Professor teaches class onboard ship
SLIPPERY ROCK — If students last fall said they were at sea in one of Professor Abbas Noorbakhsh's classes, they would have meant it literally.
Noorbakhsh, a Slippery Rock University School of Business professor, taught finance, international economics and the principles of managerial finance last semester aboard the seven-deck, 25,000-ton, nine-classroom cruise ship MV Explorer as it sailed the Atlantic Ocean. The assignment was part of the Semester at Sea floating college program sponsored by the University of Virginia.
“Here I'm teaching international financial management, financial management and global business,” said Noorbakhsh. “These are areas that I research and teach. Traveling is one way to do that.”
“In 2005, I was with a group that went to China and Hong Kong for two months, and when I was over there I had a roommate in Shanghai and he had done this semester at sea. I developed some interest in it.”
Noorbakhsh, who used an academic sabbatical for the project, started his seaborne semester Aug. 19 after his application was accepted. He had several days' orientation and training in Southhampton, England, before the Explorer set sail Aug. 23.
The ship had 42 faculty members from different colleges, 33 staff members, nine classrooms, a student union, dining halls, a books store and 617 students.
“I met two students from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a couple of students from King's College but no student from Slippery Rock,” he said.
The ship's stops included St. Petersburg, Russia; Gdansk, Poland; Antwerp, Belgium, Le Havre, France; Dublin, Ireland; Rostock and Kiel Canal Transit, Germany; Lisbon, Portugal; Cadiz, Spain; Salvador and Rio, Brazil; Bridgetown, Barbados; Havana, Cuba; and finally Florida.
“This is a multiple, study-abroad experience with the emphasis on global comparisons as opposed to students just immersing themselves in one culture,” said Lauren Judge, director of public affairs for the Institute of Shipboard Education, a nonprofit organization that oversees the semester at sea program.
Judge said the program has been in existence for 51 years.“I taught on ship. Students got credit granted by the University of Virginia,” Noorbakhsh, said.“When we were sailing, we had classes every day,” said Noorbakhsh, with no time off for weekends or holidays.“Every class required a field lab and a field lab was required for every student for 20 percent of their grade,” he said.For example, Noorbakhsh said, when the ship docked at Rostock, Germany, his managerial finance class took a bus to Hamburg and visited the Hamburg Stock Exchange and the chamber of commerce.When the Explorer stopped at Antwerp, Belgium, he said his international economics class traveled to the European Parliament in Brussels for a view of trade issues between the United States and Europe.“As part of the field work of the international economics class, we recorded the price of a Big Mac wherever in the world they found a Big Mac, which was almost everywhere,” said Noorbakhsh.“When you compare the price of a Big Mac in those countries with the average price of a Big Mac in the United States, that in principle is supposed to give you the exchange rate,” he said.“A Big Mac in Russia sold for 120 rubles, and then in the U.S. sold for $4. 120 rubles divided by four is the exchange rate,” he said.It wasn't all work. He said some stopovers were for people to visit and sample the countries' cultures.“When people got off the ship, you could go inland on these trips. If there were no classes, you could go overland to the next port and catch up with the ship,” he said.“I got off in Lisbon and traveled in Portugal and Spain,” Noorbakhsh said.“One interesting place in Portugal was the Evora Bone Chapel. The whole thing was built from human bones by Franciscan monks in the Middle Ages,” he said.“In St. Petersburg, we visited the apartment where Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote 'Crime and Punishment,'” he said.He also legally smoked a real Cuban cigar in Havana and visited Ernest Hemingway's residence outside of the Cuban city.“This is the first time I did this. I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could get in again,” he said of the program, which ended Dec. 8.“This was clearly a rewarding experience for Dr. Noorbakhsh,” said Philip Way, SRU provost and vice president for academic and student affairs.“SRU encourages its faculty to be constantly open to new learning and teaching opportunities, a fact that keeps our university at the forefront of delivering a high-quality, student-focused education. Indeed, this 12-week program provided a tremendous opportunity to visit with worldwide government and business leaders. Dr. Noorbakhsh can now share his insights with the campus community, allowing us to benefit from his experience,” Way said.
