Hi:
I plan to use this blog to provide information for our upcoming voyage. I can post information, files, and materials that should be useful to you. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
First order of business: Mark White's MP4 file which explains the FDPs. Although he did this for his voyage (spring 2010), I think you'll find it useful.
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UPCOMING DEADLINES:
AUGUST 15: One-page course descriptions
SEPTEMBER 30: Detailed syllabus for each course
OCTOBER 30: General ideas for 2 FDPs (total, not 2 per course)
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The Fall 2010 Academic Calendar should be posted within a week; this will give you an idea of time between ports and will help you prepare your syllabi. Please continue to check the Semester at Sea website (semesteratsea.org), which contains useful information about our voyage. It is updated frequently.
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SYLLABUS: I'm posting here a template for the preparation of your syllabi. Please note that sample syllabi (that is, syllabi that have been approved for past voyages) are available on the Semester at Sea website. Go to http://www.semesteratsea.com, then "voyages," "current," "future," or "past" voyages, then "courses." Each course will have a syllabus attached. There, you will find models for readings, field work, evaluation, etc.
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CONTRACTS will be issued three months prior to sailing, once all of the syllabi are approved by UVA and official letters of appointment are generated.
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Voyage Theme:
I have developed an overarching theme that you might consider as you create your courses. This is a mere suggestion; some courses will lend themselves better than others to looking at the world through this perspective. Feel free to adapt it (or ignore it) as your class demands.
"National Identity in a Globalized World"
How do nations envision themselves (their values, their history, their destinies) and how do they project that vision beyond the borders of their own geography? As a corollary, how are those very same nations perceived by others? How do they "sell" themselves in the global marketplace? What images do they project —intentionally or not— to others through the cultural artifacts they produce, the history they remember and teach, the music they write, or the artistic endeavors in which they engage? Are cultures invented? Are they artifacts to be consumed by tourists, or are they authentic representations of the achievements and aspirations of national groups? What vision does the US project abroad (and how to others perceive that vision)? We will look at these questions through the perspective of history, politics, business, anthropology, the law, the arts, museum studies, tourism, film, literature, music, business, and the economy in order to "see" both the intended ("canned" or "manipulated") projection and what the rest of the world actually perceives. We expect that our voyagers will, through classroom work and in-country travels, reflect on these questions as they experience first-hand the cultures they will be studying.
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SYLLABI and FIELD PROGRAM
As you work on your syllabi, I'm writing to clarify some of the murky directions in the ISE instructions. I hope that my comments below will help you 1) prepare the syllabi, and 2) lower your angst!
What is IMPORTANT for the syllabi is the academic content: goals, how much reading the students will do, what kind of writing assignments (and how many/much), and the Field Component.
For the Field Component section, here are some thoughts:
1) The FC is the experiential learning part of Semester at Sea, what distinguishes it from land-based learning.
2) 20% of the students' grade will come from what they do on land.
3) To meet that 20%, students will select from a menu of options (think of this as a mosaic, or a cafeteria line from which they will select some, but not all, items). Those menu items will be selected from various categories (think Column A, Column B, Column C, if you will):
1. FDPs (Faculty Directed Practica): these are trips that you will create from contacts you have in the various countries. They will be designed to meet some requirements for your course. FOR NOW, you don't need to provide exact details (Lynn Amine's list of places and costs won't serve us yet) -- rather, think of general ideas that might be valuable: a visit to a local market, a meeting with a company's CEO, a tour of a salination plant, a reading with a local author, etc. I am enclosing a spread sheet of former FDPs (called "FDP suggestions"), a (garbled) list of things that have been done in the past. These are only suggestions, ideas to fire you up.
2. Canned Trips: these are trips that ISE puts together under the heading of International Field Programs. They are touristy trips, but often have a wonderful eductational component (visit to museums, monuments, etc., with expert guides). They can be tailored to YOUR needs, that is, you can have the students observe certain things, or collect certain materials from them. Our International Field Program is not yet fixed, but it will look very much like the Fall 2009 Field Program. Go to semesteratsea.com, currrent voyage, international field program -- and you'll see a complete listing of possibilities. If one or more of these trips looks particularly useful to you for your course goals, you will be able to include them on the menu of possibilities you provide to your students. You might also be able to "adopt" this trip as one of your FDPs.
3. Independent Travel: students can always do it by themselves (in pairs or small groups). As the head off, they can be armed with your assignments (observe, collect, write, whatever) and an idea of how their work will be graded in class.
We cannot require students to attend any specific trip (due to cost or scheduling conflicts), but you can (MUST) demand that they attend a range of them, a collection of them, in order to fulfill the 20% requirement.
PAST SYLLABI: All syllabi from voyages since Spring 2007 can be found here. Look at each course under "Course Listing." This resource might help you find models for your courses.
http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/past-voyages/past-voyages.php
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THE AMAZING FALL 2010 FACULTY
Among your faculty colleagues is . . .
