As students finalize summer plans, including travel and summer school, approximately 400 students from colleges nationwide anticipate an experience that will be a fusion of the two -- the Semester at Sea program.
Administrators recently announced the faculty members who will accompany and instruct students and are finalizing plans for the first Semester at Sea program entirely run by the University.
This summer, the University will send students sailing along the western coast of Central and South America. Semester at Sea participants will start preparations June 10 with a week of meetings and will hit the high seas June 17. The premiere voyage is set to return Aug. 17.
The Program's Past
David Gies, University Commonwealth Prof. of Spanish, said as the school's first Semester at Sea dean, he has spent the last year taking the Semester at Sea program and ensuring that it is consistent with the University's academic standards.
"I am the first U.Va. dean that is working on Semester at Sea, so my voyage, which is summer 2007, is the very first U.Va. voyage, meaning U.Va. appointed the dean, and I have developed the courses, I have hired faculty, I have gotten the courses and syllabi approved," Gies said.
Although it had academic sponsorship of last summer's Semester at Sea voyage, the University did not hire any of the faculty or determine any of the courses. Additionally, University students who participated in the program only received elective credit for the classes they took.
"It has taken a year to get things in place," Gies said.
S.O.S.: Controversy Makes Waves
Gies said although last summer's voyage prompted a great deal of debate among University faculty, the main source of disagreement was not the quality of the program itself but rather how the University became involved with the program.
"A lot of anger came out over Semester at Sea, but now most of us agree that it wasn't about Semester at Sea, but it really was about the University of Virginia," Gies said.
According to Gies, faculty members felt they had not been sufficiently consulted. He said this criticism made the organizational process difficult but that he has put together an impressive group of professors this year.
Gies said he has worked hard to improve the program and is ready to set sail.
The Faculty
As dean, Gies' mission was to hire 17 faculty members and design 33 courses for the summer voyage.
"I think when the University community hears who I have hired, it is going to go a long way toward continuing to diminish part of the criticism," Gies said. "The people are absolutely stunning."
Of the 17 faculty members, seven are from the University and 10 are from other colleges and universities around the world.
"Part of the criticism is that the faculty wasn't any good, courses were 'lame,' but it wasn't true," Gies said. "It wasn't true then and it is even less true now that I've hired such stunning people."
The roster of University professors represents a wide variety of departments. Associate professors participating include English and Comparative Literature Prof. Anna Brickhouse, Environmental Sciences Prof. José Fuentes, History Prof. Brian Owensby and Spanish Prof. Ricardo Padrón. Architecture Prof. Richard C. Collins, Darden Prof. Peter Rodríguez and Music Prof. Judith Shatin will round out the team of faculty members.
The Voyage Itself
Gies said this summer's voyage will be geographically focused. The ship will be sailing from Mexico to Chile and will make stops along the Pacific Coast of Central and South America. According to Gies, the ship will stop in Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
All participating students will take a common course taught by Owensby along with two additional classes. According to Owensby, these two elective classes will be much smaller in size than his required common course.
Owensby described his course as an effort to "take a bunch of kids to what is known as the global south and do something other than just tour."
He added that he wants his students to critically think about what they are seeing along the trip.
"We'll talk about Incas, conquest, contemporary globalization, but in the context of doing that, I want them to reflect a bit on what it means to be able to go on a boat to learn something about these people and this culture," Owensby said.
He said he is also bringing teaching assistants along to help aid discussion.
Participating students will be able to accrue University credit toward their majors and minors for classes they complete on the trip.
Brickhouse said she is looking forward to the unique experience that teaching for Semester at Sea will provide.
Brickhouse will be teaching two classes and each will be customized for the Latin American experience.
"I've designed each course around each of the ports we're going to visit," Brickhouse said. "When we go near Lima, for example, one of the texts we will read will be [Herman] Melville's Benito Cereno."
When students are on the ship, they will be in class for about 4 and a half hours every day, Owensby said. This will include three regular courses and a forty-five-minute session of language training.
He added that when the ship stops at ports, the length of stay will range in length from two to six days, and students will not be taking classes.
Sailing Onward
Gies said Semester at Sea was a quality program to begin with, but that it has come even further with the hard work of the faculty he has hired.
"We've come 1,000 miles from last year," Gies said. "This whole thing is a voyage, not only a voyage on the ship, but a learning voyage for the University and for Semester at Sea."
He said he believes the overwhelming criticism has quieted among the University faculty and staff and people are really eager to participate this summer. He added that in the future, he believes any faculty member who wants to will have the opportunity to take part in the program.
"I think that any faculty member who wants to participate will have a chance to do so, but even more important: people who don't want to, don't have to," Gies said.
Owensby said he is excited he is one of the faculty members on the Semester at Sea experience, as it will allow students to experience much of what they are studying.
"I'm very much looking forward to it, Owensby said. "One of the great frustrations of teaching about a place outside the United States is that you sit in class and you talk about these places and you try to conjure up what they must have been like, and then you walk out of class and you walk back into contemporary American society and culture and it can be difficult to make the connection."
Gies said the application process for the summer is ongoing and he encourages interested students to apply.
Read More
U.Va. loses over $60 million in federal research cuts
By Bertie Azqueta | 2 days agoThe impacted grants include three from the NIH, seven from the NEH, one from the United States Agency for International Development and four from the State Department.
Department of Education reverses course, awards Federal Executive Institute to U.Va.
By Ford McCracken | 5 days agoThe ED had previously awarded the institute to Charlottesville City Schools.
Students reflect on the life and legacy of Pope Francis
By Bertie Azqueta | 5 days agoAt the University, students shared a range of perspectives on his legacy of reform, inclusivity and his impact on the global Catholic community.
