Faculty Archive - School for International Training

Aldo Anzures, PhD

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 16:53:32 +0000

Aldo Anzures is head of school systems design for the early and primary years at International Baccalaureate (IB), where he works at the intersection of curriculum, assessment, pedagogy, and community engagement. His work focuses on designing education systems that can operate meaningfully across diverse cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic contexts, with particular attention to how schools translate IB’s global frameworks into everyday practice. Trained as an ethnographer of education, his academic work centers on Indigenous early childhood education in Latin America, with a focus on how policies framed around quality and inclusion are taken up, reshaped, or resisted by teachers, families, and communities. His book Bureaucracies and Language Policy in Indigenous Early Childhood Education: Promises, Practice, and the Work of Schooling in Mexico is forthcoming with De Gruyter Mouton in 2027.

Courses Taught

Ilya Malafei, MA

Abigail Henson — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 18:04:56 +0000

Ilya Malafei supports the academic design and delivery of all programs at SIT Amsterdam. Prior to joining SIT, Malafei taught cultural studies, philosophy, and qualitative research courses at University College Maastricht in the Netherlands. Born and raised in Belarus, Malafei’s research explores how marginalized bodies and communities push back against and reimagine dominant structures of time, memory, and power. Their graduate thesis brought this question into focus through the visual politics of the 2020-2021 protests in Belarus.

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Annastasia Williams, MEd

Joanna Tanger — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:41:07 +0000

University Relations Manager for the Northeast Region: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York

Annastasia Williams joined SIT Study Abroad as a university relations manager in April 2026. Bringing over a decade of professional experience in global education to her role at SIT, Williams previously served in roles at CIEE, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Western Kentucky University. As a student, she studied abroad first with Semester at Sea and then on faculty-led programs. Through these impactful programs and her professional experience, she has been all over the world. She is passionate about increasing access to education abroad experiences for students in higher education, as she sees it as a clear pathway to student success and development.

Williams is an Iowa native but has spent most of her adult life in the Southeast. She’s now based in Knoxville, Tennessee. She holds a master’s degree in student affairs in higher education and bachelor’s degrees in broadcasting and French from Western Kentucky University. She has a multitude of interests, including reading, writing, sewing, games of all kinds, Disney, Broadway, and more.

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Aarti Iyer, PhD

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:11:10 +0000

Dr. Aarti Iyer is an affiliate/adjunct faculty member at SIT Graduate Institute. She worked as an academic since 2009, most recently as a professor of social psychology at the University of Sheffield (U.K.). Her research investigates the causes and consequences of challenges to social inequality by individuals (e.g. political attitudes and behavior) and organizations (e.g. diversity, equity, and inclusion policies). Dr. Iyer also taught quantitative research methods and statistics courses to undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students. During the 2021-22 academic year, she took a leave of absence to work as a Congressional Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (Ohio), where she was part of the health policy team. This experience convinced her to change careers, and she then worked as a social scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for three years. Since December 2025, Dr. Iyer has been an independent consultant working on projects related to artificial intelligence, program evaluation, and social science research methods.

Graduate Courses Taught

Eleonora Morganti, PhD

Joanna Tanger — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 18:16:25 +0000

Dr. Eleonora Morganti is a professor at Spring Hill College in Bologna, where she teaches courses in European and Mediterranean history within American study abroad programs. During her academic career, she spent four years in Paris, France, at École des Ponts and seven years at the University of Leeds, a Russell Group institution, where she developed her core research in urban food systems, transport policy, and sustainability.

She holds a doctorate in policies for sustainable development from the University of Bologna. Dr. Morganti’s expertise includes food distribution, food transport systems, online shopping, and consumer behavior. She has published 14 peer-reviewed articles and five book chapters on food hubs, sustainable urban policies, and related topics, and has collaborated with research institutions in the United States, Argentina, and China.

A native of Bologna, Dr. Morganti has extensive knowledge of local food culture and a strong network of collaborations with communities, public agencies, and businesses across the regional food landscape.

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Ferdinand Gerlich

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:17:14 +0000

Ferdinand Gerlich studied culture politics and society at Central European University. As a child, he lived in Hopkins, Minnesota, for a year, where he got to experience and appreciate American culture and customs, creating a long-lasting bond with the United States. As a Vienna native, he assists program participants with logistics and general needs. Gerlich acts as a facilitator, connecting students to local institutions and Vienna’s rich culture. He is also an avid basketball fan, loves music and cinema, and is well-versed in classical literature.