A former college president
An understudy in the national tour of Phantom of the Opera
A lead in an off-Broadway play
A Virginia State Delegate
A former mayor
An expert on spider behavior
A photographer who has documented human sex trafficking in the brothels of Bangladesh
A Distinguished Arts Educator Award recipient
An ordained Episcopalian priest
An ethnomusicologist who has lived in China for 7 years
A woman whose new book just won the National Book Award for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
A National Academy of Sciences Research Fellow
A man who has been photographed with Sandra Day O'Connor, Morgan Freeman, Vanessa Redgrave, Bill Clinton, Katie Couric, Tommy Lee, Desmond Tutu, Dave Matthews, Lily Tomlin, Robert Duvall, Barak Obama, Madeline Albright, and Yo Yo Ma
An expert on bryozoans
A corresponding member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History
A docent on the tall ship 'Californian' (100 foot masts!)
A commissioner on a National League fantasy league baseball team
A man who has done over 1000 miles of white-water rafting
A guy who taught in a maximum security prison
A chorus director
A guy who in a former life helped to design attack submarines
A women's soccer coach
An extra on "Dawson's Creek"
A man who played the main role —a woman— in a drama production
An expert on Virginia (Jefferson's) horses
A guy who lectured on an around-the-world private jet voyage
A colleague who has briefed the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan
A trained potter
A child star on two regular PBS TV programs
A woman who jumped out of a perfectly functioning airplane at 14,000 feet
An accomplished English horn soloist
A participant in a wedding at the Supreme Court
An expert on human castration
A former pub singer
A major in the US Air Force
A skilled "boarder" (surfboard, snowboard, wakeboard)
A two-time winner of the Gerontological Society of America's "best book of the year" prize
The 2008 recipient of The Monty —his university's highest service award A former Jesuit high school principal
The teacher of the Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth)
A man who has delivered 100 babies
A performer in plays by Edward Albee, Arthur Miller, and Neil Simon
A Peace Corps volunteer who was once attacked by a grizzly bear
A consultant/trainer for the first group of Peace Corps volunteers to work in the former Soviet Union
An award-winning photographer with work published in National Geographic, Natural History, and the New York Times
A Spanish knight
The winner of his university's 2009 Professor of the Year award
A woman who rode a horse in a Spanish bullring (while the bulls were in there!)
A woman who has spent more than 600 days on the MV Explorer
An individual who once gave Robert Kennedy, Jr., a ride to the airport
A man who, like Hemingway, has run with the bulls in Pamplona (7 times)
The builder of fuelwood-saving cookstoves in Ouagadougou (look it up)
A worker who helped develop the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
A former children's theater featured performer (Raggedy Ann)
A sixth-grade yo-yo champion
A man who has rafted and kayaked over 1000 miles of whitewater
An individual who had an office at George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch
A bluegrass guitar and banjo player
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Colleagues. Below I'm posting a note from the UVa librarians, which will provide information about procedures concerning book and article reserves.
Dear F10 Faculty!
Your SAS librarians welcome you and will soon be working to prepare for your fall voyage.
· Chris Ruotolo, SAS F10 voyage librarian, from UVA’s Alderman Library , cjr2q@virginia.edu
· Shannon Bloomquist, SAS F10 voyage assistant librarian, from Believe in Science Software, Indianapolis, IN
· Mary Johnston, SAS librarian, providing support from UVA’s Alderman Library, mjohnston@virginia.edu
Once course syllabi have been approved, we will work to ensure you have what is needed on the ship to be successful in your courses.
· Course reserve books and films. Based on funding and the current collection, we will request the purchase of as many of your requested reserve materials as possible and will let you know of those we are unable to purchase. ATTENTION UVA FACULTY: UVA library materials are needed in Charlottesville, so please don’t plan on taking UVA library materials with you. If you need a book or film added to the SAS shipboard library that is not listed on your syllabus, please let us know.
· Course readings. For those faculty not requiring a course reader, we will provide electronic copies of each journal article and book chapter requested on your syllabus, contingent on copyright regulations. You will need to seek copyright permission from the publisher only if you wish to go outside of these guidelines:
One chapter from a book.
One article from a journal issue.
Government publications.
Exams, homework solutions, lecture notes, student papers, etc.
Anything for which you own the copyright.
Anything in the public domain.
See http://guides.lib.virginia.edu/semesteratsea for more information about how we will prepare for your voyage, for on-land access to the shipboard catalog, and for a description of shipboard library services. If you have any questions, please call Chris or Mary.
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A note from our Executive Dean, Sue Weitz:
Hi, there!
My name is Sue Weitz and I am your Executive Dean for Semester at Sea Fall 2010 Voyage! I am so excited to be a part of Semester at Sea once again. This will be my third voyage with Semester at Sea and I feel confident and ready to set sail.
