Orientation

It's amazing how much the "orientation" for Semester at Sea is like the kind of thing I'd be doing if were going to meetings in preparation for the beginning of a new semester at Shenandoah University. There are some unique issues related to being a faculty member onboard a floating campus, however.

As I learned at this morning's IT workshop, we have somewhat limited internet bandwidth aboard the ship. Students (and faculty spouses) are limited with respect to the amount of time they can spend on the internet and how much they can upload or download. Mine is unlimited, but it is slow and they encourage us not to use the ships bandwidth for uploading photos. Fortunately, there is an "intranet" for communicating and sharing information aboard ship among faculty, staff, and students.

This afternoon we learned a great deal about the "structure" of the Institute for Shipboard Education, which is the sponsor of Semester at Sea (along with non-credit bearing enrichment voyages). ISE is independent of the University of Virginia but has a contractual relationship with UVa. My academic Dean is an employee of the University and not ISE. He picked the faculty and we, and our courses, were approved by the relevant departments at UVa. Indeed, I am legally an adjunct member of the UVa faculty this semester. Students will receive a UVa transcript at th45e end of the program and get their academic credit through UVa. ISE also owns the ship, but it is managed and run by a ship management corporation. The ship has a crew of a bit less than 200 persons. So with the 435 students, lifelong learners (about 35), thirty faculty members, and 30 student affairs personweennel, we are somewhere between 725 and 750 all together.

Two thirds of the students to board the ship in Halifax in a couple of days are women. They come from all over the United States and a few from Canada, China, Europe, and South America. Most are sophomores and juniors. The most common majors are Business and Mass Communication.

We are about to have a session on student conduct. If I hear anything interesting, I'll report it later!

Barry