Blog

2020 Year in Review A Year of Darkness and Light As I write this post in December, I join many people who feel that 2021 can’t come soon enough! Before we turn the page on 2020, there are a few things we will never forget about this year that changed our organization. We re-imagined the work we do. As the initial shock of the worldwide shutdown wore off, we quickly pivoted from the tactical to the strategic, and started asking big, lofty questions. How we will keep travelers safe before full implementation of a vaccine? What problems can we solve for US universities? What types of new experiences will travelers seek out? How virtual can we go? The idea “incubators” we created yielded exciting results: We now enroll Chinese and Vietnamese students at our CET centers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Ho Chi Minh City Global internships have successfully moved online ATA will be the new production arm for Great Courses, the online teaching company, as it develops new travel content Partnerships with renowned commercial brands have flourished—stay tuned for more specifics in our first 2021 newsletter! We re-prioritized how we work. The pandemic hastened the need to innovate new ways to collaborate, once all staff started working remotely in mid-March. Our investment in technology over the last few years was prescient, allowing seamless cloud-based file sharing, meetings on Teams, and flexibility to accommodate a variety of time zones, from Seattle to Cairo. We implemented “Project Solidarity,” a plan that offered additional time off for all US staff to manage their lives during the pandemic. We joined the racial reckoning that fanned out across the country. The summer protests for racial justice were the catalyst to our acknowledgement of our inherent biases as an organization and to commit to anti-racist work in our workplace, our programs, and our fields. We’re holding ourselves accountable with a 10-year plan and will measure our results each year.  Mourning Our Losses This Year We deeply feel the loss of David Parry, our beloved Chairman Emeritus, who died in July. Not only did Dave show us how to manage many types of crises, he also taught us what “living well” over a long life looks like: a deeply committed partnership with his wife Susan; the vigorous pursuit of alpine trails, historic trains and military history; inspiration from young people and their ideas; and a keen intellect, fed by boundless curiosity. While the details of the pandemic are like no other crisis we’ve faced, Dave’s “playbook,” his hopeful optimism, and his sense of humor are never far from us as we navigate our future. We also lost some wonderful and talented colleagues this year, as the pandemic decimated the fields of educational travel and study abroad. We remain in touch with many “alumni,” and continue to support them, however we can. Here’s to 2021! While the world has changed dramatically, our commitment to international travel and education has not. We believe in what we do. May the world that opens up again for all of us be more just, gentle and whole. We can’t wait to see you! With deep gratitude,

ATA’s Anti-Racism Plan In early June, we stated our commitment to stand in solidarity with Black communities. We committed to unearthing and unlearning our inherent biases as an organization and to listening to the voices of Black colleagues, students, and travelers in educational travel. Our goal is to become a more anti-racist organization. We write today to share our Anti-Racist Action Plan and the first steps towards putting these commitments into action.  We deem this to be a social justice plan, designed to support and guide our part in righting a wrong in our society and our world. We hope that by working towards full diversity, equity, and inclusion in our organization and our programs that we will better serve our students, travelers, employees, and communities. We know that as we evolve in this process, we will be a better partner to you and provide a more enriching educational experience for our students and travelers.  As our industries recover from the impacts of the global pandemic, we have a rare opportunity to build back better. We can shape our organizations and our programs in a post-pandemic era with diversity, equity, and inclusion at the center—not the periphery— of everything we do. Our 10-year plan helps us focus on concrete actions that will allow us to do this as we rebuild and begin to welcome students abroad again in the future.  Putting Our Commitments Into Action  Every department at ATA contributed long-term action items and goals to the plan. Each Director will be held responsible for achieving these goals. The plan, the deliverables, and action items will be reviewed yearly. As we work towards these goals, we will update you on our progress and new initiatives that have been born as a result of this work.   Actions to Transform our Workplace Hire and retain more People of Color, with the goal of having a staff that is more diverse in each racial/ethnic category.   Identify and remove barriers that might be impacting our ability to hire more candidates of color.   Conduct a yearly audit that focuses on retention of employees of color, and make recommendations that will enhance our retention of these employees.  Continue organization-wide discussion sessions at least three times annually on racism and inequity in the U.S. and abroad.   Actions to Transform our Programs Overtly include DE&I considerations in program goals, descriptions, and curricula.  Create, provide, and update yearly resources for students and travelers that forefront DE&I considerations, such as information on race and racism in the countries in which we operate.  Conduct a yearly audit of print and digital marketing materials that focuses on looking at our materials through the lens of diverse student experiences.   Actions to Transform our Industries Commit to increase the number of People of Color-owned businesses, vendors, restaurants, hotels, venues, and tour staff we work with wherever possible within the U.S. and in foreign destinations.  Continue our strong support of the Fund for Education Abroad.  Support National Tourism Association (NTA) efforts to increase diversity and inclusion efforts in travel.  This Anti-Racism plan extends out as far as 2030, and yet it is also just the beginning. Creating this plan required taking a hard look in the mirror, and implementing it necessitates organization-wide, sustained action. By establishing clear metrics and building mechanisms such as annual reporting and reviews into the plan, we hope to achieve this sustainability.   We want this work to become an integral part of who we are and what we do. We want these actions to be woven into the very fabric of our organization, so that the work of this plan will be viewed by internal and external stakeholders alike not as an “add-on” series of steps, but instead as a key component of the ATA workplace.  By achieving the goals we have set in this plan, ATA will establish a solid platform from which to extend the plan’s continuation, one that aims even higher, when the next decade arrives.  In early June, we stated our commitment to stand in solidarity with Black communities. We committed to unearthing and unlearning our inherent biases as an organization and to listening to the voices of Black colleagues, students, and travelers in educational travel. Our goal is to become a more anti-racist organization. We write today to share our Anti-Racist Action Plan and the first steps towards putting these commitments into action.  We deem this to be a social justice plan, designed to support and guide our part in righting a wrong in our society and our world. We hope that by working towards full diversity, equity, and inclusion in our organization and our programs that we will better serve our students, travelers, employees, and communities. We know that as we evolve in this process, we will be a better partner to you and provide a more enriching educational experience for our students and travelers.  As our industries recover from the impacts of the global pandemic, we have a rare opportunity to build back better. We can shape our organizations and our programs in a post-pandemic era with diversity, equity, and inclusion at the center—not the periphery— of everything we do. Our 10-year plan helps us focus on concrete actions that will allow us to do this as we rebuild and begin to welcome students abroad again in the future.  Putting Our Commitments Into Action  Every department at ATA contributed long-term action items and goals to the plan. Each Director will be held responsible for achieving these goals. The plan, the deliverables, and action items will be reviewed yearly. As we work towards these goals, we will update you on our progress and new initiatives that have been born as a result of this work.   Actions to Transform our Workplace Hire and retain more People of Color, with the goal of having a staff that is more diverse in each racial/ethnic category.   Identify and remove barriers that might be impacting our ability to hire more candidates of color.   Conduct a yearly audit that focuses on retention of employees of color, and make recommendations that will enhance our retention of these employees.  Continue organization-wide discussion sessions at least three times annually on

