Meet our current graduate students and explore the impressive and diverse backgrounds they bring to the IC and IM Programs.

Ryan Dalton

Ryan is a first-year student in the International Communication Program at the School of International Service. He spent the last two years (2010-2012) in Togo, West Africa, serving as a Business, IT, and Communication Development Specialist in the United States Peace Corps. In addition to initiating multiple projects, he collaborated on a marketing strategy with Peace Corps Togo's administration to raise awareness of its volunteers' activities by interviewing with national radio and TV (in French and in the local language, Éwe) and conceiving the first-ever annual report. Ryan received his BA in Public Communication at Truman State University in 2008 and has a background in publishing, editing, design, journalism and radio operations and production. He will start as Dr. Gary Weaver's TA and the Managing Editor of Intercultural Management Quarterly in the fall of 2012.

Kristie Conserve

Kristie is a first year International Communication student in SIS. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications, with a concentration in Advertising, and a minor in French from Florida State University. Upon graduation, Kristie spent 2 years living and working in France, teaching English in high schools and elementary schools. Before coming to American University, she worked as a legal assistant. She is looking forward to exploring her interests in cross-cultural communication, international education, food and sustainability, and health communication.

Olga Sevcuka

Olga is a first year student in International Communication with an interest in intercultural training and communication, as well as cultural diplomacy. She received her Bachelor's Degrees in Global and International Studies and Spanish from the University of Kansas, where she also served as a Student Ambassador for international students. Previously, she interned with the Department of Education and worked on international education quality and policy within the APEC region. Her interest in intercultural training and communication is informed by her personal experience immigrating to the U.S. from Latvia and her experience working with Russian and Hispanic communities in Kansas.

Renata Aguilera-Titus

Renata is a first year graduate student in the International Communication program. After completing her undergraduate degree at Loyola University in Maryland, she joined Jesuit Volunteer Corp Northwest. During her year of service, Renata served the Latin American immigrant community in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. Upon concluding her year of service, Renata returned to the Washington, DC area to work as a Bilingual Intake Coordinator at the DC Bar Pro Bono Program.

Una Hrnjak

Una is a first year graduate student in the International Communication program and is exploring designing her own concentration with a focus in International Economic Development. Una completed her undergraduate studies at Miami University of Ohio with a BA in Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs and a Minor in Women's Studies. Currently, Una works as a Senior Consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton on a global health investment project in the Middle East and North Africa Region. Una has a passion for international development and is currently helping the firm build out the "Diplomacy and International Development" submarket. She is originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina. After escaping the war with her family, Una lived in Croatia and Germany until she was 10 years old. Her family moved to America when Una was in the 6th grade. Una enjoys traveling back home to the Balkans regularly. She speaks fluent Serbo-Croatian and hopes to regain full fluency in German one day.

Dianna Alexander-Oates

Dianna is a first-year graduate student in International Communication. She received her bachelors from Colorado College in Colorado Springs, and has spent the last two years working as a legal assistant in her home state of Texas.Though her academic background is in English Literature/Creative Writing, Dianna has had ten years of experience in citizen diplomacy through Fort Worth Sister Cities International -- experience which includes being home-hosted by families in Mexico, Japan, and Germany. The IC program allows Dianna to combine this cultural education with her love of the arts and passion for diplomacy. Her current research interests include the utilization of cultural identities imbedded in media such as film and music towards diplomatic ends in South Asia, and the impact that the global exchange of such media can have on political perceptions in that region.

Elaine Clayton 

Elaine is a first year graduate student in the International Communications program exploring public and cultural diplomacy. Her first step into the international affairs world was through an internship with the nonprofit Dog Meets World. She assisted with "photo diplomacy", giving personal portraits to those in developing countries, and discovered her love of cross-cultural understanding. After befriending people from various backgrounds and immersing herself in Catalan during her semester in Barcelona, the only thing bringing her back to the US was her acceptance email from the Department of State. Elaine has been a Pathways Intern since the summer of 2011, moving from facilitating seminars at the Foreign Service Institute to learning communication skills in the Office of Recruitment and Outreach, and is currently delving into the Office of Global Food Security. Elaine graduated from the University of Maryland with a double major in International Relations and Cultural Anthropology. She is excited to seek her passion of understanding new worldviews and learning proper communication skills while at AU.

