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ITEP Alumni Profiles
Tom Bishop, a 2008 ITEP alum , also recieved his Teaching Credentials to teach Secondary School English. He received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy and English Literature with a minor in World Religious Studies. Tom runs a Community-Based Organization based out of Ghana and has done volunteer projects in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. His wife wrote a book about their adventures called Don't Sleep Near the Manzanillo Tree: How to Volunteer Abroad Independently and Survive which is available at LuLu.com. Tom teaches English at Ballou High School. He is the recipient of the Ganek Family Student-Teacher Mini-Grants and is making great strides in his classroom by implementing a Token Economy to teach positive classroom behavior. Amy Blasen graduated from ITEP in August 2005. Since that time,
I served as Coordinator for the Katrina Response by Crisis Corps, a division
of the Peace Corps. In this position, I coordinated the training of volunteers
in Florida with FEMA (September 2005-January 2006), was the first point of
contact for volunteers during their service, and managed the reporting and
evaluation process. From May 2006-February 2007, I was a Training Specialist
for IRG, contracted to work for the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI)
with USAID. In this position, I designed and conducted a training review
for the Office, designed and facilitated training sessions for DC and field-based
staff. Following a move to Dakar, Senegal, I have been a Training Advisor
for the Office of Transition Initiatives (April 2007-present), working remotely
with several trips a year back to Washington, D.C. Kerrilyn P. Bowers, 2004 ITEP alum, is currently pursuing her dreams as the Co-Founder of Proyecto Montezuma: Education and Adventure Volunteer Program located in Montezuma, Costa Rica. As an ITEP student, Kerri combined ITEP´s multicultural and nonformal education focus with a formal secondary teaching certificate. This unique concentration first led to nonformal teaching with the Living Classrooms Foundation where she worked as the Program Director, then to formal teaching at Cesar Chavez Charter High School for Public Policy, located in Washington, D.C., where she taught ninth grade English and worked as a Literacy Coach, or teacher-trainer, for four years, and currently to nonformal education and teacher training with Proyecto Montezuma. Now, her volunteer program accepts global volunteers year-round to teach and work with students from the local public elementary school and with a new International Educational Center, La Escuela Futuro Verde, plus volunteers travel and explore the area in a meaningful and sustainable manner. Her ITEP degree laid the foundation and confidence needed to pursue her career goals. Maureen Breslin, 2005 ITEP alum, currently works at American University as the Coordinator for Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes. After ITEP she also worked as a teacher with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus where she ran a one-room schoolhouse with 13 students in grades 1 through 12 while traveling the United States with the circus. Christine Burns, 2003 ITEP alum, is currently a high school teacher at the Mont'Kiara International School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, teaching Business and Management within the International Baccalaureate curriculum. After graduating from ITEP, she moved to Mexico City with her husband where they both worked as high school teachers at the Tecnologico de Monterrey Preparatoria for three years. In ITEP, she focused on nonformal education. She advises current students to develop skills in cross-cultural communications, curriculum planning, effective presentation skills (including IT), patience, curiosity. Sara Bushman, a 2008 ITEP alum, is active and interested in training design and delivery related to cross-cultural awareness, communications, and management. Sara currently works at Meridian International Center in the Professional Exchanges Division-International Visitor Leadership Program; she joined Meridian in 2005 after working in student exchange. Previous to student exchange, Sara spent five years in development and volunteer management, both domestic and abroad. Her areas of experience include: women’s rights, anti human-trafficking, youth empowerment, education, leadership, and cross-cultural training. In 2002, she received her B.A. in Psychology and Leadership from the University of Minnesota, and in 2008, received her M.A. in International Training and Education. Sara’s travels have taken her to twenty-one different countries, with a Peace Corp assignment in Togo. Languages include French and American Sign. Daryn Cambridge, a 2008 ITEP alum, is the Director of Youth Programs at Common Cause - a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest (http://www.commoncause.org). Daryn graduated from Middlebury College in 2003, and has worked for a number of youth-focused organizations: Assistant Director for the Democracy Matters Institute, Urban Crew Leader for the Student Conservation Association, teacher for Putney Student Travel, and program supervisor for the Close Up Foundation, the nation's largest civics education and engagement non-profit. He has traveled to 25 countries throughout his life and studied in Oxford, England and Salzburg, Austria as an undergraduate. Daryn also has a professional certificate in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from the AU School for International Service and serves ont the board of the Dialogue Development Group at AU. Melissa Crutchfield, 2005 ITEP alum and former ITEP Graduate Assistant, is currently the Implementing Partners’ Technical Advisor for the USAID-funded Ambassadors’ Girls’ Scholarship Program (AGSP), run by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) in 14 countries in Africa. In this position, she travels to Cameroon, Niger, Djibouti, Kenya and