Gary Scudder, Ph.D.

Tour Guide & Professor at Champlain College

I received my Ph.D. in British history from the University of Cincinnati in 1991 and have been teaching ever since, including the last nineteen years at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.  While at Champlain I created and ran a global educational network that allowed American students to talk to students in Africa, India and the Middle East. I have also designed and lead student trips to Zanzibar, Jordan, India, Sri Lanka, Spain, and Portugal.  Over the years I've been fortunate to receive a number of teaching awards, including being named the Vermont Professor of the Year in 2010.  In addition, I've spent close to three years overseas, on short trips and long, visiting forty countries, including locations as varied as Abu Dhabi and Beirut to Yemen and Zambia. 

Travel changed my life and broadened my intellectual horizons, and it seems that so much of my career since my first trip overseas has been shaped by a desire to share that transformation. Maybe the reason why it meant so much to me is that I didn't even have a Passport until I was forty-two. I'm still driven to do anything I can to share the world with others, especially students

Favorite Travel Memory:
Several years ago I spent a sabbatical year serving as Assistant Dean of Curriculum at Zayed University in the UAE.  One weekend I decided that I wanted to visit Yemen, so I flew in and spent a couple days in the capital of Sana'a.  In the morning I walked out of my hotel and just randomly picked out an old gentleman and followed him, and within a half-hour I was magnificently lost in the winding streets of the ancient city - and I loved it.  The people were unfailingly kind, helping me find my way and showing me unusual sights (I mean, seriously, who has seen the donkey hotel in Sana'a?), and were sincerely happy that I had come to visit their ignored world.

Steve Wehmeyer, Ph.D.

Tour Guide & Associate Professor at Champlain College

I’m an Associate Professor in the Core Division of Champlain College (Burlington, Vermont), where I teach interdisciplinary classes on Aesthetics, Community, and Religious Studies (among other things).  I hold a Ph.D. in Folklore and Mythology from UCLA, and I’ve spent the last 25 years of my life focused on intensive ethnographic study of the material and ritual arts of Africa and the African Diaspora.

Outside of Academia, I spent about 10 years working as a professional touring musician, and traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and around the world.  My experiences throughout the British Isles, France, Germany, Japan, and Mexico (among other places) opened my eyes to the ways in which visual and musical arts form a common language that helps us understand one another across the boundaries of culture.  My years on the road also gave me considerable experience planning and organizing national and international group travel.

Favorite Travel Memory:
When people talk about their most eye-opening travel experiences, they tend to talk about “firsts.”  But I think the most profound realization I ever had while travelling was on my second trip to Zanzibar.  One morning I strolled into Darajani Market well over a year after I’d visited it for the first time and found myself running into folks who not only remembered and recognized me, but greeted me like I’d never left.  It’s an amazing feeling to travel half-way around the world and encounter folks who want nothing more than to make you feel completely at home.

Peter Straube, MSA

Tour Guide & Associate Professor at Champlain College

I am a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, earned a masters degree in administration and management from St. Michael’s College, and hold professional certification as a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP).  After 17 years in the restaurant business, I made the shift to higher education and transformed myself into an Associate Professor at Champlain College’s Stiller School Business.

​When I think about the travel experiences that have been most memorable, I have noticed that they almost always have two things in common: they took place in an environment that felt a little (and sometimes a lot) out of my comfort zone, and they included personal encounters with “locals” who helped reveal the heart and soul of the destination, providing a deeper sense of place than the typical tourist will ever get. That’s what we intend for you, as part of any Horizons Learning Adventure.

Favorite Travel Memory:
Among my favorite travel memories, I have gone on a tiger safari in India, fished for piranha in Brazil, hiked into remote mountain villages in Morocco, gone 4-wheeling in the sand dunes of Dubai, prowled the night markets of Hong Kong, snorkeled the shores of several Caribbean islands and, along the way, explored a number of European countries. I’m looking forward to adding new experiences to my collection!

Melissa Knowlton

Digital Marketing Manager

My love for travel was first ignited through a travel course at Champlain College, and this class was taught by Gary Scudder himself. Scudder took myself and twenty other students on a ten day trip to Spain and Portugal, a trip I still talk about to this day.

I spent my entire junior year of college abroad, first by studying in Florence, Italy in the fall and then Dublin, Ireland in the spring. The opportunity allowed me to interact with new cultures, meet new people, and step (very far) outside of my comfort zone. Now, being a senior marketing major with a minor in global studies, I keep striving to find ways to pair my love of digital marketing with my love of traveling. That is how I ended up joining this incredible team.

As a student, traveling far from home can be intimidating, but I promise, nothing quite compares to the adventure that awaits.

Favorite Travel Memory:
Without a doubt, my fondest travel memory is white water rafting in Croatia. Whenever I go somewhere new, I always try to find something exciting and adrenaline-pumping. I had never gone white water rafting before then, and it is still one of my favorite moments from abroad.