Williams-Mystic Program

Quite possibly the most awesome study-away semester program ever. Involves going down to Connecticut, living in houses of 4-6 people from various liberal arts colleges, where you cook (and sometimes maybe even clean) for yourself, across from a museum with three tall ships and several hundred smaller ones. Also involves a 10-day trip on a 133-foot tall ship, a week-long trip to California or Washington State, and a 4-day trip to Louisiana or the Chesapeake Bay. Also copious time spent doing individual research in a marsh, river, beach, rocky intertidal zone, or whatever coastal environment you prefer. And reading Moby Dick, and learning about marine policy. All with amazingly always-there-for-you professors. Super-interdisciplinary.

The entire program has 20 (+/- 2) students with five professors:

• Jim Carlton (Marine Ecology)
• Glenn Gordonier (Maritime History, 1600-present)
• Lisa Gilbert (Oceanography)
• Katy Robinson Hall (Marine Policy)
• Mary K. Bercaw Edwards or Dan Brayton (Literature of the Sea)

You also get to take skills, including:

• Squad
• Boat handling
• Boatbuilding
• Shipsmithing
• Sea chanteys

Williams College alumni of the Williams-Mystic program include Andrea Burke '06, Evan Chadwick '06, Candice Corvetti '07, Diana Davis '07, Jamie Hensel '05, Ariel Heyman '08, Abby McBride '06, Jane McCamant '05, Christine M. Marshall '08, Katie Montgomery '07, and Alden Robinson '06.

 Some people don't think it's quite as awesome as implied in this article.