other countries in Africa to work directly with local organizations, girls and mentors. Her responsibilities include training and facilitation, monitoring and evaluation, contract and budget management, and offering technical assistance to local implementing partners and mentors. Previous positions include being a Program Officer on other USAID-funded scholarship programs for scholars from the West Bank and Gaza, Benin and Zambia; Girls’ & Adult Education Graduate Intern with the International Rescue Committee in Guinea; and English Teacher for the U.S. Peace Corps in Cameroon. She also participated in several study abroad programs in France as an undergraduate, and travels extensively for business and pleasure. Through ITEP and her graduate internship, she learned about theories of education in international development and practical skills in training, monitoring and evaluation, all of which has proven extremely useful in her professional career. Through her experiences since graduation, she has also learned the very necessary skills of working directly on USAID and other U.S. government contracts, dealing with organizational and donor bureaucracy, and proposal writing. She encourages current students to develop skills in all of these areas whenever possible. Jacki Daddona, a 2008 ITEP alum, is interested in study abroad and international student advising and hopes to pursue a career in this field. She currently works full time in the Anthropology Department at AU and hopes to eventually run an Alternative Spring Break trip. Before ITEP, she worked at the Kogod School of Business at AU and helped run their study abroad program to Nice, France. She studied abroad for a year in England and has traveled extensively. Brian J. Daniels, 2007 ITEP graduate, is currently a Senior Content Producer at NogginLabs, Inc., a Chicago-based e-learning consulting firm, where he creates custom e-learning content for Fortune 100 companies and advises internal project teams on instruction design principles. Prior to joining NogginLabs, Brian was a Presidential Management Fellow at the General Services Administration, where he also worked in the e-learning field. During his tenure at ITEP, Brian worked as a Graduate Assistant in the ITEP program and as a Program Assistant at the American Political Science Association. Prior to joining ITEP, Brian served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria, where he taught English as a Foreign Language to secondary school students. Matt DeMarco is a 2003 ITEP graduate who concentrated in organizational change.
He incorporates active learning into his work developing grassroots volunteer
leaders for the American Farm Bureau Federation. In his role as director of
leadership development he designs and delivers a variety of training programs
for volunteers and staff. Prior to his work with America’s farmers and
ranchers Matt spent four years as a career counselor with graduate students
at Johns Hopkins University SAIS. Prior to starting the ITEP program, Matt
served as a high school science teacher in the Peace Corps in Samoa. Matt currently
resides in Washington, DC and travels across the country having organized training
programs in 45 states. Jenny Dickey, a 2008 ITEP alum and former ITEP Graduate Assistant, is interested in international exchange focusing on service based programs and multicultural and global curriculum development at the university level. She hopes to possibly pursue a PhD in the future. Before ITEP, she spent a year in Southern China teaching English to 700 students each week. She also led a five week project to Lesotho, Africa working with children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS through the school systems as well as local orphanages. In addition to these two experiences abroad, she also studied in England and Spain.
Michelle Otterman Emmett, 1995 ITEP alum, currently works with CARE Australia as a the Coordinator for Tsunami Affected Countries, where she travels often and manages over $40 million of post-tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation programs in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. Her day to day responsibilities include contract management and program monitoring and evaluation. Since ITEP, she has worked both with and for USAID on civil society programming in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Indonesia. She has been living in Australia for six years with her Aussie husband and 3 year old son. She encourages students interested in similar work to develop project management skills. She was also able to use what she learned at ITEP to apply to policy and program development at more senior levels.
 Theresa Ferry, a 2008 ITEP alum, is interested in education policy, girls’ education, and higher education administration. During her first year of ITEP, Theresa worked as an education intern at Save the Children and she also works as an ITEP Graduate Assistant. During the summer of 2007, she interned with World Vision Albania, where she helped plan a 5-year education strategy with the sector manager. Before ITEP, Theresa taught high school math and English in India and Chile. She also taught math for two years in the Pacific Alliance for Catholic Education Program, where she earned an MAT. Her thesis examined how caste, economic status, and gender affect Dalit girls’ educational opportunities in India. Dalits, formerly known as ‘untouchables’, are one of the most marginalized groups in Indian society. In January of 2007, she spent three weeks in Delhi and Gujarat, India, where she visited schools with a large Dalit population and spoke with girls about their educational experiences. Having the opportunity to travel internationally for her MA thesis helped her capture what Dalit girls have to say about their own education, and observe them in an educational setting. She is very grateful to have received a grant through the College of Arts and Sciences from the Robyn Rafferty Mathias Fund, which covered most of her expenses for the trip.
