Asia, Europe and North America – Russia and U.S.

Sam Donaldson

Sam Donaldson, a 41-year veteran of ABC News, is one of the preeminent journalists of our time. He has served as chief White House correspondent for ABC News, co-anchor, with Diane Sawyer, of ABC's PrimeTime Live, co-anchor of This Week with Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts, and host of The Sam Donaldson Show - Live in America, a daily news/talk radio program. During his tenure, Donaldson has covered breaking news events, reported on a broad range of topics, and conducted scores of interviews with newsmakers including President Clinton and President George W. Bush. Donaldson is the recipient of numerous awards, including four Emmy awards and three Peabody awards.

Ross MacPhee

Ross MacPhee is former chairman of the Department of Mammalogy of the American Museum of Natural History, where he has been a curator since 1988. “When people ask, What is the point of going somewhere as remote and hard to get to as Wrangel Island?, for me the answer is clear. Wrangel Island, we believe, was the locus of the woolly mammoth’s last stand. Mammoths were living there at least as recently as 3,700 years ago—effectively yesterday, in my line of work. Finding such young material greatly enhances the possibility of obtaining high-quality, abundant DNA from the bones and teeth that litter the tundra. My colleagues and I are currently attempting to sequence the entire functional genome of the woolly mammoth—in other words, everything that genetically made a mammoth a mammoth—and specimens from Wrangel and adjacent parts of arctic Siberia will make this possible.”

Aron Crowell

Aron Crowell is an anthropologist and archaeologist who directs research, exhibitions, and educational programs for the Smithsonian’s Arctic Studies Center regional office in Anchorage. He currently leads the Sharing Knowledge project, which is working with Alaska Natives to document the Smithsonian’s Alaskan collections. Crowell is also developing a permanent exhibition and studies center for these materials in Anchorage, opening in 2010. His current field research focuses on the archaeology, cultural history, and Little Ice Age environmental conditions of southern coastal Alaska. Crowell co-curated the Crossroads of Continents exhibition and developed Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People. His research areas include the archaeology of coastal adaptations, Russian colonialism in Alaska, Alaska Native oral traditions, and museum studies.

James McCarthy

James McCarthy is Harvard’s Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography and former director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. He teaches courses in ocean and climate science and oversees Harvard’s program in environmental science and public policy. His research interests include marine plankton, biogeochemical cycles, and climate. He has served on and led many national and international groups charged with planning and implementing studies of global change. In 2001 he headed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Working Group II, which assessed the impacts of current and future global climate change. He was also a lead author on the recently completed Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. He and his wife, Sue, have led many trips to polar regions.

Tom Litwin

Tom Litwin, director of Smith College’s Clark Science Center, is a member of Smith’s Department of Biological Sciences and the Environmental Science & Policy Program as well as a graduate faculty member in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Prior to coming to Smith in 1989, he served as a senior research associate in Cornell University’s Division of Biological Sciences, and program director at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, where he received his Ph.D. At Smith, Dr. Litwin served as the founding director of the Environmental Science & Policy Program, for which he developed and taught the senior seminar in environmental science.

Sponsors

American Museum of Natural History

California Academy of Sciences

The Commonwealth Club

Columbia University

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Smithsonian Journeys

Cruise Ship

The Kapitan Khlebnikov

The Kapitan Khlebnikov was built in Finland in 1981, originally with the mission of keeping icy shipping lanes open for other vessels. Not simply an ice-reinforced ship, the Kapitan Khlebnikov is a powerful polar-class icebreaker which has sailed to extremely remote reaches of the globe since 1992; it was the first ship ever to circumnavigate Antarctica with passengers. The ship's interior provides passenger facilities designed for excellent comfort, with accommodations in 51 first-class outside cabin and suites. The vessel carries a maximum of 108 passengers. Two on-board helicopters are carried to help with navigation in ice and to accommodate shore excursions. The ship’s atmosphere is relaxed and informal.

The Millennium Alaskan Hotel

Friendly staff, attentive service, and beautiful guest rooms are what you will discover at the Millennium Alaskan Hotel, Anchorage. Classic Alaskan touches add color to the spacious lobby, and the newly remodeled guest rooms are handsomely furnished with the feel of Alaska and packed with thoughtful details. Double poster beds with plush pillow-top mattresses offer both foam and feather pillows to ensure a peaceful night's rest. In-room amenities include air-conditioning, refrigerator, 2 phones, voice mail, data port for high-speed Internet access, 25-inch TV, coffee maker, iron and ironing board, and more. An on-site restaurant, adorned with rich woods and polished brass, offers a colorful, dining environment with a spectacular lake view.

Airfare

Airfare between home and Anchorage is not included in the program rates. Please call High Country Passage for assistance with your travel arrangements.

Program Rates

From $17,995 per person, double occupancy