) offers detailed guidance in resiliency-focused, culturally-attuned, collaborative mental health practice, bringing narrative approaches alive through vivid case reports. She regularly presents at professional conferences around the world.

Virginia “Ginny” is a board certified Physician Assistant who will be joining SAS on her second voyage, having sailed as a student in the Spring of 1986. This was a life-changing experience and she is thrilled to be here once again, especially in a medically supportive role. She joins our medical team with 27 years experience in emergency and urgent care medicine. She has 2 great kids- a 23 year old daughter, a recent graduate in film studies from Ithaca College, and a 26 year old son, Plattsburgh University grad working in the field of marine biology.

Dannie is a highly accomplished professional with a diverse background in academia, philanthropy, and international engagement. As the Director of Donor and Foundation Relations at Gulfstream Goodwill, Dannie has contributed significantly to the organization’s success in improving the lives of the most marginalized in our society. Dannie’s global experiences have shaped her worldview. From the Spring 2007 voyage on Semester at Sea to residing in rural 영월 South Korea and meeting her husband, Blessing, from Durban, South Africa, to raising their two children in Seoul, she values cultural diversity and the transformative power of exploration. She could not be more thrilled to be serving as the Lifelong Learner community and to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity for a second time!

Sierra is a Student Affairs professional with a background in Housing and Residence Life. She’s been a Residence Director for the past 5 years and she enjoys working alongside students to help them define what success looks like for them. She is a strong believer in radical candor and she firmly believes that when we care for others, we challenge them too.

Sierra enjoys any opportunity to be outside or travel. Being outside gives her the chance to unplug. It’s so easy to become over-involved and she finds peace in being in a new environment and stepping away from the chaos to gain new perspectives. As a lifelong learner, Sierra is beyond excited to be on the Spring 2024 voyage!

Prior to Semester at Sea, Brent (he/him) has served as a Residence Director at Colorado State University. His favorite part of the RD role is supporting students and seeing them grow over the course of their undergraduate career. His start in the field of student affairs began as RA at his undergraduate institution, The University of Tulsa (TU), and later earned his master’s degree in Higher Education Administration. He grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma with his family. While at TU, he had the transformative opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica during a summer. It was this experience that cultivated his passion for traveling and exploring new places. Brent is excited to be a resource to students aboard this voyage as they become global citizens!

Hannah has been a practicing Mental Health Professional for 5 years. Hannah has worked with young adults and marginalized populations for 20 years. Hannah has a client centered approach, offering clients options and moving at a therapeutic pace agreed upon with the patient. Hannah is trained in a variety of therapeutic interventions including: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Managing and Adapting Practices (MAP), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Personality Disorder Training with Gregory “Gary” Lester, Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT.)

The interventions listed above are aimed at treating (coping with) anxiety, depression, personality disorders and trauma.