Erin Robinson

Erin is a first-year International Communication graduate student within the School of International Service at American University. She graduated from University of Notre Dame where she studied sociology, Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy, and gender studies. Erin recently returned state-side after working in Yokote, Japan for two years as part of the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program. She enjoyed teaching English at local area junior high and elementary schools working with her students to instill confidence in using English as a tool of communication, and improving their awareness of foreign culture. During her time in Japan, she also became proficient in Japanese. Erin would like to continue to focus on East Asia as a region of interest. In her studies in SIS, Erin would like to focus her studies on intercultural relations and its connection to mentorship and advocacy through trans-Atlantic relationships established through social media. She is also open to learning as much as she can during her time in SIS.

Caitlin Murphy

Caitlin is a first year MA candidate in the IC program, interested in international education and cross-cultural communications. She is a recent graduate from Lebanon Valley College where she triple majored in Sociology, English Communications and International Studies. Her past research includes studies on the factors that propel and hinder students' decisions to study abroad as well as the inherent benefits of intercultural exchange, focused primarily on the intergroup contact theory. This past May at the 2012 annual NAFSA conference, Caitlin presented research on multimedia narratives and how they can enhance a student’s ability to identify and articulate significant experiences abroad. She has studied and worked abroad at the Center for European Studies in Maastricht, Netherlands and this past summer she interned with the Forum on Education Abroad.

Miranda Patterson

Miranda is a first year IC student from North Carolina. She received her bachelor's degree in Global Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2012. During her undergraduate career, she served as an English teacher at an orphanage in rural Uganda and taught about her experiences, in addition to international issues in K-12 classrooms in the Chapel Hill area. Before arriving to SIS, Miranda spent her entire summer travelling the globe visiting Brazil, Spain, Morocco and Japan. She is interested in how countries abroad view the US and how to effectively practice public diplomacy in an increasingly technological society. As a 2012 Thomas R. Pickering graduate fellow, Miranda will go on to become a Foreign Service Officer upon graduation.

Yuzzy "Gaina" Dubuisson

Gaina is a first year graduate student in the International Communication Program with a concentration in Human Security. As an undergraduate student, she focused on U.S. foreign policy and was awarded the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship in 2011. Before entering the IC Program, Gaina helped begin “Haiti in Transition (H.i.T),” a youth-lead non-profit organization that is registered to operate in both the United States and Haiti. Gaina’s traveling experiences include backpacking throughout Israel as a U.S. youth ambassador, traveling throughout Europe, living and volunteering in Haiti, and studying at the University of Havana in Cuba. Gaina speaks Haitian Creole, French and Spanish. She looks forward to serving and representing the United States of America as a Foreign Service Officer after graduating.

Daniel J. Cedeno

Daniel is a first year International Communication student with a concentration in Public Diplomacy, focusing on Latin American affairs. Daniel received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from Biola University in California. He previously worked for the Mayor's Office of Los Angeles, and as an account coordinator for a Hispanic Public Relations firm. Before moving to Washington, Daniel held a paid State Department internship at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Rome, where he served in the Public Diplomacy office. Daniel's passion lies at the intersection of US and Latin American affairs, where he hopes to utilize strategic communication and public affairs skills to restructure Latin American relations.

Amber Massey

Amber is a graduate student in the International Communication program and plans to explore the impact of media on cultural memory, identity, and nation-building. Amber has 8 years of communications experience in Washington; she has worked at Amnesty International and is currently an editor at a Washington-based communications consulting firm. Amber graduated from Vassar College in New York where she studied social psychology as well as Islamic and Judaic traditions in Africa. Her regional focus is North Africa and the Sahel.

Lívia Pontes Fialho

Lívia is a first year International Communication student interested in Public Diplomacy and Intercultural Relations. She comes to American University from Northeastern Brazil with an undergraduate degree in Communication - Journalism, and experience in the newsroom and in public relations. She has always been interested in the relationship between International Affairs and Communication, and combined those two areas in her undergraduate thesis, entitled "Iran and Foreign Policy in the Lula Admnistration", analyzing the role of media in Brazilian diplomatic affairs. She hopes to work for leading international organizations, and looks forward to benefitting from the wealth of opportunities the IC program has to offer.

Brittany Lehr

Brittany is a first-year graduate student in the International Communication program. Originally from Keene, NH, Brittany holds a B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature with a minor in Business Studies from Providence College and an M.A. in Spanish with a specialization in Hispanic Cultural Studies from Central Connecticut State University. As an undergraduate, Brittany spent a year at the Center for Modern Languages at the University of Granada in Granada, Spain, and during her first Master’s Degree spent a summer studying in Salamanca, Spain. From these experiences she has developed a strong interest in international exchange as a means of fostering global mutual understanding. While in the International Communication program, Brittany will focus on International Education and Cultural Diplomacy.