Fall 2022 | European, African, and Asian Adventure

Faculty & Staff

Exploring countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia, this voyage gives participants a truly impactful study abroad adventure on our floating college!

We are a diverse team of academic experts and professionals

Under the leadership of the executive dean, academic dean, and dean of student life, Semester at Sea faculty and staff are a team of innovative and stimulating educators who are passionate about international education and focused on developing a dynamic and compassionate shipboard community.

Voyage Leadership Team

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Craig Chesson
Executive Dean
Craig Chesson
Executive Dean
Travis Maynard
Academic Dean
Travis Maynard
Academic Dean

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.

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Kyle Oldham
Dean of Student Life
Kyle Oldham
Dean of Student Life
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Becky Villalpando
Academic Advisor/Registrar
Becky Villalpando
Academic Advisor/Registrar

Faculty

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Kenny Bagley
Kenny Bagley
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Justin Barnum
Justin Barnum
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Deborah Che
Deborah Che

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.

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Cindy Church
Cindy Church
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Dane Claussen
Murray Chair in Journalism
Dane Claussen
Murray Chair in Journalism

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.

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Paul Doherty Jr
Paul Doherty Jr
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Jacqueline Frank
Librarian
Jacqueline Frank
Librarian
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David Hackett
David Hackett

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.

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Dongping Han
Dongping Han
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Diane Holt
Diane Holt
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Meg Jay
Meg Jay

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

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Zandra Jordan
Writing Center Director
Zandra Jordan
Writing Center Director
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Jen Krafchick
Jen Krafchick
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Jonathan Kramer
Jonathan Kramer
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Rutilio Martinez
Rutilio Martinez
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Claude Mayer
Claude Mayer
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Emily Moscato
Emily Moscato
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Lisa Safford
Lisa Safford
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Sharon Segrest
Sharon Segrest
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Tom Taylor
Global Studies Director-Port Country Discovery Specialist
Tom Taylor
Global Studies Director-Port Country Discovery Specialist

Staff

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Mel MacGregor
Faculty-Led Programs Coordinator
Mel MacGregor
Faculty-Led Programs Coordinator
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Mike Phillips
Voyage Medical Staff
Mike Phillips
Voyage Medical Staff
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Laurie Taylor
Faculty Swing
Laurie Taylor
Faculty Swing

Ready to Set Sail?

Take the first step on the journey of a lifetime.