A Tribute to David Parry Dave Parry, a born educator, had a career in academics before acquiring Academic Travel Abroad in 1972. An eternal student, he was driven by an intense intellectual curiosity and thirst for knowledge, and devoured books to seemingly no end. Once at ATA, the teacher within continued to emerge as Dave reliably instilled solid values of respect, integrity, loyalty, and strength in all he hired and trained. But the teaching didn’t end there. Those of us who were lucky enough to travel with him quickly discovered Dave’s “inner study leader”—we became diligent students as he lectured on World War II, the Czars of Russia, the Cold War, East Berlin, the economic principles of John Maynard Keynes, and so much more—all while hiking a mountain or hopping on a train. And so it is fitting that Dave Parry holds a place in ATA’s history that is as great and venerable as the larger-than-life historical figures he knew so much about. He was a “lion of a man,” in every respect. Dave was also a natural diplomat, always masterfully communicating (even through interpreters!) and managing to find common ground during the most difficult of meetings. His ability to navigate a cultural divide was a testament to his respect and appreciation of humanity and all its diversity. Whether it was downing a glass of vodka at 10am to celebrate a Russian ship captain’s birthday or urging a Chinese Vice Premier to lower prices post-Tiananmen Square, Dave charmed and persuaded with a keen sense of humor that translated into every language. Hiking mountains with Dave was when you would see his inner child emerge, full of wonder and mischief! His eyes sparkled and his pace quickened as he embarked on a hike, eager for adventure. All his worries melted away as he stood in awe before vistas of sparkling mountain lakes, verdant rolling pastures and meadows of wildflowers against brilliant blue skies. While most hikes were official R&D for the business, these adventures into nature were also how Dave re-charged and was able to power through the stresses of leading a travel company. Dave possessed a warmth and caring that everyone who has worked for him had the chance to witness.  He often went above and beyond what any employer is expected to do to help someone in need—allowing telecommuting after the death of a parent (at a time well before telecommuting was permitted or even acknowledged by most companies), offering to share his 65th birthday with a free hike for a few lucky lottery winners, providing personalized travel guidance to an employee embarking on a honeymoon, allowing all staff to leave work to attend the funeral for a colleague’s father, and more. And then there is his resilient legacy at Academic Travel Abroad. With his brilliant wife, Susan, Dave built an organization that has thrived for 70 years through thick and thin. Since the early days of faculty-led student trips and Pan Am charters to Europe, ATA has now become a powerhouse of educational travel programs that span the globe and serve a variety of organizations and demographics. Dave led the company through many ups and downs, from OPEC and Chernobyl to Tiananmen Square and the Gulf Wars, from 9/11 to the Great Recession. A few weeks before his passing, Dave called Kate Simpson and noted “I was born in 1933, and this is the WORST I have ever seen!” referring to the current pandemic. But even then, he knew ATA would prevail and thrive again. Like Dave himself, ATA is a versatile, nimble organism that thrives on change and challenges. 2020 is Dave’s 87th year and ATA’s 70th. Through our work, we celebrate him. The legacy continues.