Spanish Prof. David T. Gies has been hired to be the academic dean of the Semester at Sea program and will take over the program for the voyage of Summer 2007.
"My role will be to shape the curriculum that very much adheres to the University's academic standards and is interesting and exciting to the students and faculty," Gies said.
The 2007 voyage itinerary includes travel up and down the Pacific coast of Central America and South America, making this the first voyage to focus on one region, Gies said.
Because this voyage is narrower in scope, it provides an excellent opportunity to integrate foreign language into the curriculum which has been absent in the past, Gies said.
In order to promote foreign language proficiency, there will be required Spanish classes so that students will at least have a basic grasp of the language and be able to communicate within the cultures, he added.
"David Gies is a well-respected professor and a noted Spanish scholar, so we are very thrilled that he is able to teach students in a place where the language is used," Semester at Sea President Les McCabe said.
Gies also said he believes recent concerns about the Semester at Sea are justified.
"As a faculty member, I feel very sympathetic to the faculty's anger and anguish and think they are rightfully concerned about the way we were informed," Gies said.
The administration is responsible for making sure the faculty is well informed about these issues and can go a long way to ameliorating their concerns, he added.
According to Gies, the University faculty is going to have total control over the curriculum of the program's courses, and while all the professors aboard will not be University faculty, all syllabi will be "vetted" by the dean's office and the appropriate academic department.
"I'm confident that this program can only get better," Gies said.
The reason Semester at Sea wanted the University to be its hub school was because it felt that its faculty could challenge and elevate the program, McCabe said.
Faculty members will meet with College Dean Ed Ayers at a meeting on Thursday to address some of the issues Gies pointed out.
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