Archbishop Tutu to Sail with Semester at Sea

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Archbishop Desmond Tutu will serve as “distinguished lecturer in residence” for the Semester at Sea program, sailing aboard the MV Explorer as it circumnavigates the globe during its spring 2007 voyage.

Les McCabe, president of the Institute for Shipboard Education, which administers the Semester at Sea program, made the announcement Sept. 25. The University of Virginia is the program’s academic sponsor.

A Rare Experience

The venerated world leader will join about 600 undergraduate students from colleges and universities around the world for the 100-day voyage. Not only will the archbishop interact with students on an informal basis throughout the semester, but he also will be guest lecturer in many courses in various disciplines, including anthropology, history, religion and political science.

“The spring 2007 voyage should be very special,” said Kathryn Ward, study abroad coordinator in UT’s International Programs Office. “I’m very excited for Asta Zumer and Jenna Yalich, our students who will be on the voyage.  

“It’s one thing to see in person someone of Archbishop Tutu’s stature and character on a stage, but to be in his class or be around him in casual conversation on the deck of a ship will have to be a rare experience in all these students’ lives.”

The itinerary for the voyage includes six days in Cape Town, South Africa, and Tutu will present a series of “interport” lectures as the ship sails from Brazil to South Africa. In addition, his presence will be keenly felt in the global studies program that is appropriately themed “Patterns of Conflict and Paths to Peace in a Diverse World.”

“I have had and will have again this coming spring the good fortune to be a small part of a wonderful experiment in education called Semester at Sea,” explained Tutu, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.  

“The mission of this grand experiment has been to foster greater intercultural understanding by exposing its participants—young and old, students and faculty—to people and cultures around the world while providing them with a sea-going classroom in which to study and absorb what they’ve seen and learned.

“In the great ocean of human affairs, this idea may seem like a small fish, but one fish can reach others, and those others can reach still more until the great web of understanding and enlightenment spreads out to encircle the globe. Only in that way can we move beyond our fears and learn, finally, to live in harmony with ourselves and our planet.”

A Model to Humanity

Tutu has participated in the Semester at Sea program on numerous occasions in the past and spoken to the students in Cape Town on other occasions, but this will be his first participation in an entire voyage.

McCabe said that Tutu’s presence on board the ship for 100 days will be life-changing.

“I was fortunate to be a participant on the archbishop’s first voyage with Semester at Sea in 1992 and to witness how transformative his presence on board was for many students in just 10 short days,” he said.  

“I can only imagine the impact he will have on students for an entire voyage around the world. Given the critical role South Africa has played for years as an important destination on Semester at Seas’ voyages of discovery, having Nobel Laureate Tutu on board the spring voyage will represent an unparalleled opportunity for our students. They will personally interact with and learn from a world-renowned figure who served as a powerful force in breaking down apartheid and also as a model to humanity through his leadership of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”

The spring 2007 semester voyage will begin on Feb. 4 in Nassau, Bahamas, and in addition to Cape Town, will visit San Juan, PR; Salvador, Brazil; Port Louis, Mauritius; Chennai, India; Penang, Malaysia; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Hong Kong; Qingdao, China; Kobe, Japan; and Honolulu before docking in San Diego on May 14.  

Courses offered during voyages are fully transferable to the student’s home institution. Students choose from more than 75 lower- and upper-division courses during the spring term in a variety of disciplines.

More than 45,000 students have participated since the Semester at Sea program began in 1963. UT began sending students on the voyages in the spring of 2001. Since then, 18 have participated.