Faculty & Staff

Alissa Arp has extensive experience as a marine scientist and educator. She has conducted research and published articles on the physiology of life in challenging environments ranging from the deep ocean to suburban estuaries. Alissa has been to the bottom of the ocean in research submarines and has sailed on numerous university research vessels. She currently travels as a cruise-ship lecturer and eco-tourist, and has explored distant oceans including the Arctic, Southern Ocean, Indian Ocean, and South Pacific. These travel experiences are woven into her teaching, bringing personal first-hand perspectives to classroom discussions. Alissa lives in Portland, Oregon, and is an avid collector of folk art from her worldwide travels, as well as a textile enthusiast.

Dr. Steven K. Bailey is an alum of Semester at Sea (Spring 1986) and a veteran of the U.S. Peace Corps. He is the chair of the Department of English Language and Literature at Central Michigan University (CMU), where he specializes in nonfiction writing, writing pedagogy, and writing program administration. Bailey has written extensively about the experiences of American army pilots, naval aviators, and merchant sailors at Hong Kong during the Second World War. His most recent book is titled Target Hong Kong: A True Story of U.S. Navy Pilots at War.

Bert was born in Camagüey, Cuba and grew up in Miami, where he graduated high school in 1978. He earned his BA from New College (RIP) in 1981 and PhD in Economics from the UNC-Chapel Hill in 1985. He was at Wabash College for years, including sabbaticals as a Fulbright Scholar in the Dominican Republic in 1991, a year in Costa Rica in 1998, and a voyage around the world with SAS in F05. He has been at DePauw since 2008, with a sabbatical year in Australia. His last sabbatical was split between another sail with SAS in F19 and Malta in 2020̶, until covid-19 hit and they barely made it home. He is an avid sports fan and he like sports analytics. Bert has been to 28 of 30 MLB parks and countless other sporting events, including many Final Fours because he was a consultant for the NCAA.

Dr. Carvalho is a Professor of Marketing at Dalhousie University, Canada. He has published research papers in the areas of international marketing and consumer behavior. He sailed with SAS five times and taught in the US, Canada, Finland, Poland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Israel, and Brazil. He received the 2016 A. Gordon Archibald Teaching Excellence Award given by Dalhousie and The Olive Beatrice Stanton Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2009 given by the University of Manitoba (UofM). In addition, he received the UofM-UMFA Merit Award for teaching for six consecutive years (2007-2012). In the USA, he was nominated for the 2003 Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Teaching and received the 2004 Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award both at Baruch College.

My first SAS voyage was 2017, and I am excited to sail again. I enjoy socializing, traveling, mentoring students, and the challenge of encountering cultures around the world. I grew up North Carolina, lived in many places during my pre- and graduate school years, and finally settled in Colorado in 2006. As an anthropological archaeologist, my research focuses on the application of geophysics approaches to the spatial organization of settlements, especially ancient cities. My recent projects include a study of city planning at Middle Bronze Age Kurd Qaburstan, Iraq, and Iron Age Tell es-Safi, Israel. I have been fortunate to conduct fieldwork in Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, and U.S.A.

Mary Ann G. Cutter is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado (CU) at Colorado Springs. She is a CU President’s Teaching Scholar and clinical ethicist who helps navigate end-of-life discussions in secular and faith-based health care communities. Professor Cutter is the author of Defining and Defying Death, An Ethics of Clinical Uncertainty: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic, Death: A Reader, and Thinking through Breast Cancer: A Philosophical Exploration. In 2017, she taught courses for SAS and, with her students, met with health care providers in 10 countries. She returned to teach for SAS in 2022 to focus on death and dying practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Cutter and her husband, Lew, look forward to voyaging again with the Fall 2026 SAS community!

Dr. Lisa Fyffe joined the Colorado State University Occupational Therapy Department as an Assistant Professor in 2012 and developed the pediatric curriculum for the Occupational Therapy Doctorate program. Dr. Fyffe’s research and practice interests center on expanding access to developmental support for young children through occupational therapy and early childhood education partnerships. Dr. Fyffe is the author of the “Occupational Therapy Embedded in Early Childhood Partnership Model” and an expert on early intervention, play-based learning, and pediatric health promotion.

Dr. Todd Gaines is a Professor in the Department of Agricultural Biology at Colorado State University. His specialization is in molecular weed science and functional weed genomics. He grew up on a wheat farm in Colorado and completed his PhD in weed science at CSU, followed by post-docs in Western Australia (University of Western Australia) and Germany (Bayer CropScience). His research goal is to support sustainable weed management in cropping systems. He is the Director of the International Weed Genomics Consortium. He teaches courses at CSU on weed physiology, integrated pest management, pesticide resistance, and he is the faculty coordinator for the Pest Management MS professional degree.