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Tsering Youdon Lama

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:34:58 +0000

Tsering Youdon Lama is a public health graduate born in Dolpo, Nepal, with strong experience in community service, education, and youth leadership, particularly in remote Himalayan regions of Nepal. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public health from Nobel College, Kathmandu, and has been actively involved in volunteering, teaching, and humanitarian work since her early academic years. Youdon has worked with schools, youth-led NGOs, health clinics, and educational hostels, contributing to areas such as sexual and reproductive health education, disaster management, academic mentoring, and community health outreach. She has coordinated programs, led teams, and managed student residences, demonstrating strong leadership, organizational, and communication skills. Fluent in multiple languages, including English, Nepali, Tibetan, and local Dolpo dialects, she brings cultural sensitivity and commitment to social impact, with a deep interest in volunteering, education, and community development.

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Elia Lo Parrino, PhD

Abigail Henson — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:52:18 +0000

Dr. Elia Lo Parrino is a zoologist with a strong interest in biodiversity conservation in human-modified environments, with a particular focus on freshwater ecosystems. His research has primarily addressed the drivers of species distribution, biological invasions, and ecosystem functionality, especially in inland waters. To investigate these topics, Dr. Lo Parrino integrates field-based ecological monitoring with statistical modeling, spatial analyses, and molecular tools, aiming to translate ecological knowledge into effective conservation and management actions. He has contributed to 23 scientific publications in ecology, conservation biology, and biogeography.

Throughout his academic career, Dr. Lo Parrino has been extensively involved in field surveys of amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates across a wide range of environments, including lowland wetlands, Mediterranean islands, and cave systems. As a postdoc researcher, he studied invertebrate communities in springs and subterranean systems in Italy to reconstruct trophic webs and functional diversity at the interface between hypogean and epigean environments.

Selected Publications

Akwasi Amankwah-Bonsu

Joanna Tanger — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 19:53:59 +0000

Akwasi Amankwah-Bonsu is a Ghanaian educator and communications professional from Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. He holds a bachelor’s in education from the University of Education, Winneba, and a master’s in communication studies from the University of Ghana. He has served as the program coordinator at SIT Ghana since 2022 and is also an Asante-Twi lecturer. He plays a key role in academic program management and student engagement. His professional interests focus on education and language. He is passionate about driving, music, and building meaningful connections with students.

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Samar Mezghanni, PhD

Joanna Tanger — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 20:51:26 +0000

Dr. Samar Mezghanni is a Tunisian Canadian writer and international speaker, advocating for children, youth, women, and marginalized people to become storytellers of their own narratives. She has written over a hundred short stories for children and published 16 books.

Dr. Mezghanni obtained her master’s in communication, culture, and critical discourse from the University of Birmingham and has worked with the British Council and the United Nations as a consultant on civil society and youth programs. She holds a PhD in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Mezghanni was named by the BBC as one of the most influential women in the world (2013) and by Arabian Business as one of the most important young leaders in the Arab region (2012). She is a member of various international and regional NGOs, including as a UN Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Selected Publications

Trang Nguyen

Abigail Henson — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 20:10:15 +0000

Trang Nguyen is an academic program and international support specialist with more than 15 years of experience supporting international education and development programs. She works closely with students, faculty, and partners to support academic writing, provide structured feedback, and assist students in navigating research and experiential learning processes. Before joining SIT, she worked across a range of internationally funded projects and academic support initiatives, supporting collaboration between Vietnamese institutions and global partners. Her work involved coordinating multi-stakeholder projects across cultures and time zones, strengthening communication and quality standards, and supporting academic rigor in diverse international contexts. At SIT, Trang supports the coordination and delivery of academic programs by assisting with assignment review and grading support, advising students through their independent study projects or internships, facilitating connections with local institutions and advisors, and supporting students’ cross-cultural learning and reflective integration of field-based experiences.

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Bárbara Costa, MA

Abigail Henson — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 21:52:17 +0000

Bárbara Costa has worked as an assistant professor at the Polytechnic University of Leiria, Portugal, where she taught digital marketing and communication, semiotics, and multimedia content production. She has also worked in corporate communications, handling internal communications, public relations, event planning, multimedia production, digital strategies and content, and social media accounts. She has worked as a production assistant in television advertising projects for clients such as IKEA, Volvo, Volkswagen, and Decathlon. She has also been active in youth and climate nongovernmental organizations, designing digital campaigns, narratives, and social media content, and attending United Nations climate change conferences. She holds a master’s degree in marketing and communication, specializing in corporate social responsibility communication.

Selected Presentations

Carolyne Mukuha, MD, MBA

Abigail Henson — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 18:26:06 +0000

Dr. Carolyne Mukuha is a Kenyan physician and health-systems specialist with more than a decade of experience in clinical practice, public and global health, and academic program design. Before joining SIT, Dr. Mukuha worked across Kenya’s public, faith-based, and private health sectors, leading initiatives that link academic learning with real-world health systems challenges. She has served as a research fellow with the KEMRI–Wellcome Trust HIGH-Q project, leading county-level analyses on workforce capacity and service delivery. As a consultant, she has supported hospitals and government agencies to implement quality standards and to strengthen institutional quality-improvement and patient-safety systems. She holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and an MBA in Healthcare Management. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Healthcare Management at Strathmore Business School in collaboration with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). She also completed postgraduate programs in Safety, Quality, Informatics, and Leadership at Harvard Medical School and in Teaching and Research in Global Health at Heidelberg University.

