Amanda has been working with Northwestern University since 2011 and joined the Kellogg Certificate Program for Undergraduates in 2018. She previously held multiple roles within Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, which allowed her to advise and support both undergraduate and graduate students. Amanda received a bachelor’s degree in public policy and a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Michigan.
Impactful International Experiences
Study abroad never worked well with my class schedule, work, and housing as an undergraduate, but I had minored in Spanish and wanted to have an immersive experience to increase my fluency. Following my masters degree (which I received immediately following my undergraduate degree), I lived and worked in Chile for about six month through a program called English Opens Doors, which was sponsored by the United Nations Development Fund and the Chilean Ministry of Education. Through the program, I spent a month in intensive advanced Spanish language classes in Santiago, had three weeks to travel (during which I traveled south to Patagonia and back up through Argentina visiting cities like Bariloche, Buenos Aires, and Mendoza), and then I taught English for about 4 months (one semester) in a small city called Tocopilla, which is located on the Northern coast in the Atacama desert. I also led some summer English camps and such prior to my arrival in Tocopilla. I taught students from in grades 5-9, focusing on ways to make English fun. I lived with two separate host families during my time in Chile - one in Santiago and one in Tocopilla. Living abroad, even for only 6 months, is by far one of the best things I have ever done. It built a level of independence and confidence in me that would have been difficult to develop had I not been abroad. Living abroad was also the one thing that finally enabled me to move beyond a basic proficiency in Spanish to a basic level of fluency (unfortunately, I have lost some of this). I still have friends that live in Chile and always strongly support students who seek their own international experiences.
Why Study Abroad?
Study abroad helps students learn more about themselves and the world around them. It inspires independence and a new way of thinking.
Amy manages the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship awards as well as other professional and experiential fellowship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, with a focus on international awards. Amy holds a BA in Latin American studies from the University of Michigan and an MA in international and comparative education from Columbia University. Amy has worked in higher education and philanthropy for over twenty years and has traveled to more than twenty countries. Stop by and visit Amy and her golden retriever, Toby!
Please feel free to make an appointment with Amy to learn about fellowships. You don't need to have a specific award in mind.
Impactful International Experiences
Rotary Exchange Student to Durango, Durango, Mexico senior year of high school. Peace Corps Volunteer in El Carmen de Turrialba de San Jose, Costa Rica. Program Director for Open Society Institute, Soros Foundation in NYC; traveled extensively.
Why Study Abroad?
For the love of adventure, language, and the potential for peace thru exchange.
Bianca Jimenez
Senior Associate Director
Department: Weinberg College Center for International and Area Studies
Bianca has been at the University since 2006 working with various area studies programs including Asian Studies, International Studies, Latin American & Caribbean Studies, and Middle East & North African Studies. As Associate Director she oversees the administration of the IAS Weinberg programs and works with the faculty Directors to advise students, manage curricular development, and provide program management.
Impactful International Experiences
Traveling to Mexico as a kid, both to big cities and rural communities expanded my world view about how people's every day lives were lived and structured.
Why Study Abroad?
I think that study abroad experiences open your horizons to unexpected learning. They can be challenging, nurturing, empowering, humbling, and can help you learn to think from a variety of perspectives.
Brian is a first generation, non-traditional student who earned a MA (Hons) in English from Aberdeen University, Scotland, at the age of 30; and, more recently he earned a MEd in Higher Education from Loyola University Chicago working as an advisor, then director and assistant dean. A native of Scotland, Brian has trained in the Territorial Army as a combat medical technician, studied abroad at the University of Illinois, and has lived and worked in Scotland, England, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and Australia over a period of years. Don't be surprized if he encourages you to study abroad! Since coming to America, Brian has worked in higher education in numerous roles, almost exclusively in academic advising. Here at Northwestern, Brian has helped develop our homegrown, pre-med shadowing program with partners at the Glenview Outpatients Clinic and is excited to serve Northwestern students exploring a career in the health professions.