Emily Gore, a 2008 ITEP alum and former ITEP Graduate Assistant, is interested in the field of International Education Exchange and hopes to work possibly with underrepresented groups. During the past year Emily volunteered tutoring immigrant women in English. From 2007-2008 she interned at NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Before ITEP, she interned with her congressional representative and tutored Hispanic youth. She also worked at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's study abroad office. She has studied abroad in Cuernavaca, Mexico and Alicante, Spain and has traveled internationally. Keerti Hasija, a 2008 ITEP alum, is interested in intercultural competency, education and nation building, and institutional development for multi-ethnic populations. Currently, Keerti is an associate at Chartwell Education Group, a consulting firm focused on the systemic improvement of education domestically and globally. She focuses internationally on project development in South Asia and the Balkans, and domestically on Career and Technical education projects. Keerti has several years experience in global education development, working with the World Affairs Councils of America system and at the Southern Center for International Studies where she served as the primary research consultant for the South Asia in Transition program, developing essays, lesson plans and activities, and training educators to teach about South Asia, the Middle East and Africa . She is a graduate of the University of Georgia where she received degrees in Political Science, Journalism, and Comparative World Literature. Samantha Hoyt, a 2008 ITEP alum, is interested in rural education in Africa. She received a BA in International Affairs from the George Washington University, with a concentration in Africa. She spent a year studying abroad in South Africa, Egypt and Ghana. During this time she also taught English to Sudanese refugees. During her first semester as an ITEP student, Samantha worked as an intern in the Alternative Break office. She also has experience working with Washington Area NGOs in the areas of children’s issues and legislative lobbying. Samantha took part in the ITEP trip to Bosnia to evaluate a UNICEF project and spent a month in Mozambique mapping the education programs in the country. After ITEP, Samantha hopes to work as a Peace Corps Volunteer for two years. In the future, she would like to work with NGOs to obtain funding to build schools in rural communities in Africa. Chipley Jones, a 2008 ITEP alum, is interested in university-level international education, including study abroad and international student advising. She hopes to work for a university in Spain after graduation. Before ITEP, she was studying Spanish, Italian, business in her undergraduate program. She has studied abroad in Spain, Italy and Costa Rica, and has visited Morocco and Puerto Rico. Farida Khatchadourian, a 2008 ITEP alum, pursued dual Master’s degrees in ITEP and TESOL. Post-graduation, Farida plans to teach English abroad for several years before moving into teacher training, cross-cultural training, and program administration in international education. Farida is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and has studied at the University of Florence, Italy. Currently she works as an academic advisor to undergraduate students at American University. Prior to joining AU as a graduate student and staff member, Farida spent two years teaching at a small university in Mwanza, Tanzania with Jesuit Volunteers International. Chris Galaty, 1999 ITEP alum and former ITEP Graduate Assistant, is currently a high school teacher at the American School of Warsaw in Warsaw Poland teaching mathematics within the International Baccalaureate curriculum. After graduating from ITEP, Chris taught mathematics for two years at St. John’s College High School in Washington, DC before moving to Istanbul, Turkey to teach mathematics at the Koc School for three years. At the American School of Warsaw, Chris also coaches the High School Cross-Country team and the High School Math Team. In addition, Chris advises the High School Model United Nations club where he works with club members to develop the skills needed to participate in UN simulations and debate many international issues and their possible outcomes. James T. Ham, 2005 ITEP alum, is the newly selected Country Director for Peace Corps Cameroon. Just prior to this appointment he served as Country Desk Officer for the Peace Corps Africa Region. He was responsible for the Peace Corps programs in Benin, Cameroon and Burkina Faso. He has served in this position for two years. Among the duties that he has participated in include: the closure and suspension of Peace Corps Gabon and Chad, CD Selection Panels, PCMO selection panels, APCD selection Panels and also served as the Office of Special Services Duty Officer. On three different occasions served as the Country Director for Peace Corps Cameroon. Other activities include co facilitated the Southern Africa Diversity workshop in Mozambique in 2004. Prior to becoming Country Desk Officer in the Africa Region, James Ham served as the Country Desk Assistant for the nations of Ghana, Guinea, Togo and the Ivory Coast. He assisted with the evacuation of the Volunteers in the Ivory Coast and served on the State Department Task Force during this evacuation process. Other positions served at the Peace Corps include those of Staging Director, Co-Chair Black History Month committee, member of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Observance Committee, Women's Month Committee. Mr. Ham was selected by the Director to serve as Co- Chair of the 2005 Combined Federal Campaign for Peace Corps. Mr. Ham is veteran of the United States Navy. Currently he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Middle Grades Education from North Carolina Central. An educator for over ten years teaching in urban, rural and international settings, he is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer where he served as a teacher in Guinea. Mr. Ham speaks French fluently and was selected to participate in the International Career Advancement Program in Aspen, Colorado in 2004. James is married to Sharoya Ham and has three sons, Jeremiah 9, Myles 6 and Malachi 4. Caitlin Haugen, 2006 ITEP alum and former ITEP Graduate Assistant, is currently a PhD student in the Education Policy Leadership program at the University of Maryland specializing in International Education Policy. She also serves as the Graduate Student Association President for her department, and works as a Graduate Assistant. Her research interests include environmental adult education, ecojustice, and conceptualizing international education. She found the practical aspects of the ITEP program most helpful - including adult learning theory, creating training designs, and completing group presentations.
