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Art, Architecture, and Culture of the Mayan World
Astronomers Alley: Chile's Atacama Desert
These folks wrote the book—or, in this case, taught the course—on the locations you can travel to. Get to know the expert leaders for each Journey.
Wondrium Journeys Expert Leaders
Meet the
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Dr. Stuart Sutherland is a Professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at The University of British Columbia (UBC). Raised in the United Kingdom, he earned an undergraduate degree in geology from the University of Plymouth and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Leicester for his studies on Silurian microfossils called chitinozoa. Professor Sutherland discovered his passion for teaching during an appointment at Brunel University in London. He went on to postdoctoral research at the Natural History Museum in London, working with other paleontologists to understand the Devonian organic-walled microfossils of the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain. During this time, he completed a postgraduate teaching degree at Sheffield Hallam University. Since 2000, Professor Sutherland has been on the faculty at UBC’s Vancouver campus, where his interests center on Earth history and paleontology. He is a three-time winner of the UBC Earth and Ocean Sciences Teaching Award. He also received the Faculty of Science Teaching Award and the Killam Teaching Prize, and he was named a “popular professor” in two editions of Maclean’s Guide to Canadian Universities. Dr. Sutherland is the professor of two popular Wondrium courses: A New History of Life and Paleontology.
Stuart Sutherland
The 80th Anniversary of D-Day
David Stone
Joyce E. Salisbury is Professor Emerita of Humanistic Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, where she taught history and served as associate dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences and director of International Education. She earned her Ph.D. in Medieval History at Rutgers University, specializing in religious and social history.
Professor Salisbury began her career performing research in Spain, and she has continued to travel there to conduct further research, lecture, and guide students and other travelers. She is currently working on a book about the history of early Christian martyrdom.
In addition to receiving the University of Wisconsin’s Outstanding Teaching award, she was named Professor of the Year in 1991 by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. She has taught three times on Semester at Sea, a study-abroad program on a ship that circumnavigates the world with more than 500 students for a full semester.
Professor Salisbury is a prolific author whose books include the award-winning Perpetua’s Passion: Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman; The Beast Within: Animals in the Middle Ages; Rome’s Christian Empress: Galla Placidia Rules at the Twilight of the Empire; and the widely used textbook The West in the World. She has been interviewed many times on National Public Radio on topics from religion to the books she has written, and she appeared on the PBS special The Road from Christ to Constantine.
Jennifer Paxton is a Clinical Associate Professor of History at The Catholic University of America. She is also the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and director of the University Honors Program. She was previously a Professorial Lecturer in History at Georgetown University, where she taught for more than a decade. Jennifer received her Ph.D. in History from Harvard University, where she also taught and earned a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. She is a widely published, award-winning writer and a highly regarded scholar, earning both a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities and a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship.
Jennifer lectures regularly at the Smithsonian Institution and serves as an expert on Scotland and Ireland programs for Smithsonian. Her research focuses on England from the reign of King Alfred to the late 12th century. She is particularly interested in the intersection between the authority of church and state and the representation of the past in historical texts, especially those produced by religious communities. She is completing a book that examines how monastic historians shaped their narratives to project present polemical concerns onto the past. She is also working on a project that examines changing views of abbatial leadership across the Anglo-Norman world in the 11th and 12th centuries.
Joyce Salisbury
Jennifer Paxton
Khristin N. Montes is an Assistant Professor of Art History in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts. She is a broadly trained art historian with additional background in anthropology, archaeology, and museum studies. Her specific areas of research include Maya and Aztec art and architecture, Indigenous American visual culture and research methodologies, and intersections between art production and social justice. Dr. Montes has recently published on exhibition practices involving Native American, Maya, and African objects in museums; sacred landscapes and architecture in the Maya world; and on the importance of decolonizing college and university-level art history curriculum. Before joining Regis University, she was the Project Facilitator for the Cultural Heritage, Ecology, and Conservation of Yucatec Cenotes Project—a cultural and environmental sustainability and educational project that took place in nine Maya communities between 2018 and 2020. The “Cenotes Project” was jointly organized through InHerit (Indigenous Heritage Passed to Present) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Universidad de Oriente in Valladolid, Yucatán, Mexico, and sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Dr. Montes holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago and M.A.s from Northern Illinois University.
