Burgundy and Provence River Cruise

Writer and lecturer Adam Tanner spent many years as a foreign correspondent for Reuters news agency, including as Balkans bureau chief; San Francisco bureau chief; and correspondent in Germany, Moscow, and Washington D.C. He has long studied colonialism, economic engagement, and globalization, with a particular interest in the enduring impact of Europe on Asia, Latin America, and Africa. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg TV, NPR, and the BBC, and written for publications such as Scientific America, Forbes, Fortune, Time, and Frommer’s guidebooks.  

Adam was a fellow and associate at Harvard University from 2011-26, initially at the Nieman Foundation, then the Institution of Quantitative Social Science, and most recently, the Shorenstein Center Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government.  He has written two books on privacy and commerce: Our Bodies, Our Data and What Stays in Vegas.

Barbara J. Whitehead is the A. W. Crandall Professor of History at DePauw University and former chair of the history department. She earned her BA in history at Harvard University and her PhD from Bryn Mawr College. This educational background fostered a love of early modern Europe that has been the focus of her teaching and writing for over thirty years. At DePauw, Barbara has developed a broad spectrum of courses centered on European history ranging from the Viking Age and Crusades to the European witch hunts, the French Revolution, and the history of happiness. Her research in intellectual history has led to an edited volume on early modern women’s education and publications on forgotten figures of the 18th-century Enlightenment.

In addition to leading more than 15 academic tours of Europe, Barbara has served as the on-site director of the American Colleges of the Midwest Central European Studies Program in the Czech Republic, where she taught European history. She also taught in the Danish International Studies Program in Copenhagen as a visiting professor. In addition to living in the Czech Republic and Denmark, Barbara has also lived in Rome and Paris.

Stephen Clancy is an art and architectural historian with expertise in ancient, medieval, and Renaissance art and architecture. He recently retired as professor of art history at Ithaca College in New York, where he taught for 27 years. He received his PhD from Cornell University, and his research career began with a focus on 15th-century French and Flemish illuminated manuscripts, for which he received a Fulbright scholarship in Brussels, Belgium. Stephen also received grants from the Hewlett and Keck foundations to investigate how technology can open up new avenues for understanding the architecture of the distant past. This culminated in his work with a team from the University of Melbourne in Australia on an interactive tool entitled “Virtual Chartres Cathedral.” As a visiting fellow at the Australia National University in Canberra, he focused on interactions between Muslims, Jews, and Christians in the Mediterranean basin during the Middle Ages.

The academic pursuit he has enjoyed above all others is teaching and sharing his knowledge of art and architecture. A popular Smithsonian Journeys Expert, he has led more than 20 tours and cruises through the Mediterranean region and northern Europe.

Tim Richardson is a leading historian of gardens, art, architecture, and food and the author of more than 25 acclaimed books, including Great Gardens of America, The English Landscape Garden, and Sweets: A History of Candy. After studying English literature at Oxford, Tim began his career at Country Life magazine, where he became the gardens editor and theater critic for 23 years. He went on to write for a wide range of publications, as a long-time columnist for the Daily Telegraph, landscape editor for Wallpaper,* and contributor to Literary Review and the Financial Times. He is currently art critic at The Idler magazine.   

Tim is known for his witty and sometimes irreverent style; a collection of his garden journalism was entitled You Should Have Been Here Last Week, because, he says, that is what garden owners always seem to say. This mischievous spirit led him to found the Chelsea Fringe Festival in 2012—as an adjunct to the famous Chelsea Flower Show but with an emphasis on community gardening and artistic happenings. It has been the platform for more than 2,500 events in some 22 countries. Tim volunteers as an advisor to the National Trust in the United Kingdom and works as a consultant on historic gardens and houses.  

As a visiting professor at Vienna University for several years, Tim taught landscape art—and enjoyed the cafes and cakes! He now teaches a master’s course in landscape history at London University; and wrote an online course on the topic that is taught at Oxford University's continuing education department. Tim lives in London and Devon with his wife, Claire, and enjoys competing in the sport of fencing. 

Karl Eikenberry is a Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center; senior advisor to the United States Institute of Peace; and Johnson & Johnson visiting faculty chair in leadership at Schwarzman College, a global affairs master’s program at China’s Tsinghua University. His almost four decades of national service culminated with his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 until 2011.  Before serving as chief of mission in Kabul, Karl had a 35-year career in the United States Army, retiring in 2009 with the rank of lieutenant general. 

Karl’s military operational posts included commander and staff officer with mechanized, light, airborne, and ranger infantry units in the continental U.S., Hawaii, Korea, and Italy; and in Afghanistan as the commander of the American-led coalition forces. He held various policy and political-military positions ranging from deputy chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Military Committee in Brussels, Belgium; Director for Strategic Planning and Policy for U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith, Hawaii; U.S. security coordinator and chief of the Office of Military Cooperation in Kabul; senior country director for China and Taiwan for the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and assistant Army and later defense attaché at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, China.

After his diplomatic and military career, Karl taught at Stanford University and later advised on Saudi Arabia defense transformation planning while living in Riyadh. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; serves on the boards of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, National Committee on American Foreign Policy, and American Councils for International Education; and is the recipient of the United States Military Academy Distinguished Graduate Award and Harvard University Centennial Medal.

Joanne Ferraro is the Albert W. Johnson Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at San Diego State University. Her courses have covered the ancient Greek and Roman world as well as medieval, Renaissance, and early modern northern and southern Europe. She is especially interested in Europe’s cross-cultural and global connections with greater Asia and the Americas. Joanne has published books with Cambridge, Oxford, and Johns Hopkins University presses with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. She is the general editor of Bloomsbury Academic’s six-volume Cultural History of Marriage from Antiquity to the Present. Her latest book, The Renaissance and the Wider World, surveys the history of Europe between 1250 and 1600, an era of profound importance and renowned cultural achievement. Joanne has lectured for Smithsonian Journeys for the past decade, has lived and traveled in Europe for extensive periods, and is an enthusiast of the continent’s rich history and culture.