Biography of Clay Hubbs, Ph.D.

Founding Editor and Publisher, Transitions Abroad Publishing

Clay taking it slow, as always, at a local ristorante by the sea in Italy — his home away from home, where he owned a rustic watchtower with a garden, along with his wife, son, and daughter in a remote Tuscan village for 30 years.

Clayton “Clay” Hubbs was a journalist, professor, and international studies advisor whose life’s work helped transform the way many people think about travel and education. As founder and editor of Transitions Abroad magazine in 1977, he became a leading advocate for meaningful, immersive travel — travel that connects, respects, and learns from the cultures it encounters rather than consuming them.

At a time when tourism was beginning to expand on a mass scale, Clay saw another path. He believed that travel could be one of humanity’s greatest teachers — if approached with curiosity, humility, and joy. He called it “travel as transition”: a process of personal and cultural transformation through deep engagement with others. For Clay, this meant crossing not only borders but boundaries of perception and understanding.

Studying the menu at a restaurant in Paris on this 65th birthday.

Clay’s journey began with a profound curiosity about the world and its people. After earning an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Washington, he combined his love of writing and teaching with a spirit of inquiry about the broader world beyond his own country of birth.

In the early 1960s, Clay and his European wife with a love of often risk-taking exploration abroad, Joanna Hubbs, Ph.D, set off with their young family to live and travel across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. They were not tourists — they were students, participants, and participants in local life. Their journeys became the foundation of Clay’s conviction that travel should enrich both visitor and host, never diminish either.

In 1969–70, while completing his doctoral research abroad, Clay and his family traveled through the Soviet Union and lived outside Paris, by chance next to France’s first hippie commune — an irony that amused him when journalists later assumed he was its leader. His blend of intellectual seriousness and good humor defined him: deeply reflective yet always ready to laugh at himself and the absurdities of life.

Clay, age 28, with his family in 1964 after returning from his first four years of adventures in North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe after serving in the U.S. Air Force, as a jet pilot and officer through ROTC.

A Humanistic Vision Rooted in Curiosity and Empathy

After Clay joined Hampshire College in 1971 as a professor of Modern European Literature and International Studies, he soon created the college’s first study abroad office. His goal was simple but revolutionary: to make the world itself part of the classroom. He urged students to live, work, and study abroad not as outsiders but as engaged learners while becoming immersed in another culture.

To Clay, education abroad was not a luxury — it was an ethical and human necessity. Long before “DEI” became common in higher education, he championed inclusion and access in study abroad, helping students from all backgrounds experience the world in their own way. His empathy for people of all cultures, and his unwavering respect for difference, left a deep mark on those he mentored.

The Birth of Transitions Abroad Magazine

In 1977, Clay founded Transitions Abroad to bring his philosophy to a wider audience. What began as a resource for students and teachers quickly evolved into an essential guide for anyone seeking authentic travel experiences. The magazine offered readers an alternative to tourism as spectacle — it was about participation, learning, and discovery.

Through Transitions Abroad, Clay gave a platform to writers, educators, and adventurers who shared his belief that travel should be guided by what he occasionally called the Golden Rule of Travel: to treat host communities with the same respect one hopes to receive. His editorial vision emphasized cultural sensitivity, environmental sustainability, and — just as importantly — pleasure. Travel, he often said, should be both educational and joyous: an act of play, curiosity, empathy, and friendship that should strive to avoid unintended consequences.

Under his leadership, the magazine became the foremost voice in responsible and educational travel. Clay’s pioneering work helped shape entire fields of international education, ecotourism, and cultural exchange long before they were widely recognized.

A Life of Learning and Connection

Clay’s intellectual curiosity never waned. He read voraciously — literature, philosophy, history — and saw in great writing the same spirit of exploration that animated his travels. He often said that both reading and travel expand the imagination by dissolving the illusion that there is any absolute separation.

With his wife Joanna, he spent summers and sabbaticals abroad, writing from a restored 12th-century watchtower in Tuscany, built upon Etruscan foundations. From there, they explored Italy’s traditions of food, wine, and art, meeting locals and writing about their discoveries with warmth and humor. Clay’s articles — on cooking in Tuscany, language immersion in Ecuador, or the slow rhythms of rural Italy — reflected his belief that pleasure, empathy, and learning are inseparable.

Legacy and Continuing Influence

Clay was honored by NAFSA: Association of International Educators with two of its highest awards—the Homer Higbee Award and the Education Abroad Leadership Award — recognizing his originality, wisdom, and decades of contributions to international education.

Clay Hubbs edited two book series published by Transitions Abroad Publishing, Inc.: the widely praised and cited Work Abroad: The Complete Guide to Finding a Job Overseas, and the unique Alternative Travel Directory, the first comprehensive directory of alternatives to mass tourism — from volunteering in Tibet to working in Africa to rafting in Costa Rica.

Even after retiring from teaching, he remained an editor and advisor for Transitions Abroad, delighted by its transition into the digital age. He took joy in seeing his son, Gregory Hubbs, carry forward the publication’s mission online — continuing to inspire generations of travelers to explore the world responsibly, creatively, and with empathy.

Clay passed away in 2007 after a graceful battle with multiple myeloma, reading great world literature ceaselessly, editing articles and planning future travels until the very end. His life embodied the ideal he taught so many others: that the truest journey is one of mind, heart, and imagination.