Dr. Robert Greenberg is Music Historian-in-Residence with San Francisco Performances. A graduate of Princeton University, Professor Greenberg holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has seen his compositions–which include more than 45 works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles–performed all over the world, including New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, England, Ireland, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands.
He has served on the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley; California State University, Hayward; and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and has lectured for some of the most prestigious musical and arts organizations in the United States, including the San Francisco Symphony, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Van Cliburn Foundation, and the Chicago Symphony. For The Great Courses, he has recorded more than 500 lectures on a range of composers and classical music genres.
Professor Greenberg is a Steinway Artist. His many other honors include three Nicola de Lorenzo Composition Prizes and a Koussevitzky commission from the Library of Congress. He has been profiled in various major publications, including The Wall Street Journal; Inc. magazine; and the London Times.
Darius Arya is the Director of the American Institute for Roman Culture. He has led excavations, including at the Roman site of Ostia Antica, and taught university programs in Italy. He is also a Fulbright Scholar, a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and a guest scholar of the Getty Conservation Institute. He has appeared on HISTORY®, National Geographic, and Discovery, as well as BBC Radio 4 and CNN, and he hosted the PBS series Ancient Invisible Cities.
Art, Architecture, and Culture of the Maya World
Kristin Montez
Robert Greenberg
Darius Arya
Darius Arya is the Director of the American Institute for Roman Culture. He has led excavations, including at the Roman site of Ostia Antica, and taught university programs in Italy. He is also a Fulbright Scholar, a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and a guest scholar of the Getty Conservation Institute. He has appeared on HISTORY®, National Geographic, and Discovery, as well as BBC Radio 4 and CNN, and he hosted the PBS series Ancient Invisible Cities.
Dr. Robert Greenberg is Music Historian-in-Residence with San Francisco Performances. A graduate of Princeton University, Professor Greenberg holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has seen his compositions–which include more than 45 works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles–performed all over the world, including New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, England, Ireland, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands.
He has served on the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley; California State University, Hayward; and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and has lectured for some of the most prestigious musical and arts organizations in the United States, including the San Francisco Symphony, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Van Cliburn Foundation, and the Chicago Symphony. For The Great Courses, he has recorded more than 500 lectures on a range of composers and classical music genres.
Professor Greenberg is a Steinway Artist. His many other honors include three Nicola de Lorenzo Composition Prizes and a Koussevitzky commission from the Library of Congress. He has been profiled in various major publications, including The Wall Street Journal; Inc. magazine; and the London Times.
Khristin N. Montes is an Assistant Professor of Art History in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts. She is a broadly trained art historian with additional background in anthropology, archaeology, and museum studies. Her specific areas of research include Maya and Aztec art and architecture, Indigenous American visual culture and research methodologies, and intersections between art production and social justice. Dr. Montes has recently published on exhibition practices involving Native American, Maya, and African objects in museums; sacred landscapes and architecture in the Maya world; and on the importance of decolonizing college and university-level art history curriculum. Before joining Regis University, she was the Project Facilitator for the Cultural Heritage, Ecology, and Conservation of Yucatec Cenotes Project—a cultural and environmental sustainability and educational project that took place in nine Maya communities between 2018 and 2020. The “Cenotes Project” was jointly organized through InHerit (Indigenous Heritage Passed to Present) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Universidad de Oriente in Valladolid, Yucatán, Mexico, and sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Dr. Montes holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago and M.A.s from Northern Illinois University.
Jennifer Paxton is a Clinical Associate Professor of History at The Catholic University of America. She is also the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and director of the University Honors Program. She was previously a Professorial Lecturer in History at Georgetown University, where she taught for more than a decade. Jennifer received her Ph.D. in History from Harvard University, where she also taught and earned a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. She is a widely published, award-winning writer and a highly regarded scholar, earning both a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities and a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship.
