Kerri Lesh

Kerri Lesh is a cultural and linguistic anthropologist who has lived in various parts of Spain over the course of her academic career. She received her PhD from the University of Nevada, Reno, having conducted research on minoritized languages, tourism, and gastronomy. Her particular interest focuses on how culture and language intersect with gastronomy. She returns to Spain as much as she can to meet with both academics and local food and wine producers. Dr. Lesh has fond memories of having completed a portion of the Camino de Santiago, marveling at the wonders of the Alhambra, wandering through Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, and walking among the vineyards in the verdant coastal regions of the Basque Country and Galicia. She is at her happiest when eating and drinking and talking about eating and drinking.

Dr. Lesh is also a Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW), having worked harvests in both Chile and the Basque Country. She is currently based in Kansas City, dividing her time between working at a local vineyard, teaching for the Culinary Center of Kansas City, as well as teaching in the Anthropology Department at a local college. Kerri has taught courses in Basque Culture, Indigenous and Minoritized Languages, Linguistic Anthropology, and the Anthropology of Food and Wine, and has published several articles in journals such as Anthropology of Food, Applied Linguistics Review, and BOGA: Basque Studies Consortium Journal.

Lawrence Butler

Dr. Butler received his BA and MA from Oberlin College and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.  Trained as an art historian of Medieval Europe, the Mediterranean and Islamic world, Butler’s teaching and scholarly interests now range across pre-modern Eurasia, including the Silk Road connections between the Mediterranean world and East Asia. While at George Mason University he served as director of the Art History program, and as Coordinator of the Ancient Mediterranean Art and Archaeology minor.

Dr. Butler has taught at GMU and Hiram College and has also held research positions at a number of museums. He was a Fulbright Research Fellow in Turkey in 1982-83. He has been an active participant in the Semester at Sea program, taking students on academic study tours around the world.  He was the visiting lecturer in Art History on the Fall 1999, Summer 2004, and Fall 2009 voyages.  On the Summer 2011 voyage, he was the Global Studies lecturer.

In 2004, Dr. Butler was awarded George Mason University’s Teaching Excellence Award and in 2005 he was elected to Phi Beta Delta, the honorary society for international education.  He lectures frequently for the Smithsonian Associates on the arts and cultural history of Spain and Portugal, Turkey, China, and many other places in between.

Bob Smolik

Bob Smolik is a veteran diplomat and scholar.  He worked around the world at U.S. Embassies, looking behind the scenes at how local politics, economics, and societies work -- or don’t.  His expertise as Diplomat in Residence at the University of Michigan is in economics and trade, as well as in UN human rights and NATO security issues. As an economic diplomat he worked to open foreign markets to U.S. trade and investment on a fair and equal basis.   As political advisor to U.S. military commanders in Africa and Europe, he worked on conflict mediation.   He serves as ambassador of American society and culture, helping Washington to understand the political and economic dynamics of other nations. As an international lecturer on anti-corruption and good governance, he worked in over 30 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Bob holds graduate degrees from Berkeley and Harvard, an undergraduate degree from Cornell, and he is fluent in five Romance languages. He engages audiences with passion and expertise, offering a look behind the scenes at how foreign cultures view the world. 

Rafael Chacón

Hipólito Rafael Chacón is Bruce and Suzanne Crocker Director of the Montana Museum of Art and Culture and Professor of Art History and Criticism at the University of Montana-Missoula where he lectures on a broad range of art historical subjects. He received his Ph.D. in art history with honors from the University of Chicago, having been awarded numerous research fellowships to study in Europe and the Mediterranean basin, including an award from the Spanish Ministry of Culture for his dissertation on Michelangelism in renaissance art. He has written on a range of topics related to renaissance and baroque art, both in Europe and in the Americas, most recently focusing on revival style architecture in the U.S. during the late 19th century. He has also been awarded the top national and international prizes for his research in the field of vexillology or flag studies. Rafael has been an expert for many Smithsonian Journeys programs in Cuba, Europe, and Russia. He has twice walked the Camino de Santiago, the ancient pilgrimage route across France and Spain.