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"Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway’s third wife, wrote a friend that Ponce de Leon was wrong about the fountain of youth: it is not a spurt of water, but a spurt of travel. My advice to my MIT colleagues is that you ought to try it." Reflecting on his experiences leading alumni trips for the MIT Alumni Travel Program, Professor Emeritus Jay Keyser continues: "Not only are MIT alumni hungry for your company but so too are the animals you are likely to encounter, especially if, like me, your last three trips have been to Africa. Whoever said it was a small world has never been to the Angaruka Plain, watched the Maasai kill a goat and drink its blood, seen the reflection of Mt. Kilimanjaro against the pre-dawn sky or been accosted by four lionesses while walking in the bush."
Professor Keyser traveled with a group of alumni last October on a tented camp safari in Kenya. He survived the journey with only a few scratches, and has lived to tell the tale.
Through the trips offered by the MIT Alumni Travel Program, designed to offer travel with education, MIT faculty can become involved and reap the satisfaction of sharing their expertise with our curious alumni while traveling to destinations around the globe.
During the past few years, a growing number of distinguished faculty have generously offered their time and energy to our alumni and in turn have enjoyed every aspect of the experience. The MIT Alumni Travel Program staff would like to speak to other faculty members who might be interested in similar opportunities.
This past March, Professor Emeritus Eugene B. Skolnikoff of Political Science led a group of 17 alumni and friends on an around-the-world program that made many stops, including Petra, Nepal, Tibet, Cambodia, and Uzbekistan. Of his travel experience, Professor Skolnikoff comments "This was a spectacular and fascinating trip that also provided an intensive opportunity to get to know MIT alumni from many classes and professions. They were deeply curious about all the places we visited, and proved to be personally and intellectually rewarding to be with. Recent developments at MIT also turned out to be of great interest, with a willingness to engage in serious discussion about the Institute. It was clear how strong was the tie most felt to MIT and how pleased they were to engage in extensive interaction with a member of the faculty."
Later this year Dr. Margery Resnick (Foreign Languages and Literatures) and Dr. Mary Fuller (Literature) will lead programs to Spain and Greenland, and Maritime Canada, respectively. Dr. Elizabeth Wood (History) departs this month with a group of alumni traveling from the Czech Republic to Germany.
Upcoming Alumni Trips
As the manager of the Alumni Travel Program, I would like to speak to faculty interested in participating on a trip, helping to provide the educational content for our alumni. Some of the destinations for which there are faculty openings are Saudi Arabia, the Western Mediterranean, Burgundy and Provence, Montana, The Great Lakes and Canada, Southern France and Italy, Japan, and three programs geared toward families in the Galapagos, Hawaii, and Tanzania.
How do I find out more?
Please contact me to get more information. I can be reached at <mchapman@mit.edu>, 253-8265, or by fax 258-6211.
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