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Julianna Lewis, BS

Joanna Tanger — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 22:04:37 +0000

Julianna Lewis earned her bachelor’s in public health with a minor in Spanish from Tulane University. As a student, she studied abroad independently at Universidad EAFIT in Medellín, Colombia, and with SIT in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She also led semesterly development projects to San Pedro Sula and surrounding communities in Honduras. After graduating, Lewis dedicated herself to a year of service with Volunteers in Development, Education, and Solidarity (VIDES). Her first placement site was in Bogotá, Colombia, where she worked in an elderly care home and her second placement site was in Geneva, Switzerland, where she represented VIDES at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Lewis has been with ��Ů��/SIT since 2021, previously serving on the Fulbright Specialist Program and the IDEAS Program. Since 2026, she has served as an admissions officer and is eager to assist students in jump-starting their study abroad journey. In her free time, she enjoys sewing, hiking, and traveling the world. She is a native Spanish speaker.

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Steve Luther

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 21:55:56 +0000

University Relations Manager for Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Illinois, and Indiana

Steve Luther brings over two decades of international higher education experience with both U.S. and overseas based study abroad program providers. Previously, Luther was senior director of institutional relations for London-based FIE: Foundation for International Education. Prior to that, he held a variety of outreach, institutional relations, and program development roles with GlobaLinks Learning Abroad (originally AustraLearn). He’s worked with universities across the U.S. and throughout Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Europe, and Asia, with experience in study abroad, internships, full degree and custom faculty-led programming. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Central Connecticut State University and is currently enrolled in an online graduate program through Millersville University of Pennsylvania focusing on space weather. A native New Englander born and raised in Connecticut, Luther spent 20 years in Colorado and has been based in Beaverton, Oregon, since 2014. He is an avid traveler, hiker and outdoor adventurer who has a particular passion for chasing and photographing the Northern Lights around the U.S. and internationally.

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Hala Al-Fayez, PhD

Maya Kuriki — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 16:02:21 +0000

Dr. Hala Al-Fayez brings more than 15 years of experience in teaching Arabic as a foreign language and has worked with academic institutions at all levels. She has extensive experience in language instruction, culturally sensitive curriculum design, and creating positive learning environments.

Utilizing her background in counseling, mental health, sociology, and women’s studies, she integrates an interdisciplinary approach to teaching that meets the diverse learning needs of all students.

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Mahmoud S. Shafie, PhD

Maya Kuriki — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 16:02:01 +0000

Dr. Mahmoud Shafie joined School for International Training in 2007. Prior, he taught Arabic to foreigners at the Language Center of the University of Jordan.

He is the author of the “Noon wal Qalam” series for teaching Arabic to non-native speakers, which is the textbook used at SIT. He has co-written additional works, including the “Ad-Dhad” series (Dhad Institute for TASOL, University of Nizwa, 9 levels) and “Noor al-Arabiya” (Islamic Services Foundation, USA) with Dr. Waleed Anati. A member of the Jordanian Writers Society, he has also published two novels.

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Vivek Mishra, PhD

Abigail Henson — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:26:07 +0000

Dr. Vivek Mishra is an interdisciplinary scholar with interests in post-colonial cities, Critical Urban Theory, urban political economy, housing informality, governance, urban and queer social movements, and justice. Dr. Mishra has taught courses on urban studies and race and ethnicity at Northeastern University, Boston and Brown University, Providence.

His research draws on historical, ethnographic, case study, and spatial methods and contributes to existing scholarly discussions on the understanding of how cities are developed and governed outside formal urbanization processes. Specifically, his research challenges the conflation of housing informality with poverty, calling for a broader analysis of class, power, privilege, and culture within the context of urban informality.

Select Publications

Frances Roberts-Gregory, PhD

Abigail Henson — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 21:59:04 +0000

Dr. Frances Roberts-Gregory is a gender and climate justice policy strategist, ecowomanist storyteller, and a performance artist. She leads environmental education, climate advocacy, and youth engagement initiatives with Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), LGBTQ, feminist, and abolitionist organizations committed to grassroots solutions and intersectional environmental justice.

As an environmental scientist, climate anthropologist, and community geographer, Dr. Roberts-Gregory examines the political priorities of Afrodiasporic, BIPOC, and women’s communities in UN climate negotiations and grassroots resistance to environmental violence. Her postdoctoral research supports capacity-building for ecofeminist and pan-African transnational coalitions through initiatives such as the Feminist Agenda for a Green New Deal, the UNFCCC Women and Gender Constituency, and the Global Afro-Descendants Climate Justice Collaborative.