Impactful International Experiences
I have explored 4 ways of traveling: migration, study abroad, working/living abroad, and vacationing. Each mode of traveling has so many benefits and peculiarities. For example, studying abroad gives you academic opportunities to study often middle and upper-class norms within the home culture, allowing you access to experience the culture from privileged spaces and viewpoints--just like college at home. Whereas, migration changed many of my perceptions as I metamorphosized from tourist, visitor to then resident.
As I have grown and changed, over time, my thoughts about my traveling experiences have changed somewhat, too. So, it is a gift that keeps on giving, especially as I have worked in a number of countries, including Japan, Canada, Australia, England, Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands, and--of course--the US.
Most of these experiences were in metropolitan spaces, but some were very rural, too. Some spaces were 5 star hotels and others living in a tent. Of course, you will have accommodations somewhere between these two poles during your study abroad experience. Also, I was also able to work on campus during my study abroad experience to keep the costs down. Northwestern can also help first-gen, low income students navigate the costs of study abroad. So, if you can, don't let the lack of money get in the way of seeing what life you could be living in another country, albeit for a summer or a quarter. Go!
Daniel leads the undergraduate advising team in Medill Student Life for Medill students. Their office also helps students navigate the general Northwestern experience.
David Abrahamson is a Professor of Journalism and the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Beyond Medill, he is the general editor of a multi-volume historical series, "Visions of the American Press," published under the Medill imprint by the Northwestern University Press, and served as the director of the Northwestern UniversityCenter for the Writing Artsfrom 2002 to 2006. An active member of a number of learned societies, he is a founder and past president of the International Association for Literary Journalism Studiesand has served as head of both the the Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication'sHistory Division (2002-2003) and its Magazine Division (1997-1998).
With over two decades of experience as a magazine writer, editor and management consultant, Abrahamson's background includes senior editorial positions at a number of national consumer magazines, includingCar and DriverandPC/Computing. As a practicing journalist, his articles have been published inThe New York Times Magazine, ScienceandPlayboy,as well as in scholarly journals such asJournalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Literary Journalism Studies, American Journalism, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Journalism HistoryandMedia Studies Journal.His journalistic efforts have won a number of awards, including the Ken Purdy Memorial Award for Automotive Journalism.
Raised in Annapolis, MD, Abrahamson holds a B.A. in History from Johns Hopkins University (1969), a Master's degree in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley (1973), and a Ph.D. in American Civilization from New York University (1992).
Impactful International Experiences
Joined NU Study Abroad Committee in 1997; serve a term as chair; led an NU/Medill trip to Paris in 2005. Studied abroad myself in 1981 at Worcester College/Oxford.
Why Study Abroad?
I believe it is hard to imagine a better experience for a college student that immersion in an academic and cultural setting abroad.
Elisa Baena
Associate Professor of Instruction
Department: Department of Spanish and Portuguese - WCAS
Elisa Baena is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and received her Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2004. During her time at Northwestern, she has taught a wide variety of classes and has become a certified tester of the Spanish Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) of the American Council of Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). She has been named to the Faculty Honor Roll by the Associated Student Government in 2007 and in 2015; and received the Weinberg Arts and Sciences Alumni Teaching Award in 2014.
She also serves as the Director of the Spanish Language and Culture Study Abroad Program in Barcelona, working in this capacity with the Global Learning Office since 2008.
Impactful International Experiences
24 years living abroad in the US and directing the Barcelona summer program
Why Study Abroad?
I am the director of the Spanish Language and Culture summer program in Barcelona. Although I am not a study abroad adviser in my department, I recommend that all my students study abroad as a way to improve, practice their language skills, and for the cultural immersion and many other benefits that come from the experience.
