Well-heeled alumni flock to AYA excursions

By Daniel Zimmerman

The little blue booklet reads like an itinerary of the rich and famous: indulge in a two-week trip across East Africa featuring a lecture by a Leakey in Nairobi, an excursion at the Mount Kenya Safari Club, and a chance to retrace mankind's first steps. If the heat gets to you, hop on an ocean-liner to Antarctica, in which one can cruise amidst glaciers along the earth's southernmost coast, seeing the sights and wildlife that inspired Darwin.

MICHAEL MARSLAND/OPA

Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead spent break outside the ivory tower, leading an AYA trip to the East African countryside

As glitzy as this may sound, Beverly Hills celebrities are not the ones booking these trips. The excursions are open to former Yalies through Alumni College Abroad, a division of the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA). Being an alum isn't the only prerequisite for gaining admittance to an AYA trip. One also needs to be quite wealthy-- a two-week trip can cost up to $7,500 per person.

Upon invite from the AYA, however, Yale professors can attend at a much reduced cost. Included among these roving faculty members is Yale Dean Richard Brodhead, BR '68. GRD '72. While students were enjoying this past winter break, the Dean joined alums in an exploration of the East African countryside.

While Brodhead's trip was subsidized, letting him share his knowledge on the area with fellow travelers, he himself learned a lot from his East African travels. "The configuration [of the land] was different in fundamental ways. It's as if the formation of the earth is taking place right before your eyes," he said.

Biology professor Timothy Goldsmith, who was invited on an AYA trip to Antarctica several years ago, expressed similar enthusiasm for the alumni program.Goldsmith teaches a popular human biology course dealing with evolutionary theory, and the trip enabled him to gain valuable on-sight experience. "The attraction was not only the spectacular scenery. To be in the Beagle Channel, a place that had been visited by Darwin, was a once in a lifetime experience," he said.

Despite the financial cost to the AYA, Judy Kohl, director of alumni education programs, said that matching Yale faculty members with an alumni group is mutually beneficial to both the University and the voyagers. "It is an interesting experience [for the alumni] to go along with pre-eminent scholars who can provide a behind-the-scenes tour," she said.

Dean Brodhead agreed with this assessment. "A faculty member goes along [to make for] an air of high-mindedness," he said. He described the trips as "a form of travel, of tourism put together in a way that gives [the trips] some intellectual context, and renews the association of alumni with the University."

However, faculty members must meet several criteria in order to be considered for leading an AYA trip. "The first rule is we cannot invite any faculty member who is teaching to leave," Kohl said. "[In addition], the faculty member has to have extant within his work something relating to the itinerary, or must have the willingness to develop a program relating to the itinerary."

Although the Dean's background as an English professor might lead some to question his qualifications for heading a tour to East Africa, Kohl said that "he [Dean Brodhead] really did extend himself to develop a program for that particular trip."

Brodhead acknowledged that "most people wouldn't associate me with East Africa." However, the Dean claimed that he is well-versed in the area's culture and history.

While the AYA's tours may be beneficial to both professors and well-heeled alumni, less affluent alums may have a hard time getting the chance to hear Brodhead's observations on the East African countryside. For most Yalies, it will take a substantial period of time spent in lucrative fields before they posess enough free time and cash.

Alums with limited resources will have to be satisfied with the setting of the Yale campus. On campus, College Education Abroad offers less expensive seminars for Yale grads. These seminars are also taught by tenured faculty members. "We make a conscious effort to offer programs over a wide range of prices," Kohl said.

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