Rick Staelin became interested in traveling the Pan American Highway in the late 60’s, when he, his wife, and family drove a VW bus from Ann Arbor Michigan to the heart of Mexico, camping along the way. Although they made a number of other driving trips to Mexico and Guatemala, he never found the time to get any further south in Central America. Over the years, he and his wife of 54 years branched out and traveled around the world, visiting over 50 countries and hiking in Nepal, Bhutan and Tanzania. (He climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro at age 70.) Such travels with his wife are now impossible, since she is suffering from Alzheimer’s. This trip with Nick will be his first venture with a new traveling companion.
Rick’s academic professional life includes teaching at Carnegie-Mellon University for 13 years and Duke University for the last 35 years. He also had brief teaching gigs at the University of New South Wales (one year) and the University of Chicago (one semester). He took on a number of administrative roles at both CMU and Duke (e.g., Associate Dean, head of Executive Education, etc.) and has also been active in research and teaching. His first love is PhD training. Over the years he has worked with 50 plus students often as their principal mentor. An avid Duke fan, he now lives with his son and family and is thinking of retiring in a few years.
From Arizona to Panama Canal 