Cynthia Kirkpatrick-Tasaki, 1995 ITEP alum, currently works with the National Institutes of Health as a Lead Immigration Specialist, Division of International Services, helping to bring in the best and brightest from around the world to conduct health research that leads to new cures for diseases and health conditions. She also is the Chair for NAFSA: Association of International Educators, Region VIII, which consists of Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware. She worked for almost six years as an Assistant Director in the Office of International Programs and Services at George Mason University. She also worked at the University of Maryland, College Park and Salem-Teikyo University as an international student and scholar advisor for many years. She uses much of the coursework from her ITEP days such as Cross-Cultural Communication, International and Comparative Education in her work still. She and her husband, Chikara, have a 3 year old son. Yukiko Kumazawa, 2007 ITEP alum with a TESOL certificate, is currently working as a program coordinator for Wheelchairs and Friendship Center of Asia Thailand (WAFCAT), a Thai non-profit organization that donates wheelchairs and provides scholarships for children with disabilities. She is interested in nonformal education and program design for study abroad. She hopes to pursue a career in study abroad management. She has worked for both the Japan International Cooperative Agency and Civil Society Consulting, LLC. Before ITEP, she taught English in a middle school in Japan for four years. She was an assistant Japanese teacher at a private high school in Australia and worked with an NGO helping street children in Vietnam. This past summer, she interned at a consulting company hosting a group of Chinese volunteer managers who came to the US to learn about volunteerism. Kristina Knabke, 2007 ITEP alum, is interested in international student services and hopes to pursue a career as an international student advisor. She has worked for International Student and Scholar Services at American University. Before ITEP, she worked at UC Davis as an Activities Coordinator at an intensive English program. She also taught English in Italy and studied abroad in Spain. This past summer she traveled to Mexico, California, and Grand Cayman. Joayne Larson, 2006 ITEP alum, holds a BA in International Relations from Tufts University. Upon graduation, she served in the Peace Corps in Far East Russia, teaching English. Her domestic work experience includes coordinating an academic mentor program for youth in affordable housing, most of whom were recent immigrants. In 2003, she moved to Santiago, Chile to assist in the formation of an English language immersion institute, CHILEidiomas. She moved to DC in August of 2004 to join ITEP. Her concentration was Education and Social Change, focusing on training and teaching. She graduated in December 2006 with a combined degree in K-12 Spanish education. She is currently employed as a fulltime Spanish teacher at Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy in Washington, DC. Anna Lee, 2006 ITEP alum, currently works as the program coordinator for the Intercultural Management Institute in SIS at American University. She manages all the cross-cultural training programs, events and graduate level courses offered through IMI. She encourages students to develop a cohesive picture of the skills and knowledge they hope to gain while in the ITEP program. Daniel Lopez, 1995 ITEP alum, has been actively involved in the field of Service-Learning and International Education & Training for the past 20 years. While earning a BA in Spanish/International Studies and an MA in Education from American University in Washington, DC, Daniel studied for a semester with the Partnership for Service-Learning in Ecuador. He was consequently chosen to be Fulbright Scholar in Ecuador in 1993 where he conducted teacher-training workshops at Bi-national centers throughout the country. The U.S. State Department/School for International Training (SIT) sent him to Southern India in 1996 to teach American Studies as part of the English Teaching Fellowship program. Ever since, Daniel has sought opportunities to share his knowledge of the world with others and lead a variety of cross-cultural programs. He has been a Program Director for VISIONS Service Adventures in the Dominican Republic, British Virgin Islands, Ecuador and Peru; Country Manager for Global Volunteers in Tanzania; and Team Leader in Peru for Where There Be Dragons, all volunteer-based travel organizations. Daniel has also taught in more formal academic settings in Spain, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Saudi Arabia, Panama, and Denver. Daniel currently serves on the National Steering Committee for Human Rights Education for Amnesty International and is the co-founder and Executive Director of Kindred Spirits Tour and Travel & Foundation (www.kindredspiritstourandtravel.com). In August 2006, Daniel accepted a position in Cochabamba, Bolivia as Associate Peace Corps Director for Microentreprise Development and Community Tourism Projects. Lisa Luceno, 2007 ITEP alum, currently works full time at Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care in the charter school for immigrant families as a teacher and trainer. Before ITEP, she was a preschool teacher in a language immersion school. She was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia and studied abroad. She spent the summer working and taking classes. Laurin A. Marden (formerly Laurin Kinville), 1990 ITEP alum, is currently the Director of Training and Documentation for a small accounting software company in Nashua, NH. Her company sells and supports accounting software for schools, municipalities, and public utilities in the Northeast United States. She develops and maintains training resources and programs, software help systems and online knowledge base, and content delivered via the company website. Beforehand, she worked at the same company as Director of