Dr. Mark Gasta is a Professor and Director the Outdoor Recreation Economy master’s degree at the University of Colorado Boulder and Founder of Adventures in Leading – a leadership consulting firm focusing on the relationship between adventure, self-awareness, and personal purpose. Prior to joining academia, Mark was Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer, and Chief Sustainability Officer for Vail Resorts, the premier mountain resort company in the world. In addition to his many corporate roles, he has served in the United States Army as a commissioned officer and aviator and on many non-profit boards including the Colorado Outward Bound School, Leave No Trace, and the Urban League. Mark lives in Frisco, Colorado where he enjoys an active, outdoor lifestyle.

Madison is a Public Services Supervisor with the Denver Public Library, where she leads teams in creating welcoming, inclusive spaces for learning and discovery. Growing up in Colorado fostered both a love of the outdoors and a passion for community building, shaping her belief in libraries as vital spaces for connection. Her career spans public and academic libraries, mobile libraries, archives, and cultural institutions, giving her a unique perspective on how people connect with information—and with each other—in all kinds of settings. She is passionate about sparking curiosity, promoting equitable access, and helping people feel confident as learners.

I was raised in Kansas and studied at Baker University, returning to teach there in 2011. Wanting to be a Psychologist, I studied at The University of Georgia for my graduate degrees, and maintain a private practice in addition to my roles at Baker. I studied abroad at Harlaxton College in the U.K. and in Mexico. I was fortunate to grow up in a travel-loving family and travel has been one of my life’s greatest joys. In 2003, I spent a year tending bar in Edinburgh, Scotland; I’d made myself two promises; don’t fall in love, and take a break from being a therapist. Fortunately, I failed on both fronts, meeting my husband and using my therapeutic skills to cut patrons off, break up fights and soothe broken hearts. We have three children who will be joining us on the voyage.

Dr. Amber Manning-Ouellette is an Associate Professor in Higher Education and Student Affairs at Oklahoma State University. She also holds the endowed Anderson, Farris, and Halligan Professorship for College Student Development, and served as the Interim Vice President for Student Affairs. Her scholarly work includes socially just leadership education, college student identity development, and postsecondary sexual health education.

Previously, Dr. Manning-Ouellette worked in student affairs administration for over 10 years. She has served as a student success coordinator and lecturer of leadership studies, coordinating a global leadership study abroad trip to Amsterdam and Sweden for several years. Additionally, she is a 200RYT yoga instructor.

TL;DR: Entrepreneur, Educator, Explorer

FULL PROFILE:
I travel, teach, and selectively consult/invest in cool projects, in cool places, with cool people.

For ~20 years based in Hong Kong, I’ve led tech projects & large-scale transformations, helping global firms exceed operational excellence goals.
Expertise:
-Digital Transformation (Low-code AI/automation)
-Process Improvement (Lean 6Sigma)
-Int’l Business (China–USA Trade/Tech Strategy)

In 2019, near COVID’s onset, I began an entrepreneurial journey. During 2026, I’ll finalize a startup exit and earn a doctoral business degree.

Ahead: traveling, teaching [Semester at Sea, Fall2026], researching, investing, and advising/mentoring.

LINKEDIN: www.linkedin.com/in/fnewsum

Lisa M. Nunn. Ph.D. is Professor of Sociology at University of San Diego. She is also the Editor of the Critical Issues in American Education book series with Rutgers University Press. She has multiple teaching honors including a Faculty Advising Award and a Teaching Excellence Award. On her campus, she was named a Woman of Impact as well as a Changemaker Champion. Her scholarship centers on belonging. She has published four books including College Belonging (2020) and her newest book The Burnout-Belonging Connection will be out in 2026. Her book 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty (2018) won the Scholarly Contributions to Teaching and Learning Award by the American Sociological Association. She gives keynotes and workshops across the country on her belonging research.

Amy Schreier, a Professor of Biology at Regis University, is a behavioral ecologist who primarily focuses on the behavioral ecology and conservation of nonhuman primates. Her research has taken her across the world, from studying hamadryas baboons in Ethiopia to howler monkey behavior in Nicaragua. Her current research examines how forest fragmentation influences the behavior, ecology, and population structure of howler, capuchin, and spider monkeys in Costa Rica. Amy is also a Research Associate at Denver Zoo, with research there on a range of animal species, including elephants, gibbons, hornbills, vipers, and mandrills. Amy has taught travel learning courses in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Belize and is looking forward to working with students in new locations during this voyage.

