Boston Staff

Bernd Widdig
Executive Director
widdig@bu.edu

Bernd Widdig joined Boston University as the Executive Director of BU Study Abroad in 2011. Between 2007 and 2011, he served as Director of the Office of International Programs at Boston College and was the founding Director of BC’s McGillycuddy-Logue Center for Undergraduate Global Studies. Previous to his work at Boston College, he was the Associate Director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI), MIT’s international education cornerstone program that places science and engineering students in tailored internships around the world. In 1996, he founded the MIT-Germany Program, one of the most successful of the MISTI country programs.

After receiving his PhD in German Studies from Stanford University, Bernd began his career at MIT in 1989 as a faculty member in the Foreign Languages and Literatures Section with a research focus on 20th century German culture. He is the author of numerous publications, among them “Culture and Inflation in Weimar Germany.” (2001). Bernd received his Erstes Staatsexamen in Economics/Political Science/Sociology and German literature from the University of Bonn.

In 2008 he was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

View Dr. Widdig’s curriculum vitae.

Philippe Pavillard
Director, Site Operations
phjp@bu.edu

Philippe is responsible for the overall oversight of BU Study Abroad. He is also a representative of BU on the EUSA Board of Directors.

Debra Terzian
Director, Program Management and Summer Programs
dterzian@bu.edu

Debra is responsible for the development and oversight of Summer programs. She also oversees the Program Management, Student Services, and Records areas of the office.

Amalia Pérez-Juez, PhD
Acting Director, Academic Affairs
amaliapj@bu.edu

Amalia Pérez-Juez earned her PhD in Archaeology and History from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and has studied in France and the U.S. She teaches History of Spain and Mediterranean Archaeology. She has been with BU since 1995. At BU Study Abroad she is responsible for academic affairs, including curriculum development, program review, teaching, and faculty appointments.

Maribel Blanco
Associate Director, Finance and Operations
mblanco@bu.edu

Maribel is responsible for all aspects of developing, maintaining, and analyzing BU Study Abroad’s budgets and financial plans, in addition to overseeing the payroll and personnel administration of the Study Abroad office and working closely with the Director of Site Operations on matters related to overseas operations. Maribel has a BA from Boston University, an MEd from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and she studied abroad in Grenoble for a semester while at BU. Maribel is a native Spanish speaker and is conversant in French, German and Italian.

Chris Russell
Associate Director, Marketing/Recruiting
cdr@bu.edu

Chris is responsible for advertising, marketing, and off-campus recruiting.

Sergio Lemos
Finance/Operations Assistant and Payroll Coordinator
sergiol@bu.edu

Sergio is responsible for finance and operations of BU Study Abroad as well as payroll for Study Abroad faculty.

Melissa Malone
Administrative Assistant
mmalone@bu.edu

Melissa is Administrative Assistant to the Executive Director. She has a Master of Arts in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University, and has studied abroad in the former Soviet Union and Strasbourg, France.

Linda Surette
Staff Coordinator
surette@bu.edu

Linda provides administrative support to the Executive Director.

Monika Skrobisz-Gil
International Personnel Coordinator
mgil@bu.edu

Monika is in charge of our new summer faculty orientation program and hiring logistics, administering the graduate assistantship program, and coordinating on-site faculty and staff new hires and orientation. She comes to BU Study Abroad with experience in the City of Edinburgh Council in Scotland, where she had a range of responsibilities including office management and staff training and supervision. Prior to that experience, she worked in hospitality here in Boston and as a staffing coordinator for a firm in Poland.

Sarah Williams
Financial Administrator
sarahwms@bu.edu

Sarah oversees all policies, processes, and procedures related to expense payments and reporting, including all of the department’s overseas accounting and banking. She is also the department liaison with various financial offices on campus (General Accounting, Accounts Payable, Miscellaneous Receivables, Treasury, et cetera). Before becoming Financial Administrator, Sarah worked in BU Study Abroad’s Enrollment Services area for three years and possesses expert knowledge of Study Abroad application and enrollment statistics.

Melissa Ormsbee
Assistant Director of Student Services
mormsbee@bu.edu

Melissa is responsible for oversight of the Student Services area which includes student information systems and records, the application process, program registration, financial aid, billing, transcripts, statistics and reporting, and other student financial and academic affairs. Melissa studied art history and computer science and participated in study and work abroad programs in France and England. Prior to joining the BU Study Abroad staff in 2006, Melissa worked in non-profit arts administration as well as event management as a registrar, program coordinator, and systems specialist.

Sarah manages the day-to-day application and general pre-departure documents, processes and provides secondary customer service and troubleshooting for students, advisors, and recommenders throughout the admission process and pre-departure process. In addition to providing support for varied, essential enrollment services tasks, Sarah organizes and processes French and Spanish visa letters for admitted students. She is a 2010 graduate of CAS with a BA in International Relations, focusing on foreign policy and security studies as well as Africa and the Middle East. She studied abroad in London in 2009 through the BU London Internship Program.

Caitlin Dundon
Program Coordinator
dundonc@bu.edu

Caitlin handles our interactions with visitors and preliminary advising to students, as well as application processing. Caitlin comes to BU Study Abroad from the BU Athletics Department where she has worked in various administrative roles for four years. Caitlin graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 2006 (French Language and Literature) and studied with the Grenoble Language and Liberal Arts and Paris Internship Programs.