Support and Continuing Services. After ITEP, she was the Documentation Supervisor for a company that sold and supported software used in satellite earth stations to monitor and control devices and Traveling Trainer and Senior Support for One Write Plus, a now-defunct accounting program for small businesses. Emily T. Masonick, a 2008 ITEP alum, hails from Chicago, IL and is a graduate of DePaul University. After completing a degree in Secondary Education and English in three years, Emily relocated to south Florida where she worked for the youth leadership organization, LeadAmerica. At LeadAmerica she co-developed a college-accredited personal development curriculum and facilitated trainings to over 4,000 high school students. Emily currently works at the Women & Politics Institute at American University. As the International Leadership Program Coordinator, designed a ten-day conference that was hosted this fall and attended by a group of female Russian delegates. Emily enjoys curriculum development and is specifically interested in experiential learning and using assessment tools to help learners better understand themselves. In the future she hopes to conduct trainings within the corporate sector involving teambuilding and communication so decision-makers are equipped with the tools to bring about positive change. Shannon McNary, 2001 ITEP alum lives in Baku, Azerbaijan with her family. She is a free-lance consultant focusing on qualitative evaluations of civil society, peace, and human rights programs in the Caucasus; policy advocacy, and NGO capacity building. She is also a corporate cross-cultural trainer for new expatriates with Prudential. Prior to her free lance work, she worked alongside a network of human rights and peace organizations utilizing participatory methodologies to engage stakeholders and build local capacities in organizational development with a focus on strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation.
Cara Metell, a 2008 ITEP ALUM, is interested in expanding study abroad opportunities to underrepresented groups of students, improving existing study abroad programs, and promoting intercultural sensitivity. She hopes to be an on-site director of an overseas program after graduation. Before ITEP, she was the program assistant of the International Affairs Dual-Major & International Exchanges and a study abroad advisor at the University of New Hampshire. She has participated in a cultural exchange with ZIA Dance Company to Russia, studied abroad in Granada, Spain, and received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Quito, Ecuador to conduct university studies and community service activities. She was also an interpreter on Rotary group-study and work trips to Venezuela and El Salvador and led a summer language-learning trip for teenagers to Spain with Putney Student Travel. Roksana Nabavian, 2005 ITEP alum, currently works at Blackboard Inc. in Washington DC as the International Channel Partner Marketing Manager. In this role she works to promote e-learning at over 500 higher education institutions in over 60 countries. She speaks to Partners around the world on a daily basis and travels to events where Partners demonstrate the benefits of Blackboard's software platforms. Since graduating from ITEP she has worked for Discovery Education as the International Operations Coordinator and continues to teach Spanish and Italian to adults. ITEP's Multicultural Education and Cross-Cultural Communications courses have served her most in daily work experiences. Erin Nester, 2007 ITEP alum, is currently working at World Learning in Washington, DC. She is interested in nonformal education and flexible education models, as well as integrating arts into education programs and hopes to continue working in these areas. Before coming to ITEP, she was an English Instructor in Italy and a Peace Corps volunteer in Georgia. In addition to these two experiences abroad, she has also studied in France. Christy Nichols, 2006 ITEP alum, is currently an international student advisor at American University. Her primary focus is on student immigration, but she also coordinates the intercultural programs for international students. These programs include orientation, language partners, travel, and cooking that are designed to deal with issues of culture shock, US multiculturalism, friendship, and cross-cultural exchange, among other things. She encourages students to get involved in the ITEP program by voicing opinions about its design. Marilyn Noguera, 1998 ITEP alum, is currently an advisor to the Ministry of Health of Mozambique and US Government PEPFAR partner agencies for the logistics management of HIV/AIDS related health commodities. As the Lead Resident Advisor in Mozambique, she will lead a project team to build the capacity of Ministry of Health staff to improve the ability of their system to deliver essential health products such as medicines and reagents when and where they are needed. Since ITEP, she has worked in health logistics at John Snow, Inc. as a trainer, writing curriculum and leading training of trainer workshops for nurses and doctors managing health supplies in African and Latin American countries. The skills she found most useful after leaving ITEP are training delivery, curriculum development, and foreign language skills (French, Spanish, and Portuguese for her). Mary Kathryn (Katie) Oakley, 2006 ITEP alum, is currently in Germany as part of The Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program. Working at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Katie has been in Germany since Summer 2007, exploring how European integration and the Bologna process are affecting educational policy, strategic planning in higher education, and student mobility within Europe and between Germany and the United States. Upon completion of her fellowship program in June 2008, Katie will return to her position as international student director for the American University Washington Semester Program, where she has traveled to