Faculty

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A passionate film producer, screenwriter, novelist, and former journalist, Eric recently produced the feature film “Rickshaw Girl,” winner of ten major film festival awards and the first ever US-Bangladesh co-production.

Eric wrote and co-produced the feature “Supremacy,” starring Mahershala Ali, Danny Glover and Anson Mount, He also co-wrote and produced “My Suicide,” starring David Carradine, winner of 21 major film festival awards.

Eric is the author of four novels, including the thriller “Birdland” and satire “Cosmic Fever.” Along with his wife Kathleen (a counselor on this journey!) he co-wrote the children’s book “On The Day His Daddy Left.”

Eric and Kathleen live in Sonoma Wine Country. They are proud parents of two grown sons, a music producer and filmmaker.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jeff McCubbin served as the Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences at Colorado State University (CSU) from 2011-2019. He was a University Distinguished Professor of Exercise Science at Oregon State University (OSU). He directed an internationally recognized graduate program in Movement Studies in Disability at OSU from 1988-2011. Research/teaching interests focused on PA and exercise to improve health and reducing secondary issues. In 1998 he was inducted as a fellow in the prestigious National Academy of Kinesiology. He is an emeritus Dean in the College of Health and Human Sciences at CSU.

Jeff and his spouse Debbie love to travel, visit our five grandchildren, engage in community based non-profit leadership, and enjoy exercise no matter the season.

David Borgo is an ethnomusicologist, jazz saxophonist and composer, and Professor in the Department of Music at UC San Diego. He joined the faculty in 2002 and served as the Department Chairperson from 2017-2020. David is affiliated faculty in Ethnic Studies and Cognitive Science, and he received a 2020 Diversity Equity and Inclusion Teaching Award. David’s book, Sync or Swarm: Improvising Music in a Complex Age (2005, 2022 rev. ed.), won the Alan P. Merriam Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology in 2006. David also won the International John Coltrane Competition in 1994. He has concertized extensively, including performances in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North, Central, and South America. David has published numerous academic articles and released 14 CDs and one DVD of original music.

Dr. Schiffman worked for more than 30 years as a reporter and editor — for United Press International, The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal and CNN — before turning to teaching at Georgia College & State University from 2012 to 2021. During his career as a working journalist, Schiffman served as a resident correspondent for the AWSJ in Hong Kong, Seoul, and Beijing before transferring to the WSJ in Atlanta, Georgia. At CNN, he worked mostly for the international network, finishing his tenure as chief copy editor for CNN International. At Georgia College, Schiffman supervised the student-run television newscast in addition to teaching journalism and other media courses.

Dr. George Salembier is Associate Professor Emeritus, College of Education and Social Services at the University of Vermont (UVM), where he most recently served as Chairperson of the Department of Education. His scholarship and teaching focus on special education and inclusion, cognition and learning, adolescent literacy, curriculum and assessment, the social construction of disability, and multi-cultural education.
Since retiring from the University of Vermont in 2018, he has been consulting on strategy for the “Inclusive School Project in Ghana,” the goal of which is to build the nation’s first school for children with disabilities.
He currently serves as a Board Member for the Vermont Partnership for Literacy and Learning and as a Mentor in the local school system.

Dr. Romel Mackelprang has been involved in human and disability rights for four decades. In the 2000’s he began working in sub–Saharan Africa, and, in 2010 he and his family founded Access without Borders (AWB) a 501(c)3 to invest in health, access, and education opportunities for people in Africa. He has developed and administered a five country African research project studying the efficacy of donated wheelchairs. He has organized and led several university-based, service-learning study abroad programs to Ghana; the next study abroad scheduled for summer 2023.

Dr. Jean Ippolito is a Professor and Art Historian to a very diverse body of students at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. This is her second time to teach on a Semester at Sea voyage; the first was in Fall 2011.

After completing her Ph. D., Jean Ippolito taught a combination of art history and computer art at colleges in Savannah, Georgia and Georgetown, Kentucky. In 2003, she accepted a tenure-track position at the University of Hawaii in Hilo. Fortunately, some of the experimental artists that she studied earlier, were now internationally recognized for their achievements, and so she began to publish articles, and a book, on the pioneering digital media artists of Japan. More recently she has written about contemporary artists of China that use digital technology in their work.