Beth bleeds purple. She grew up in Evanston with a faculty father, was a debate “Cherub” at Northwestern’s National High School Institute, and graduated from Northwestern with an undergraduate degree in history. She honed her interests in the development of culturally diverse educational institutions during a summer ethnographic field study, in Arizona, about the educational experiences of Navajo students, and a junior year abroad in Germany. A precursor to the undergraduate research grant allowed her to conduct senior-thesis research in Philadelphia, which later evolved into her doctoral dissertation. Beth completed two master’s degrees as a Marshall Scholar at the University of Cambridge and earned her PhD at Princeton University, supported by dissertation fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania’s McNeil Center for Early American Studies and Princeton’s Center for Human Values. Her scholarship on religious and ethnic diversity in Reformation Europe and colonial North America has appeared in German and American publications. Additionally, she is the associate chair of Shepard Residential College and a regular contributor to the Inside Higher Ed Blog, University of Venus. Each spring, she and her English husband enjoy hosting Northwestern’s British Scholarships Garden Party at their Evanston home.
Impactful International Experiences
As a child, I spent every third summer in Germany and traveled throughout Europe from Scandinavia to Greece, with a memorable excursion further south to Egypt. As an undergraduate at Northwestern, I spent my third year enrolled at the University of Tuebingen. While earning graduate degrees at Cambridge University in the UK, I returned to Germany to conduct archival research. I maintain close ties with both the UK and Germany, but some of my most impactful recent travel has been to Ireland, Korea, and Singapore.
Why Study Abroad?
I consider it impossible to understand your own culture and how it has influenced you until you have experienced other cultures both within your country of birth and around the globe.
John is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of German and has taught language and content courses at Northwestern since 1990. As the departmental Study Abroad Adviser, he works with students to integrate overseas study into their undergraduate curriculum and also helps students to identify additional opportunities to return to Germany, Austria, or Switzerland following graduation. As a member of the campus Fulbright Committee, he works with students as they prepare Fulbright and DAAD grant applications. He is currently co-chair of the Council on Language Instruction and has a long association with the International Studies Residential College.
John earned his A.B. in Art History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his M.A. in German Literature from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a life long resident of Chicago and has studied and traveled extensively in Europe.
Impactful International Experiences
Junior Year Abroad in Baden bei Wien, Austria, 1977-78, Year of Study in Cracow, Poland, 1980-81, Semester in Reims, France, 1982, Semester of Study in Vienna, Austria, 1993, Year Study in Jena, Germany, 1985-86, Teaching in Yerevan, Armenia, 1992-93, Summer language courses in Greifswald 3 wks, Viareggio, 4 wks, Bergamo 8 wks, Santiago de Compostela, 4 wks, Lublin, 4 weeks, Gargnano, 8 wks, Torun, Poland, 4 wks, Urbino, Italy, 4 week, Dijon, France, 8 wks, Askov, Denmark, 2 wks,
Why Study Abroad?
My life has been immeasurably enriched because of the many opportunities that I have had to learn foreign languages and to live in other cultures. I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I can help encourage students to venture abroad to participate in language programs, internships or other programs that place them in the middle of a different culture.
After graduating from SESP with a major in social policy, Ken spent six years in Washington, D.C. While in D.C., he worked as a Congressional staffer and for two national trade associations. He also received a Master's in Public Policy (MPP) from American University. After moving to Chicago, Ken worked in policy and public relations for two of the nation's largest health care organizations. He joined the SESP Student Affairs Office in January 2011.
Ken works with many students at various stages of studying abroad - from what programs to consider based on interest, to strategically selecting classes and ultimately how to frame their abroad experiences when seeking internships, jobs, fellowships and graduate school
Impactful International Experiences
Personally meaningful travel abroad experiences to Peru and throughout Europe (Czech Republic, France, Germany, Netherlands). I was able to fully engage in the culture and ways of life while interacting with many people from those countries.
Krista Buda Bethel
Senior Assistant Director, Study Abroad Financial Aid
Originally from New Jersey, Krista was a first-generation college student and the first in her family to study abroad –or even to leave the country. As an undergraduate at Haverford College, Krista double-majored in linguistics and German and spent her junior year in Freiburg, Germany. After working in her college’s study abroad office, interning at IES Abroad in Chicago, and a stint in banking and finance, Krista joined the Northwestern study abroad team in 2007.