several different countries recruiting international students and developing university partnerships. Before her employment at AU, Katie worked for the Botswana development training program at the Academy for Educational Development. She has also studied in Namibia and participated in an exchange program to Japan. In Spring 2007, Katie expanded her international education experiences by leading 21 students on a short-term International Business and Trade study tour of China. Katie's interests include international student exchange, study abroad programming, higher education administration, and cross-cultural training. She hopes to eventually pursue a PhD. Aimee Oberndorfer, a third year ITEP student, specializes in conflict and post-conflict education development. She is particularly interested in education for vulnerable populations, emergency education, and the connections between education and peace building. Prior to ITEP, Aimee worked as a program manager in a mental health clinic serving the immigrant and refugee communities of Washington, DC. Her extensive work in non-formal education includes cross-cultural, family, and early childhood education. She received a certificate from the International Trauma Studies Program at Columbia University, through which she spent Spring 2007 working in Sudanese refugee camps in Uganda doing community education. Upon completion of this program, Aimee worked with the internally displaced of northern Uganda doing psychosocial work and education development. She has also studied abroad in Jerusalem, volunteered in orphanages throughout Vietnam and researched narrative, education and the effects of collective trauma in the Marshall Islands. Jessica Van Boven O'Connor is a 2006 graduate of the ITEP program. She is
a Presidential Management Fellow with the Department of State and is on temporary
assignment to Embassy Brussels. Immediately after graduating from ITEP, she
volunteered for a community schools organization in Zambia, where she raised
over $1.4 million for orphans and vulnerable children. While at AU, she worked
full time for the School of International Service and later for the Kogod School
of Business. She also organized and led an
Alternative Break trip for AU students to Zambia in August 2006, which linked
students to volunteer and educational projects on HIV/AIDS and education, the
focus of her ITEP studies. During this three week trip she met her husband,
a Belgian national who was working on those same issues in Zambia. They plan
to continue working in international development and public policy. Liz Maag Odongo, 2003 ITEP alum, graduated with a focus on international development and HIV/AIDS. Her first professional appointment was at the Academy for Educational Development (AED), where she worked in the Global Health, Population and Nutrition Group to support projects to end HIV/AIDS in South Africa, avian influenza in Southeast Asia and to promote family planning in the Philippines. In October of 2006, Liz left AED to co-found Public Spectacle, a grassroots nonprofit that stimulates conversation about intimate partner violence within communities through performance art. Public Spectacle works in schools, women's shelters and universities to provide direct services in identifying red flags and breaking the cycle of violence. Public Spectacle has performed at various functions including the Teen Dating Violence Conference, the American Association of University Women and, most recently, the Institute of Medicine's two-day conference on violence prevention in low and middle-income countries. In addition to Public Spectacle, Liz works as a Domestic Violence Advocate and Educator at the Women's Center in Vienna, Va., where she supports men and women leaving abusive relationships and trains local service providers. Her current projects include conducting a needs assessment of Prince William County and designing a 10 week program for parents and young boys on empathy-building skills for the Department of Justice. Liz has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guyana and lived as an exchange student in Venezuela. Brinton Ramsey, 1993 ITEP alum, is currently Research Coordinator at the Coalition of Essential Schools NW/Small Schools Project in Seattle, WA where she conducts ethnographic research on school reform issues. A former Peace Corps volunteer (Thailand) and now an anthropologist and educator, Brinnie worked for eleven years as a project manager and consultant to educational non-profits in Washington, D.C., Dallas, TX, and New York City in the areas of whole school reform, diversity in higher education, and museum education. Brinnie is the author of several reports and monographs on aspects of small school redesign and holds a Masters in International Education from American University, a Masters in Anthropology from the University of Texas, and has completed 65 hours towards a PhD in Applied Anthropology at Teachers College, Columbia University. Wendi Ralaingita is completing her PhD in International Education Policy (December 2008) at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research focuses on teacher thinking and professional development in Namibia in the context of post-independence reforms. She has taken a position with RTI International, where she will be working on the Early Grades Reading Assessment project. EGRA is a diagnostic tool that can be adapted to local country contexts and has already been utilized in a number of countries in Africa and Latin America. The project involves helping ministries of education to adapt and utilize the tool, analyze results, and eventually to identify teaching recommendations. Wendi’s previous work has included a fellowship with Catholic Relief Services in Madagascar, teaching and coordinating service-learning programs, managing education programs for US non-profits and universities, and consulting for numerous NGOs and international organizations. Before she started ITEP, she was a volunteer teacher for three years in Namibia, with WorldTeach.
