SEMESTER AT SEA University of Virginia is named academic sponsor of Sea school

The University of Pittsburgh was the academic sponsor for the past 15 years.
PITTSBURGH --The University of Virginia is the new academic home for the Institute for Shipboard Education's Semester at Sea program, a floating campus experience that takes students around the world.
John T. Casteen III, University of Virginia president, pointed to the university's Virginia 2020 Commission on International Initiatives that was created five years ago to cultivate a global perspective in students, faculty and members of the university community as well as to establish the university as a global presence as a reason for to accept the sponsorship.
The partnership with the Institute for Shipboard Education will begin with the summer 2006 session.
A group of California businessmen created the University of the Seven Seas in 1963 and, after three voyages, Chapman College of California became the academic sponsor of the program, renaming it World Campus Afloat.
In 1967, the Institute for Shipboard Education, a nonprofit corporation, was formed and renamed the program Semester at Sea, moving the academic sponsorship to the University of Colorado.
Academic sponsor
From 1980 until this summer, the program's academic partner has been the University of Pittsburgh.
While both the spring and fall voyages in 2006 have been booked to capacity, spaces are available for the summer session.
The standard cost of Semester at Sea is $15,775 for a 100-day fall or spring voyage and $9,525 for a 65-day summer program. Financial assistance is available to students based on need.
Semester at Sea is a global comparative study abroad experience. Each year during both the fall and spring semesters, approximately 670 students from colleges and universities around the country take an around-the-world voyage on the floating campus, the MV Explorer.
A shorter trip with slightly fewer students is held for the summer session.
Almost 40,000 students from approximately 1,500 institutions have studied and traveled to 60 countries through the program.
Setting the tone
The University of Virginia will set the academic tone of the program, appointing an academic dean for each voyage who will create the curriculum and recruit the approximately 28 faculty members from across the country.
All participants will receive academic credit from Virginia, which can then be transferred to the students' home institutions. Also on board each voyage is 35-member administrative staff that includes a director of student life, eight student residence life professionals, a physician and medical assistants.
& quot;We believe that the caliber and reputation of the University of Virginia will serve to strengthen our program further and help to ensure our long-term success at providing a unique international experience to our students, & quot; said Les McCabe, president of the Institute for Shipboard Education.
Courses on the voyages are offered in 20 academic areas, ranging from anthropology to environmental science to theater arts, and course content is integrated with countries on the itinerary. Students choose from more than 70 courses (30 for the summer session), and classes meet daily while the ship is at sea.
As part of each port stay along the way, the students take part in field activities directed by the faculty members based on their own international experiences. The fieldwork relates to the on-board courses and counts for 20 percent of the hours needed for course credit.
Groundbreaking trips
Over the years, Semester at Sea's floating campus has become known for its groundbreaking trips. For instance, a stop in Vietnam in 1994 was the first large-scale visit by American college students since the Vietnam War. The program made similar visits to China, South Africa and the former Soviet Union. In spring of 1999, the group made what was believed to be the largest sanctioned visit to Cuba by a collection of American college students in nearly four decades.
The spring 2006 voyage, which sets sail Jan. 19, will leave from Nassau, Bahamas, and ends at San Diego on April 28. The summer session leaves from Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 17 and ends at Seattle, Wash., on Aug. 21.