Elizabeth Sink is a Master Teaching Instructor at Colorado State University with a passion for facilitating healthy engagement across different identities.
Elizabeth’s teaching practice strives to promote investigation of a student’s own complex identity and develop communication competencies to advance motivation for constructive engagement across difference. Much of her curriculum advances pluralistic engagement between people who orient around religious and non-religious belief differently.
She spearheaded and currently leads CSU’s Multifaith & Belief Initiatives. These initiatives aim to focus greater attention on spiritual, religious and secular (non-religious) belief identities by educating, celebrating and promoting constructive engagement across belief differences.

Henry Spiller is an ethnomusicologist whose research focuses on Sundanese music and dance from West Java, Indonesia, on gender and sexuality, and on exoticism in western musics. He is professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis. His most recent books are Archaic Instruments in Modern West Java: Bamboo Murmurs (Routledge 2023) and Missionaries, Anthropologists, and Music in the Indonesian Archipelago (coedited with Anna Maria Busse Berger; UC Press, 2025). Other books include Erotic Triangles: Sundanese Dance and Masculinity in West Java (Chicago, 2010), Javaphilia: American Love Affairs with Javanese Music and Dance (Hawaii, 2015), and the Routledge textbook, Focus: Gamelan Music of Indonesia (now in a 2022 third edition, with new coauthor Elizabeth Clendinning).

Anastasia Telesetsky is a Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where she teaches environmental law, water law, and food and agriculture policy. An expert in international environmental and ocean law, she has contributed to legal briefs before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and served as a Fulbright/Axford Fellow advising New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries on fisheries policy. Previously a professor at the University of Idaho and an environmental litigator in California, she has held visiting appointments in Auckland, Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai. Her scholarship spans marine conservation, climate resilience, ecological restoration, disaster law, and global food systems.

Philip Tsang teaches British and world literature as well as global cinema at Colorado State University. He is currently writing a book about the practice and imagination of multilingualism in contemporary literature.

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 102 countries and all 7 continents. He also taught on the Fall 2024 voyage.

Kim is currently the Assistant Director of Clinical Medical Services at Dartmouth but has had the opportunity to practice medicine in a variety of unique settings – an Ecuadorian PICU, a camp for seriously ill children, and a camp for multi-generational families. However, her time as the nurse practitioner on the SP20 and FA22 voyages has been the highlight of her career. It is hard to compete with the view from the 3rd deck medical clinic on an especially rough sea day and the adventures of navigating international health care systems.
Kim is ecstatic to be returning to the MV World Odyssey along with her husband Dave and her son Owen. They cannot wait to help build an amazing shipboard community while adding a few more thumbtacks to their world map.

Amy Bippus is the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles, and has served in various university leadership roles since 2010. Prior to assuming administrative roles, her research and teaching focused on conflict management, interpersonal humor, and instructional communication. This is her third time sailing with Semester at Sea.

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor/Addictions Specialist at Colorado State University. My professional life is one of service, with 30+ years dedicated to my counseling profession. My passion is people. I am humbled to do the work I do, & am confident that I have learned my greatest life lessons through the people I get to meet and work with every day.
My personal life is filled with a love of the outdoors-especially spending time at our cozy cabin in the Colorado mountains, and sharing it all with family & friends. With my amazingly supportive partner, & my incredible daughter as my inspiration and shining star-I live a life filled with joy.
With my heart on my sleeve-I’ve always been guided by kindness, adventure, fun, community, & gratitude.

Eric Isaacs, has been practicing emergency medicine for the last 32 years. For much of his career, he has focused on education to improve the communication skills of healthcare workers, particularly around serious illness and end of life care. Most recently, he has been working to develop new care pathways for older adults seeking emergency care and connecting them to community resources. Eric is an avid skier and loves to play Tennis and Pickleball. He is on the endless journey to get better at guitar and mandolin, and spending time on his bicycle or celebrating life with family and friends brings him great joy.

Brinda is a licensed psychologist with experience in both medical and clinical mental health settings. She is passionate about supporting individuals across the lifespan as they navigate their journeys of self-discovery and personal growth. Brinda takes joy in helping people build meaningful habits that foster self-compassion and a deeper appreciation for their lives. Based in Denver, Colorado, she currently works as a psychologist in integrated behavioral health. Outside of work, you can often find her exploring the mountains or enjoying a delicious meal.