Regina (Schuman) Rabenhorst, 2007 ITEP alum and former ITEP Graduate Assistant, currently works at Chemonics International as a Program Associate in the Corporate Training Department. While in ITEP, she worked for the Humphrey Program, an international visitor program for mid-career law professionals working for human rights, where she planned and delivered a month long orientation program with a co-worker as well as planned events. Before ITEP, she managed an education and training program for out-of-school and out-of-work youth in San Francisco. She also spent 3 months as a volunteer with Pe No Chao, a Brazilian non-profit working with street children in Recife, Brazil, and one year studying Latin American economic development at the University of Costa Rica. She has traveled extensively through Central America, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Regina holds a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Rahal Saeed, 2002 ITEP alum, is currently the Director of Aahung, a non profit organization focusing on sexual and reproductive health and rights based in Karachi, Pakistan. Her organization does a lot of training, research and resource development, and works with health care providers, schools and community-based organizations. Her goal is to advocate for sexual rights as fundamental human rights, a very challenging task given Pakistan's rather conservative religious (predominantly Muslim) and social culture. After graduating ITEP, she worked for the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) as a Program Officer secunded to the Catalyst Consortium, a five-year global USAID-funded reproductive health activity that worked in several countries in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. She also consulted for several organizations primarily focused on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. She later worked as an Academic Advisor for American University's School of Public Affairs for an executive Master in Public Administration Program. She also has a year old daughter and has recently moved back to Pakistan from Washington, DC. Skills she needed after graduating include program management and administration, training, managing budgets, and report and proposal writing. Nicholas Sakurai, a 2008 ITEP alum, is interested in social justice movement building, human resource education, organizational development, sexualities, diversity, and power. He hopes to work towards building the social justice movement through education. He currently works as a full-time professional for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Resource Center at AU. Before ITEP, he worked for a non-profit in Washington, DC, directing an initiative that advocated for access to higher education for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) college students through training students across the country on grassroots organizing skills and by bringing the student voice to national coalition meetings on a variety of issues including marriage, immigration, and transgender issues. He has traveled in Japan, Mexico, Canada, the Netherlands, England, Germany, France, and Greece. This past summer, he worked full-time, traveled to Mexico, and met with the director of a progressive Spanish language school that uses Freirian methodologies offering specialized programs for gay and lesbian populations. He also attended an international lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) human rights conference in Montreal and designed an orientation session for international students about LGBT issues in US culture. Pauline A. Shams, 2005 ITEP alum, is currently working for a democracy and human rights promotion organization called Freedom House, where she has designed training agendas for professional trainers to implement and hires trainers by assessing their skills, knowledge and abilities to train effectively based on what she learned at ITEP. She utilizes her facilitation skills in leading a small group at her church and also designed and taught a six month nonformal Arabic language class for children ages 3 through 6 years old. She uses the policy information, the qualitative and quantitative analysis tools, monitoring and evaluation skills, and educational and social change theory skills that she gained through ITEP in her current job. While in ITEP, she found Advanced Training Program Design and learning about global policies regarding education and educational trends very helpful. She advises students to develop good budget management skills and quantitative analysis abilities. Stephanie Smith is a 2005 ITEP graduate who has recently started a position in Tanzania as curriculum developer for country-wide HIV training for health care workers in Tanzania. Prior to this opportunity, she designed and facilitated training of trainers for Afghan engineers in Kabul, and worked as a local training advisor to Malagasy doctor/trainers for a large NGO in Madagascar. Prior to ITEP, Stephanie served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in Colorado to assist homeless families with services and rights to education, and taught English to middle and high school students as a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar. Danielle Sodani, 2003 ITEP alum, graduated with a concentration in Educational Technology, building technical skills in web design and researched how people communicate and learn using technology online versus face-to-face. While in ITEP she worked in non-profit fundraising, and after graduation did some independent consulting for schools and non-profits. During this time, she was hired by the Lab School