Why Study Abroad?
You have to get out of your bubble; Northwestern cannot teach you everything you need or want to know. Study abroad is usually nothing like you think it will be, and that is one of the best parts about it! It can make you a more interesting person and a more engaged citizen, teach you things about the world and about yourself that you didn’t know you should learn, and open up paths and opportunities you didn’t even know existed. It will also never be easier (or, in many cases, more affordable!) to live abroad than it is as a student.
Lauren Hetrovicz
Adjunct Lecturer of Spanish
Department: Department of Spanish and Portuguese - WCAS
Lauren Hetrovicz received her B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008, where she studied Spanish and Linguistics. She then earned an M.A. in Spanish Linguistics in 2011 and an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language in 2014, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After obtaining these degrees, she also completed 32 hours in Ph.D. coursework in Spanish Linguistics from the same institution.
In 2015, she then began working as an adjunct lecturer of Spanish and Linguistics at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where she taught elementary, intermediate, and advanced content courses such as Grammar Skills Review, Spanish Conversation, Spanish Composition, and Linguistics 101. At the College of Charleston, Lauren won a number of teaching and service awards highlighting her dedication and skills as an educator and faculty member.In 2019, Lauren joined the faculty at Northwestern University and is teaching elementary and intermediate Spanish courses.
Impactful International Experiences
While at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, I studied abroad four times while earning my undergraduate degree. I traveled to India, China, Costa Rica and Italy.
Why Study Abroad?
Given how diverse each of my study abroad programs were in terms of the subjects studied, the length of the program, the language spoken locally, etc. I was tremendously enriched personally and academically. Since I majored in Spanish and Linguistics, these experiences abroad pushed me to investigate these fields even further and, afterwards, I pursued two Master's degrees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one in Spanish Linguistics and the other in the Teaching of English as a Second Language. Even now, I am currently obtaining my Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics; these degrees and my subsequent independent travels would not have been the same without my initial participation in the four study abroad programs as an undergraduate student.
I am a native of India and did my graduate studies in USA. I am the faculty lead for the UG Exchange Program with SJTU in Shanghai and also the director for the Dual Degree MS Program with SJTU.
Marita Labedz Poll
Senior Academic Advisor
Department: Industrial Engineering and Management Science - MEAS
M.S. in Education,Guidance and Counseling, Eastern Illinois University
B.A. in Art Therapy, Millikin University
Impactful International Experience
I visited a friend in Normandy, France. Stayed with her family, learned about the local culture.
Why Study Abroad?
I'm an advocate for study abroad because of my own personal experiences traveling- each one of these experiences has expanded my knowledge of different places and cultures, and I've grown personally and professionally as a result. Additionally, I've worked with many students who have studies abroad, and their learning and personal growth has often been the highlight of their undergraduate experience!
Samantha Nissen
Assistant Director of Academic and Career Management
Samantha Nissen is the assistant director of academic and career management at Northwestern University’s Medill School, where she specializes in experiential learning and advising international students. She has a M.Ed. from Loyola University Chicago, and a B.A. from the University of Iowa. Samantha enjoys binging Terrace House, visiting Chicago’s many international grocery stores, and of course, travel.
Impactful International Experiences
I did a faculty-led summer journalism program in London, where we learned about British media including the News of the World scandal that broke around that time. I also am the child of a military family. My dad was stationed in Germany for a while and I think that made the biggest impact on me.
Why Study Abroad?
Study abroad is a profoundly important experience that pushes you to assess, reflect, and negotiate your identities in new contexts. Personally, my times abroad in high school and college were a big growth experience for me as an American from Iowa. Additionally, study abroad is a high-impact learning opportunity that benefits your career development!
Stephen hails from south central Pennsylvania, where he frolicked in creeks (“cricks”) and skinned his knees. The child of teachers, he came by his need to tell you how it should be quite early and honestly. His father’s love of all manner of flora (esp. fruit and nut trees) and fauna (“critters”) led Steve to study biology in college.