I am presently the Vice President for Student Life at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Yes, I am Proud to be a ZAG! I have held this position since 1987 and have been in higher education for over 30 years! I received my BA and BS degrees in Psychology and Physical Education at Albertson’s College of Idaho in 1971. I also received my M.Ed., Education Guidance & Counseling degree from the College of Idaho. I began Ph.D. classes at Indiana University in Higher Education Administration and finalized it at Gonzaga University in 1991. Dissertation Title: “An Examination of the Relationship between Self-reported Alcohol Consumption and Self-reported Cognitive, Affective, and Environmental Factors of Private University Students.”
I am an active member of the community and have led and volunteered in numerous groups and organizations on campus and within the Spokane/Idaho communities. I LOVE Semester at Sea and being active with all the programs – A floating university voyage of discovery – what more stimulation for education can you get than that! I have written several publications, however, the one I’m most proud of is “Who Are Our Student,” Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Spring, 1997.
I live in Newman Lake, Washington (near the Idaho border) up in the woods with my husband. We have three great kids – two of whom will be sailing with us (I hope)! I love ballroom and swing dancing and tennis. Actually, I love all sports and being active . . . those are just my favorites. My loves are my family and traveling (especially semester at sea). I believe in not taking yourself too seriously and having fun in life and in all you do. I look forward to our voyage and getting to meet and work with all of you.
See you in August!
We have a Dean of Students!
Here's Jeremy Stringer....
Hi, all! This is Jeremy Stringer from Seattle, Washington. I am very privileged to be the Dean of Students for the fall voyage. This will be my first time sailing with Semester at Sea, and I am very excited about it. I connect very strongly with the voyage theme of “National Identity in a Globalized World.” I have led two education abroad courses, and I see the theme opening a very important conversation about our shared future together. I hope that the Student Life staff will play an active role in supporting and extending faculty efforts to bring this theme to life for our students.
Professionally, I am an associate professor and director of Seattle University’s master’s program in Student Development Administration. This program prepares future student affairs administrators. My bachelor’s degree and master’s degree are in English, and my Ph.D. is in Educational Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I have held several administrative positions in higher education, including vice president for student development. I guess you could say my position for the fall of 2010 is a return to my higher education roots.
I am looking forward to getting to know all the faculty and staff on the voyage. It sounds like there are some amazing people coming! My interests, outside of university life, are my family (lovely wife of 30 years and three grown daughters), baseball (MLB and fantasy), film noir, and modern art. I have also been trying to learn about the wine of the world one glass at a time….
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January 10, 2010: MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!
I am pleased to announce that the Archbishop Desmond Tutu will join our Fall 2010 voyage! The Archbishop (Noble Peace Prize, 1984 ) is a cleric and activist who has worked for human rights for his whole life. In 2005, he won the Gandhi Peace Prize and in 2009 the Presidential Medal of Honor. He has often been referred to as "South Africa's Moral Conscience." We are thrilled and honored to welcome him aboard the MV Explorer yet again (and we thank ISE for making this happen).++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
THE MV EXPLORER: YOUR HOME FOR FALL 2010
Here are some random pictures of the ship, to give you an idea of the facility.
Library
Tymitz (or Pursar's) Square
Timitz (or Pursar's) Square
The Union (auditorium)
Computer Lab
Weights Deck
Weights Deck
Deck 7 pool area
Deck 7 pool
Off Deck 7
Deck 6 outside dining area
Classroom 1
Deck 6 (Garden Lounge) dining area
Deck 6 (Garden Lounge) dining area)
Deck 6 (Garden Lounge) dining area
Deck 5 dining room
Deck 5 dining room (Captain's Table)
Deck 5 dining room
Deck 5 dining room
Faculty Staff (Glazer) Lounge
Faculty Staff (Glazer) Lounge
Classroom 5
Campus Store (side 1)
Campus Store (side 2)
Basketball Court
Workout Room
Workout Room
Barber Shop / Hair Salon
Spa
Classroom 4
Classroom 3
Study Area
Hallway++++++++++++++FACULTY ROOMS
Faculty rooms are of two types: small balcony or sitting room. Both are lovely, comfortable, and serviceable. Rooms are assigned by lottery (other factors: seniority, amount of teaching, good looks), late in the game. Trust me, you'll be comfortable and will like your "digs." I took two short videos, but one seems to be corrupted (5th floor small balcony), so I'll post the other here (4th floor junior suite).
JUDITH MAYOTTE to occupy the first Desmond Tutu Distinguished Chair in Global Understanding!
Dr. Judith Mayotte will join the MV Explorer for three weeks in October, 2010, in order to deliver one formal lecture and provide guidance and resources for students and faculty. Here's her Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Ann_Mayotte