of Washington (www.labschool.org) to develop an internal website used by teachers to post homework assignments and class information for students and parents. This website has become an integral communication tool for the school. She also worked with Encompass Consulting (www.encompassworld.com) on an evaluation project of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation's executive leadership program, and at American University School of Education redesigning their website and working on their accreditation process. She is currently Coordinator of Special Projects in the School of Education, Teaching and Health at American University and has continued building the educational technology skills and training skills she learned in ITEP through the development of a new electronic portfolio and assessment system, which is being introduced to all students in May 2007. In October 2005, she designed and facilitated a series of five educational technology workshops for Archdiocese of Washington technology coordinators and teachers. She has also continued honing her fundraising and non-profit management skills through the writing and management of several federal grants. She has also had the opportunity to teach a college-level course - Uses of Technology in Education - to students who were current teachers in DCPS. She also has a 2 year-old son, serves as treasurer of her neighborhood community association, and is a member of the International Society for Technology in Education. She and her husband have started their own consulting business providing technology applications and support for schools and non-profits. Jennifer Stanton-Brand, 2003 ITEP alum, is currently an Independent Consultant and runs Beyond all Boundaries. She provides training, coaching, and support in arenas such as culture, language, communication, group dynamics, creative thinking, and strategic planning that serve as a catalyst for individuals and organizations to challenge the paradigms of who they know themselves to be and to push far beyond what they previously dreamed possible. While at ITEP she also received professional master certificates in Intercultural Communication and Organizational Change. After ITEP, she was a Regional Manager at AFS Intercultural Programs, spent a summer living in Paris and attending total immersion French classes, and taught Spanish. The skills she views as most important include facilitation, coaching, language, computers, marketing, and knowledge of organizational development and intercultural issues. Cynthia Tasaki (maiden name Cynthia Kirkpatrick while at AU), 1995 ITEP alum, has been at George Mason University since 2001 as an International Student and Scholar Advisor and Assistant Director in the Office of International Programs and Services. She is also Chair-Elect for NAFSA: Association of International Educators, Region VIII, which includes the DC area. Before working at George Mason, she was an International Student Advisor at the University of Maryland from 1996 to 2001. She received a broad base of knowledge of the field of international education while in ITEP and learned about immigration regulations from her involvement with NAFSA conferences and networking meetings and resources. She encourages students to take advantage of networking opportunities while in ITEP and recommends Cross-Cultural Communication and Multicultural Education courses. Hana Yoshimoto, an ITEP alum, is interested in training program design and sector analysis for tertiary education in Africa. She was an Intern at the American Council for UN University in Washington, DC from 2005 to 2006, an Intern at the UNDP in the New York City Headquarters for the summer of 2006 and currently works at the World Bank. Before ITEP, she worked at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo, dealing with foreign bond cash transactions and related communications among the firm, clients, and other financial agents. She was mainly was responsible for calculating coupon rates for complex financial products and transferring funds to clients' accounts. She has lived in Sydney, Australia for four years, studied at a Japanese university in Tokyo, and volunteered in Cambodia during undergrad. In ITEP, she appreciates the practical curriculum, the practitioner focused professors, the small size of the program, and the experience students bring to the classroom.
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Jill Arriaga Meeks, 2005 ITEP alum, is currently the Senior Education Advisor
for the Safe Schools Project at DevTech System, Inc. Safe Schools is a 5 year
USAID project working in Malawi and Ghana to create safe environments for all
girls and boys that promote gender equitable relationships and reduce school-related
gender-based violence (SRGBV) resulting in improved educational outcomes and
reduced negative health outcomes. She developed a teacher training curriculum
to give teachers new skills to address violence in the schools, helping them
to create safer learning environments inside their classrooms. The curriculum
focuses on adult-child dynamics, rights and responsibilities, positive non-violent
classroom discipline, active listening, crisis management, reporting, and individual
action planning helping teachers to prevent and respond to SRGBV. While at
ITEP she worked on the Country Desk Unit for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in
the Africa Region of Peace Corps Headquarters. Prior to ITEP, she was a classroom
teacher, including two years as a teacher trainer in the Peace Corps in Guinea
Bissau, West Africa. 
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