Following a disastrous attempt to learn sufficient electronics to make musical instruments for people with limited dexterity, he joined the Peace Corps. Hoping to work in marine fisheries projects in the South Pacific, he jumped at the chance to work in freshwater fisheries in Tanzania. Two years in Tanzania yielded fluency in Swahili, a desire to study ethnomusicology, and a German wife. He wooed her in Swahili!
After the Peace Corps, Steve showed up on the doorstep of the musicology department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and refused to leave until they gave him a PhD. Steve first came to Northwestern in 2001 for a three-year replacement position in the Bienen School of Music. He moved to the Office of Fellowships, in 2004, where he manages several fellowships competitions and gives grant-writing workshops to unsuspecting graduate students across the campus.
Impactful International Experiences
Peace Corps (88-90) and Fulbright (96-97) in Tanzania
Why Study Abroad?
My international experiences were transformative. Living and working in Tanzania for over four years gave me the foundation for my job, family, and beliefs.
Susan serves as the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and as an adviser to students in the Human Development & Psychological Services concentration. She also serves as the administrative coordinator of the Senior Honors Program.
Susangrew up in Michigan and considers Chicago her adopted home town. She is in her twentieth year working at Northwestern. She loves almost every aspect of her job, and especially enjoys helping students navigate the resources available. In addition to cheering for the 'CATS, you can find Susan at the field, court, pool or whereever else her two kids may take her.
Impactful International Experiences
As an undergraduate student, I had the opportunity to do an internship at CNN in London, England. It was a wonderful experience - one of the most dynamic environments I have ever worked in - and it helped me decide it was not the right field for me. Most recently, I had the opportunity to visit the GESI students in Jinja, Uganda. I have enjoyed talking with GESI alumni for many years and now, after visiting, have a deeper appreciation for the GESI experience and the impact it has on the students and community partners.
Tasha Seago-Ramaly
Assistant Professor of Instruction
Department: Department of Spanish and Portuguese - WCAS
Tasha is an Assistant Professor of Instruction teaching the Intermediate level in the Spanish Language Program here at NU.
Impactful International Experiences
As an undergraduate, I was a scholarship recipient for the Bryn Mawr College Summer Program in Spanish located at the Instituto Internacional, Miguel Angel 8 in Madrid, Spain. As a graduate student, I pioneered a graduate student exchange between the University of Granada, Spain and the University of Delaware. I taught English language and English History at the Escuela de Traductores e Intérpretes and still maintain connections with the people I met 30 years later.
Why Study Abroad?
As a undergraduate and graduate student I studied in Spain, pioneering a graduate exchange program with the University of Granada, and as an instructor I have participated in numerous educational excursions to Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. I look back on my time abroad as one of the most vibrant and meaningful times of my life. Not only was I immersed in another language and culture, but I established countless personal connections that I still cherish today. My experiences, particularly in Latin America during the aftermath of civil wars, have fueled my interests in human rights. It is this passion for understanding and empathy that I bring to the language classroom.
Yumi Shiojima
Japanese Language Program Study Abroad and Outreach Coordinator; Professor of Instruction
Department: Department of Asian Languages and Cultures - WCAS
Yumi received her M.S.Ed. from University of Pennsylvania. She has extensive experience in classroom teaching, coordination of instruction, and curriculum development, both in the U.S. and Japan, including at Rhodes College, the Japanese School at Middlebury College and the Summer Intensive Program at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities.
Yumi co-authored The IES Abroad MAP (Model Assessment Practice) for Language and Intercultural Communication for the IES (Institute for the International Education of Students) Abroad in 2011. Shiojima served as the Co-Chair of the Council on Language Instruction (2008-2011), the overarching organization of language instructors at Northwestern that advises on language pedagogy issues and promotes professional development of language instructors. She serves as a Fellow at the International Studies Residential College.
Impactful International Experiences
Studying abroad in the U.S. as an exchange student while in college!