Jennifer lectures regularly at the Smithsonian Institution and serves as an expert on Scotland and Ireland programs for Smithsonian. Her research focuses on England from the reign of King Alfred to the late 12th century. She is particularly interested in the intersection between the authority of church and state and the representation of the past in historical texts, especially those produced by religious communities. She is completing a book that examines how monastic historians shaped their narratives to project present polemical concerns onto the past. She is also working on a project that examines changing views of abbatial leadership across the Anglo-Norman world in the 11th and 12th centuries.
Joyce E. Salisbury is Professor Emerita of Humanistic Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, where she taught history and served as associate dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences and director of International Education. She earned her Ph.D. in Medieval History at Rutgers University, specializing in religious and social history.
Professor Salisbury began her career performing research in Spain, and she has continued to travel there to conduct further research, lecture, and guide students and other travelers. She is currently working on a book about the history of early Christian martyrdom.
In addition to receiving the University of Wisconsin’s Outstanding Teaching award, she was named Professor of the Year in 1991 by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. She has taught three times on Semester at Sea, a study-abroad program on a ship that circumnavigates the world with more than 500 students for a full semester.
Professor Salisbury is a prolific author whose books include the award-winning Perpetua’s Passion: Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman; The Beast Within: Animals in the Middle Ages; Rome’s Christian Empress: Galla Placidia Rules at the Twilight of the Empire; and the widely used textbook The West in the World. She has been interviewed many times on National Public Radio on topics from religion to the books she has written, and she appeared on the PBS special The Road from Christ to Constantine.
An award-winning professor, Dr. Sarah Rugheimer is an astrobiologist and astrphysicist at Jesus College Oxford. Her research focuses on the atmospheric composition of exoplanets, and ways of detecting life. After completing her Ph.D. in 2015, she received a three-year Simons Origin of Life Fellowship, which she undertook at the University of St Andrews. Dr. Rugheimer’s accomplishments include the 2018 Caroline Herschel Prize winner for Promising Female Junior Astronomer in the UK, the Rosalind Franklin Award Lecture for Physical Sciences and Mathematics by the British Science Association, The Barrie Jones Award Lecture, and being selected as a TED Fellow.
Dr. Rugheimer earned her bachelor's degree in physics at the University of Calgary. She completed her master’s and Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics at Harvard University. She co-hosts a podcast with Dr. Sarah Ballard, called 'Self-care with Drs. Sarah,' which covers topics such as women in science and navigating academic careers.
Dr. Stuart Sutherland is a Professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at The University of British Columbia (UBC). Raised in the United Kingdom, he earned an undergraduate degree in geology from the University of Plymouth and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Leicester for his studies on Silurian microfossils called chitinozoa. Professor Sutherland discovered his passion for teaching during an appointment at Brunel University in London. He went on to postdoctoral research at the Natural History Museum in London, working with other paleontologists to understand the Devonian organic-walled microfossils of the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain. During this time, he completed a postgraduate teaching degree at Sheffield Hallam University. Since 2000, Professor Sutherland has been on the faculty at UBC’s Vancouver campus, where his interests center on Earth history and paleontology. He is a three-time winner of the UBC Earth and Ocean Sciences Teaching Award. He also received the Faculty of Science Teaching Award and the Killam Teaching Prize, and he was named a “popular professor” in two editions of Maclean’s Guide to Canadian Universities. Dr. Sutherland is the professor of two popular Wondrium courses: A New History of Life and Paleontology.
The information imparted to us and the cultural experiences were both exciting and eye-popping. On this trip, we were able to completely relax and enjoy each day because Wondrium planned and executed this tour so well.
–Mark & Rachel H.
Wondrium delivers. If you're looking for an educational adventure with like-minded people, then this is a go-to.
–Karyn A.
Due to the well-planned pacing and cultural aspects, it wasn't just a canned touristy event but really showed a lot of the localities. Wondrium really went all out to make this a great tour.
–Teresa L.
Stuart Sutherland
Journey on the Jurassic Coast
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