Marissa Barr-Hartman, a second year ITEP student and graduate assistant, hails from Pittsburgh where she earned her B.A. in Visual Arts and Film and Digital Technology at Chatham University. Before joining ITEP, Marissa made art in the Pittsburgh area and tried to find a way to make the world a little bit better. Now immersed in the program, her research focus is on refugee education and the issues surrounding migration and relocation. In the summer of 2008 she spent several months in northwest Thailand teaching English to out of camp Burmese refugees and Thai hill tribe youth. She has studied abroad in London and Prague. After graduating she plans to return to Pittsburgh to develop programs and resources for refugees, recently arrived immigrants and inner city youth, marry her fiance and start having the time to make art and read fiction again.
Lani Bardaje graduated from the University of Delaware in 2006 with majors in Latin American Studies and Spanish. While she was at UD, she studied abroad her entire junior year in Granada, Spain and San Jose, Costa Rica. After graduation, she interned at Witness for Peace as a Delegations intern. She was the liaison between perspective students who wanted to travel in Latin America and the Delegations Organizer. After her internship, she lived in Madrid, Spain where she taught English for five months for four different language schools. She thoroughly enjoyed her stay there and hopes that she will return there in the future. Currently, she is a 2nd year ITEP student. She is working at a language school called the International Center for Language Studies in downtown Washington, DC. She handles all the administrative work in the foreign language division. International Exchange is her concentration and she hopes to work at a study abroad office oversees where she can send students tostudy in the States.
Melissa Chipili , a third year ITEP student, is interested in the role of education in international development and the effects of student and professional exchange and study abroad programs for students of developing and transitioning nations. Along with her core ITEP courses, she plans on focusing her studies on International Development Education and Development Management. She hopes to work as a manager of international education programs. Melissa is currently employed at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C. in the Africa Region. She is the Assistant Country Desk Officer for the East Africa Desk and works with the programs in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia. In August 2007, she traveled to Uganda to assist with the Pre-Service training for a group of Community Health Volunteers and continued on to Kenya as part of a management support initiative for the Peace Corps program there. She also participated in the ITEP Bosnia Practicum in May 2007. Melissa volunteers as a guest evaluator and flight leader for the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) a student exchange program for high school students of the former Soviet Union. As an undergrad, she participated in the Semester-at-Sea program and spent a semester traveling to 9 different countries. From 1999-2001, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Russia and taught English and American Literature, reading comprehension, and essay writing at a teacher training college. In the future, she hopes to work for an international development agency in education programming.
Brita Doyle, a third-year MA student, is focusing on international education exchange within the ITEP program. She currently holds a position as Study Abroad Advisor in the AU Abroad office, helping AU undergraduate students to pursue a semester or year of study abroad during their time at AU. Brita had her first international adventure as a Rotary Youth Foreign Exchange Student in Finland for her junior year of high school. After her return she received a Bachelors in Spanish Language and Latin American Studies, and was able to participate in two semester-long study abroad programs in Spain and Chile. She is interested in the behind-the-scenes work that makes study abroad programs successful, and enjoys working with students and encouraging them to expand their horizons through international study.
Erin Dye, a first year ITEP student, is originally from Hawaii and earned her BA in Sociology from the University of Colorado. She is interested in International Exchange, specifically study abroad and international student advising. She currently works as a Program Assistant for a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certificate Program. Her interest in international education began to take shape when she studied abroad in New Zealand during her undergraduate years. Soon after graduation, she earned her TEFL Certificate and taught English in the Czech Republic. She has traveled extensively and looks forward to continuing this trend in the future. After graduating, she hopes to pursue a career with a university or an educational organization to promote international exchange for both American and international students.
Mary Francis is a Graduate Student in International Training and Education with a focus on education in development. Currently, she works for the Center for Peace Building International, working on a curriculum project promoting peace education. Prior to coming to D.C., she has, among other things: worked for several years in women's advocacy, and education; taught junior high and high school; worked on a USDA/USFS ecology based research project; coached rock climbing and long distance running; and worked in crisis intervention. She has an interest in education, the environment, women's and children's rights, and developing countries. She speaks French and Spanish, and has Bachelors degrees in French Literature and Fine Arts, Art History.
Kimberly Helm, a first year ITEP student and graduate assistant, is from Pennsylvania and earned her B.S. in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at Bloomsburg Universtiy and her M.A. in Counseling Psychology at Kutztown University. Prior to joining ITEP she spent three and a half years in the Dominican Republic as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Her work there included promoting special education, teacher training on learning disabilities, formal assessment and didactic materials. Her research concentration in the program is international education development in conflict and postconflict countries.
