2026 Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship Reaches All 50 States
The milestone highlights how expedition travel is becoming a tool for classroom geography, giving teachers firsthand context to bring distant regions closer to students.
The National Geographic Society and Lindblad Expeditions have named 36 educators to the 2026 Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship cohort, as the program reaches its 20th anniversary. The fellows, from North America, will travel on National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions vessels to destinations including the Arctic, Europe and the Mediterranean, the Galapagos and the Southern Ocean.
The cohort extends the fellowship’s reach to every U.S. state with the selection of an educator from Wyoming. The 2026 group represents 22 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian provinces, with more than 570 years of combined teaching experience.
A 20-year education program reaches all 50 states
Dr. Deborah Grayson, chief education and community engagement officer at the National Geographic Society, said the anniversary cohort brings “energy and expertise” to the organization’s education work.
The fellowship is a professional learning program for pre-K-12 educators and is supported through the Lindblad Expedition-National Geographic Fund. Participants use field-based travel to build geographic knowledge they can bring back to classrooms, communities and professional networks.
Amy Berquist, vice president of conservation, education and sustainability at Lindblad Expeditions, said the addition of Wyoming completes the program’s U.S. map. The fellowship now includes educators from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and locations outside the United States.
The announcement did not include a ship-by-ship assignment list for the educators or a full sailing schedule for each fellow.
Fellows take on post-voyage education work
The two-year commitment continues after travel.
Beyond the expedition component, fellows support National Geographic education initiatives. That work can include webinars, resource development, meetups and mentoring other educators.
The program connects classroom teachers with National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions field experiences in regions that are central to the companies’ joint expedition offerings. The 2026 destinations span polar, European, Mediterranean and Galapagos itineraries.
The next step for the cohort is participation in their assigned expeditions, followed by education projects tied to National Geographic’s classroom and community programs. After they return, fellows may be asked to share their field experience through webinars, co-designed teaching resources and mentoring.