Philip Hörhager is excited to serve on SAS again and teach MGT 411 Leading High Performance Teams.

Philip has a background in aerospace engineering and management. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with and lead high performing teams, in roles including Director of Engineering, Head of PMO, and Program Manager, for innovative aerospace, R&D, and tech companies in the US and abroad.

Philip hugely enjoys mentoring and coaching students during SAS voyages. He has taught project management and leadership classes in various organizations and study abroad programs. His research includes human factors in aviation, and he runs a consulting company that focuses on project management, organizational communication, leadership and team training.

Dr. Jana Raadik Cottrell is an Assistant Professor, University Honors Program at Colorado State University (CSU) and senior lecturer at Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia with over 20 years of international experience in teaching and academic collaboration in hospitality, tourism development and natural resource management. Her research focuses on sustainable tourism development on islands, place identity, second home ownership and flexible work. Jana values knowledge gained through the diversity of human experiences and ways of living and appreciates the opportunity to share her passion in arts, food and travel with her students. She is also the coordinator of the West Estonian Archipelago Biosphere Reserve.

Dr. Stuart Cottrell is a professor of Sustainable Tourism at Colorado State University. His research focus includes sustainable tourism development – linking tourism, nature conservation and protected areas; collaborative conservation and protected area management; and perceptions of landscape disturbance – implications for human dimensions of natural resources, recreation and tourism. He conducted research in Argentina, Colorado, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Panama, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Uruguay. These interdisciplinary efforts contribute broadly to the fields of tourism development in natural resources. He teaches courses in sustainable tourism development, ecotourism, social science research in natural resources and international issues in recreation and tourism.

Nancy Hartley spent thirty plus years in higher education with her last 20+ years at Colorado State University as a faculty member, Director of the School of Education, and Dean of the College of Applied Human Sciences (now the College of Health and Human Sciences). Nancy was the Semester at Sea Spring 2018 Academic Dean!

During her career in higher education Nancy received numerous honors and special awards including: Health and Human Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award, Colorado State University Community Service Award, Poudre Valley Health System Meritorious Service Award, University Council of Workforce and Human Resource Education; Colorado State University Oliver P. Pennock Distinguished Service Award, and was a Finalist for the Unique Woman of Colorado Award.  She attended the Colorado Institute for Women in Management and has been actively involved in supporting/mentoring women in higher education.

Dan is a Professor and President Emeritus at Prescott College. Dan earned his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado.

Dr. Dane S. Claussen is Editor-in-Chief/Executive Director of Nonprofit Sector News, a small nonprofit organization (founded in 2020) that covers US national nonprofit organizations for the general public and for other news media. Dr. Claussen has most often taught courses in media law, media ethics, media history, media management, journalistic reporting/writing/editing, and social science research methods, and he also taught social media management, media and society, media literacy, integrated marketing communications, public opinion, mass communication theory, and other courses.

Dr. Bonnie Simpson is Associate Professor, DAN Department of Management & Organizational Studies and is a consumer researcher – aiming to make the world a little bit of a better place through understanding why consumers act as we do. She’s most interested in how and why individuals engage in prosocial actions such as sustainable behaviours, charitable giving, and purchasing that supports social good. Her teaching often focuses in these areas – introducing students to marketing concepts that focus on how marketing shapes and is shaped by non-profits, sustainability, and the consumer’s daily life. Bonnie has studied and taught in countries around the world and loves how an international classroom brings new perspectives into collaborative applied learning.

David Hackett is Professor and former Chair in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. As a child, David boarded a ship in California with his parents and set out for Japan.

In recent years, he has taught in the University of Florida’s London Study Center and from there led students on field studies throughout Great Britain; participated in a Council on International Educational Exchange faculty seminar on “Music, Society, and Conflict in Ireland and Northern Ireland”; and taught a seminar on American religious history, sponsored by the State Department’s United States-China Education Trust, at Fudan University in Shanghai.

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.

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.