Beth Larson, a second year ITEP student, is a director at Meridian International Center, a non-profit institution that promotes international understanding through the exchange of people, ideas and the arts. Established in 1960 and headquartered in Washington, DC, Meridian is unique in its dedicated role to non-partisan public diplomacy and offers a wide array of outreach, exchanges, and arts programs. The Educational Outreach programs provide curricula and resources to help DC public schools educate students about cultures around the world by using their five senses. By simulating the sights, touch, taste, sound and smells, students engage in learning about the world’s myriad of cultures and people. As Director, she manages all four programs, as well as develop community relationships and locate funding to increase the scope of our projects. The International Classroom program brings international students from D.C. universities into the classroom to give interactive presentations on their country and culture. We train the international students and then facilitate classroom presentations where students will learn geography, dance, language, see pictures, smell spices, etc…travel around the world without passports or plane tickets. We also have an International Resource Library where teachers can check out many different international resources including games, curriculum guides, music, stories, DVDs, etc. The library also includes over 42 Culture Boxes filled with regionally themed artifacts. Passports to the World is a free professional development workshop for teachers that focuses on the integration of global themes throughout all subject areas. Our department designs and implements this DCPS approved training where teachers receive credit toward renewing their teaching certificate. Finally, we coordinate a Festival in partnership with 18 embassies in the spring: The International Children’s Festival. In additional to exciting international performances, each embassy booth showcases their country and culture with exciting displays, exotic foods and engaging interactive activities for kids. For more information, feel free to visit www.meridian.org.
Kristin McCarthy, a second year ITEP student, is interested in student exchange, foreign language instruction, and education in emergencies. Before ITEP, she established a Spanish language program for 2nd through 8th graders at an elementary school in New Jersey and taught for two years. She spent two semesters studying Spanish language and culture in Spain, and participated in volunteer trips visiting an orphanage in Mexico and working with a low-income housing project in Texas. During the summer of 2007, Kristin joined the group of ITEP students who worked as consultants for UNICEF in Bosnia, evaluating child-centered teaching methods being implemented in the elementary schools. She would like to gain experience in educational development working with an international NGO, and would also like to someday return to the classroom teaching Spanish.
Kimberly Ross, a second year ITEP student, hails from Maine and holds a B.A. in Anthropology from St. Michael's College in Vermont. She is interested in multi-sectoral interventions for international development, and is focusing on training and education for Organizational Development. She currently works full-time as a Senior Program Officer at an international non-governmental organization, where she designs and supports projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Kim has almost ten years of experience in international education and health including: working at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); consulting for World Education, Family Health International, and Opportunities Industrialization Center International; and teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) for adult immigrants in Washington DC and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea, West Africa. She has spent time in 25 countries worldwide (primarily in Africa), with her most recent trip being to India as a participant in AU's Winter 2007 Alternative Break trip on the Dalit Rights Movement. She is fluent in English and French.
Amy Simms, a second year ITEP student, is interested in the impact of international exchange programs on participants and their host communities. Before joining ITEP Amy worked as a textbook editor, copywriter, and Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan. While in Peace Corps she taught English to 6-11 graders, created an English language library in her village, developed a conference for local English teachers, trained incoming volunteers on team teaching skills, and ran an English summer camp where local students spent a week speaking English and learning about other countries. After graduating she hopes to work for an international organization increasing opportunities for exchanges both to and from the United States.
Valerie Whiting, a third year ITEP student, holds a BA in Liberal Arts from St. John's College in Annapolis, MD. She currently works as the Transitions Coordinator at The Next Step Public Charter School, where she provides college and career counseling to recent immigrant youth. Valerie's passion is holistic youth development through non-formal education models, focusing on Latin American populations. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama, working with at-risk youth and women's groups, and as a Crisis Corps Volunteer in Antigua and Barbuda, working with the Ministry of Health’s AIDS Secretariat as an HIV/AIDS educator and graphic designer. Valerie also worked as a Case Manager at the Latin American Youth Center YouthBuild Public Charter School in Washington, DC and as Youth Programs Director for Community Bridges in Silver Spring, MD. Her goal is to open a workforce development center for out-of-school, marginalized youth in Panama.
Laura Wood, a first year ITEP student, is a RockStar and a Revolutionary. She is currently in the Global Education track through ITEP and is concomitantly getting certified to teach Social Studies in High School Classrooms. She is a member of Creative Peace Initiatives at AU and is enjoying the many opportunities here. Laura hails from Portland, Oregon where she concentrated mostly on portraying the hussy in high school musicals. Ms. Wood spent her undergraduate career studying theater, education, and sociology at Brown University where she learned that grades are stupid. After this, Laura worked in Refugee Resettlement at the International Institute of Rhode Island for 3 years. This resulted in a major "Reality Check" and hereafter, Ms. Wood plans to devote her life to changing the world for the better through love and a fierce commitment to peace. Seriously. Other highlights include a year long solo tour as a singer/songwriter and a year of AmeriCorps in Vermont. Laura plans to put the social skills back in social studies, lobby the heck out of the school system for more effective and efficient teaching, and enjoy her life. AU is helping.
