Our Mission

A collaboration of Williams College and Mystic Seaport Museum, Williams-Mystic engages undergraduate students in a semester-long academic investigation of the sea accompanied by original research opportunities and travel throughout the United States.

At a Glance

Our courses are experiential and emphasize original research: it’s not unusual to be on a boat, at the beach, or immersed in Mystic Seaport Museum’s historical collections for class. In our unique interdisciplinary approach, our small cohort studies the literature, history, policy, and science of the oceans and coasts of the United States.

Based in Mystic, Connecticut, students live cooperatively in houses on the grounds of the nation’s leading maritime museum. Nineteenth-century maritime skills classes complement the academics.  Students work alongside master artisans to forge iron, climb aloft to furl sails, or skipper a sailboat.

Students travel alongside faculty and staff to experience each of America’s three coasts. These extended field seminars inform classroom discussions and research projects. Each is deeply interdisciplinary and involves different hands-on experiences that expand the worldviews of our students. For example, while sailing offshore aboard a tall ship in the Atlantic, students act as the ship’s crew while collecting and analyzing oceanographic data. On the West Coast, we discuss international trade regulations while onboard tugboats in busy ports and Steinbeck’s Cannery Row while on Cannery Row in Monterey. Students witness the effects of sea-level rise and its effect on communities while paddling through vanishing marshes in Southern Louisiana. On these field seminars, students cultivate meaningful relationships with local community members as well as with other students, faculty, and staff.

These experiences create leaders to take on the world’s most pressing issues. Take a step back and look at the big picture: experience new perspectives, horizons, and possibilities in a life-changing semester.