Dr. Roberts-Gregory served as a climate justice program officer at the Foundation for Louisiana and as a program director of leadership development at the Northeastern University Initiative for Energy Justice.

She formerly served on the board of the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice and currently serves on the boards of One Square World and the HBCU Green Fund. In addition to her bachelor’s and doctoral degrees, she has completed postdoctoral fellowships at Northeastern University and at the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University.

Select Publications

Sushi Au, MSW

Abigail Henson — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 19:50:44 +0000

Sushi Au is the incident support and student security manager. In previous roles, Au has supported young adults, children, trafficked survivors, people without housing, and domestic violence survivors through community organizing, education, and program management. She has worked in New York City, Hong Kong, and San Francisco, as well as cities throughout California. Au has also taught youth through wilderness and study abroad programs. She has traveled to more than 35 countries and has lived on three continents.

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Kyle Keith

Joanna Tanger — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 18:07:00 +0000

University Relations Manager for the Northeast Region: Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont

Kyle Keith joined SIT Study Abroad as a university relations manager in November 2025. Bringing a decade of professional experience in international education to his role serving SIT Study Abroad partners and students, Keith worked previously at Barcelona SAE, NC State University, and Wofford College. A proud first-generation college student and Gilman Scholar from the rural Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, his steadfast commitment to widening access to education abroad for more students has earned multiple field-wide honors – including the .��

He holds a master’s in student affairs administration from Appalachian State University and a bachelor’s in education from Elon University. Keith is currently based in Durham, North Carolina, where he enjoys gardening, baking sourdough bread, and all things pop culture.��

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Lola Boffo

Joanna Tanger — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 22:49:59 +0000

Born and raised in Ushuaia, Argentina, Lola Boffo is an interdisciplinary artist and adventurer whose practice spans music, illustration, photography, and writing. Her work explores the connections between art, territory, and community, driving projects that foster collective creation and cultural exchange. She has been selected twice for the U.S. Embassy’s Youth Ambassadors Program—first as a teenage participant and, in 2025, as a mentor. In addition to her artistic background, Boffo brings solid experience in tourism services and visitor support in Tierra del Fuego, which has strengthened her organizational skills and ability to work in dynamic environments. These qualities, combined with her intercultural communication skills, make her an asset for both the operational tasks as well as for supporting students as they adapt to new cultural contexts. Boffo is currently pursuing an advanced technical degree in cultural management, training to become a cultural manager dedicated to strengthening and supporting artistic development in her hometown.

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Mounir Khélifa, PhD

Joanna Tanger — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 20:50:48 +0000

Dr. Mounir Khélifa is a native of Tunisia. He studied English at Tunis University, the Sorbonne, and Yale, where he received his MA and PhD. A professor of English language and literature for more than two decades, he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in poetry, poetics, and comparative literature at Tunis University. He has held several academic administrative positions, including director of English graduate studies at the University of Manouba from 1998 to 2002, and was senior advisor in the cabinet of the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research (2002–2006), where he was responsible for cooperation with foreign institutions and curricular reform. Dr. Khélifa has recently been made a lifetime member of the Tunisian Academy for the Arts, Letters, and Sciences.

As academic director, Dr. Khélifa oversees all aspects of the SIT Study Abroad Tunisia program. In addition to designing the program’s academic and field-based components, he advises students and ensures that their academic needs are met. In this role, Dr. Khélifa draws on his understanding of both American and Tunisian higher education systems, his intimate knowledge of Tunisian culture, and his wide range of contacts in the area.

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Christopher Medalis, PhD

Maya Kuriki — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 18:17:33 +0000

Dr. Christopher Medalis is an international education global programs and grants expert based in New York and central Europe. He has more than 30 years of experience leading capacity building for higher education institutions, advancing university internationalization, and managing grant programs and academic exchanges on behalf of universities, governments, foundations, and corporations. His career has included work on grants and sponsored programs for numerous universities and nongovernmental organizations and representing the U.S. State Department’s EducationUSA network as the regional director for Europe. Previously, he was director of global scholarship programs at the Institute of International Education, where he directed its European office from 1998-2007. He serves as an advisor and reviewer to the National Science Foundation, the European Commission, and several national academic agencies of European country ministries. He also advises several U.S.-based foundations and nongovernmental organizations on study abroad scholarship programs. Dr. Medalis has a bachelor’s in international relations from George Washington University. In addition, he holds a master’s in history, a master’s of philosophy in history, and a doctorate in history, all from Columbia University. His research interests include history, public diplomacy, popular culture, and comparative and international education.

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