Dr. Deborah Che is originally from the Washington, DC metro area. Tourism research and practice were integral to her studies which included internships to develop tourism and recreation programs on US Army bases in Germany and to improve regional tourism promotion and branding in rural, resource-dependent communities.
Deborah has extensive teaching experience at universities in the US and Australia. She has taught a wide range of tourism, hospitality, food studies, geography, and environmental studies courses. A common theme in Deborah’s research, which draws upon her disciplinary background in geography, involves the interconnection between economic restructuring and shifting land uses towards a greater emphasis on tourism and recreation.

Dr. Erin Davis is an Assistant Professor at Indiana Wesleyan University with over 20 years of experience in the fields of student development, higher education, and counseling.
She enjoys interdisciplinary collaboration and participates in the scholarship of teaching and learning, particularly in the areas of psychology, theology, neuroscience, and sociology. Dr. Davis has studied and participated in service work in several countries around the world, including England, Uganda, Egypt, Australia and Portugal, and her research interests include cross-cultural and international psychology.
Dr. Davis’s areas of interest include international student adjustment; neuropsychology and empathy; relational aspects of sexuality; cross-cultural and international psychology; positive psychology; vocat

M. Travis Maynard, Ph.D. is a Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Programs in the College of Business at Colorado State University (CSU). He received his doctoral degree from the University of Connecticut with an emphasis in Organizational Behavior. He also holds an undergraduate degree in accounting from The College of William and Mary, and an MBA degree in Organizational Behavior from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. Travis has had several international experiences while on the faculty at Colorado State University. Specifically he was a Fulbright Scholar in 2015 and worked with the faculty and students at ISCTE-Instituto Universitario de Lisboa in Portugal. Additionally, he has been a visiting professor at SRH – Hiedelberg (Germany) in 2018 and 2016, Foreign Trade University (Vietnam) in 2017 and 2012, and Aalto University (Finland) in 2014. Additionally, Travis served as a Global Teaching Scholar on the spring 2017 voyage of Semester at Sea.

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.

Stephen Preece is an Associate Professor at the Lazaridis School of Business, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Preece is an award-winning instructor with over 20 years of teaching experience in the management field.
Stephen’s research focus includes addressing the challenges of managing cultural organizations, with a particular interest in arts entrepreneurship. He has published over 30 refereed journal articles and presented as many papers at conferences the world over.
Stephen has a particular interest in challenging traditional business models, seeking variety and inspiration through international comparative entrepreneurship.

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!

June Cotte is Professor of Marketing at the Ivey Business School, Western University. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Ulster, and has taught at the Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business across the world (North Carolina, China, Thailand, Germany, and Kazakhstan), the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, and the University of Connecticut.
Professor Cotte’s research interests focus on behavioral issues, including why and when people will pay more for ethically produced products, how people perceive time and how that influences their behavior at work and at leisure, family influence on behavior, and consumption issues in gambling.
She is also a leader in the Marketing field and is currently the President of the Association for Consumer Rese

Roger Hanna has designed 200 sets for theater, dance, and opera since 1990. He is an associate professor at Colorado State University, where his students and he collaborate to design all departmental productions for the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.
Hanna’s off-Broadway work at the Mint Theater Company has been recognized by four Henry Hewes Design Award nominations, three Drama Desk nominations, and the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Set Design. His 30 opera designs have been seen at Sarasota Opera and in five prominent NYC venues.

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!

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.

Colleen Burke teaches in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State University. Her interests include sustainable food systems, global nutrition, public health and wellness, and foodways. Colleen’s passion for this discipline stems from curiosity about the physiological and psychological interplay associated with health behaviors, and the relationship among food, culture, and society. It is a dynamic field where everyone has a voice, opinion, and story to share. The influence among social, environmental, historical, political, and economic variables on food, nutrition, and health is complex.

Dr. Meg Jay is a clinical psychologist at the University of Virginia who specializes in twentysomethings. A narrative nonfiction writer, she is the author of The Defining Decade and Supernormal. Her work has appeared in numerous media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, O Magazine, and on the BBC and NPR.
In The Defining Decade, Meg elevates what it means to be a twentysomething. She argues that, rather than a developmental downtime, the twenties are a developmental sweet spot a time when the things we do—and the things we don’t do—will have an enormous impact across years and even generations to come. The Defining Decade has been published in more than a dozen countries around the world, and her related TED talk has been viewed more tha

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.

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.

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.

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.