Richard Fox
Student Services Administrator
rkfox@bu.edu

Richard is responsible for pre-departure paperwork, institutional billing, registration, grading, and summer scholarship and grants. He has lived in several countries including Japan and Jordan, and traveled to 35 countries. Richard has worked in several sectors including banking, advertising, e-commerce and the military. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate (Ed.D.) in Education Leadership and Development, Higher Education Administration at Boston University School of Education.

Brandon Gast
Program Coordinator
gastb@bu.edu

Brandon handles our interactions with visitors and preliminary advising to students, as well as application processing. He is a native Oregonian and a graduate of Portland State University where he studied International Studies and African Studies.  Brandon is appreciative of the many unique experiences he has had while traveling including the three formal study abroad programs he has participated in: a year in Ghana as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, his Senior Capstone project in Nicaragua, and a summer program through the London School of Economics in Beijing, China.  Brandon has worked as an administrative assistant at the PSU International Special Programs Office and he has interned with several non-profit organizations focusing on international development and social justice issues.  He was teaching English with the JET program in Sapporo, Japan prior to relocating to Boston.

Sheerley Zinori
Program Coordinator
szinori@bu.edu

Sheerley handles our interactions with visitors and preliminary advising to students, as well as application processing. Sheerley is a 2008 graduate of Bryn Mawr College, where she studied history and dance. She has participated in a couple of life changing study abroad programs: once during high school when she lived with a host family in Messina, Sicily and another during her time at Bryn Mawr when she studied abroad in the Czech Republic. Prior to joining the BU Study Abroad staff in 2011, Sheerley worked in higher education administration at Boston Architectural College, as well as study abroad organizations and offices in Boston and at Bryn Mawr College.

David Lamitie
Assistant Director for External Programs
dlamitie@bu.edu

David is the advisor for all students interested in non-BU study abroad as well as the coordinator of student and faculty exchange programs.

Debbie Miller
Assistant Director
Program Management
millerda@bu.edu

Debbie studied abroad in Iceland during her junior year of high school. In college, she studied in France for one semester. She was in the Peace Corps in Turkmenistan after graduating from college. So, at times since high school she has been proficient in Icelandic, French, Russian and Turkmen. She holds a BA in French and Language Studies and a MA from Lesley in Intercultural Relations. At BU Study Abroad she oversees Records and the Front Desk and helps with Program Management. Debbie manages the programs for Beijing, Beirut, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Keio, Kyoto, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Rome, Singapore, Turkey, and Washington, DC.

Leilani Olson
Assistant Director
ljolson@bu.edu

Leilani is responsible for program management for France and Rabat programs. She also manages the politics and international relations track of the London Internship Program and the London & Paris: Architecture and Urbanism Program.

Jeff Conradi
Program Manager
conradij@bu.edu

Jeff is responsible for program management for the Auckland Programs, Geneva & London: International Conflict Resolution, London Acting Program (LAMDA), London Art History Program with the Courtauld Institute of Art, London Graduate Journalism Program, Summer London Graduate Mass Communication Program, Summer London Liberal Arts Program, London Royal College of Music Program (RCM), School of Education Programs (Sydney/London), London History and Literature Program, and Sydney Programs.

Kathleen Rodriguez Dietzel
Program Manager
kr@bu.edu

Kathleen, fluent in both Spanish and French, had studied abroad in Paris, France and Argentina. She holds a dual MA in International Relations and International Communication. At BU Study Abroad, Kathleen is responsible for program management of Burgos, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Quito, and Shanghai Programs. Kathleen is currently on maternity leave.

Amber Thacher
Program Manager
athacher@bu.edu

Amber has an MA in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University and has worked for the past two years as a study abroad advisor at Northwestern University. Amber has served on several occasions as Resident Director for summer programs offered through Interamerican University Studies Institute in both Queretaro, Mexico in 2008 and Costa Rica in 2004, 2005 and 2007. At BU Study Abroad, she manages the Dresden, Geneva, Lima & Ayacucho, Menorca, Guatemala, and the London College of General Studies programs. She also manages the arts and arts administration, theater studies, journalism, pre-law, advertising, marketing, public relations, hospitality and tourism, and arts and media tracks of the London Internship Program.

Mary Ogburn
Program Manager
ogburn@bu.edu

Mary completed her MA in Higher Education at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education. She has a BA in French from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and spent a semester abroad in Aix-en-Provence with the American University Center of Provence.

She has also studied abroad on shorter-term and faculty-led programs at Universitat Kassel in Germany and at language institutes in Montpellier, France and in Florence. She spent an additional year in the French Alps as an English language assistant through the French Ministry of Education.

Mary has worked in international programs offices at three different institutions: Virginia Tech and most recently at Boston College and Wellesley College. In these roles, she had a range of responsibilities, including student advising, marketing and recruiting, and coordinating faculty-led and exchange programs. At BU Study Abroad, Mary manages the Dublin, Italy, and the Israel programs. In addition, she manages the economics and finance, film, radio, and television, management, and psychology and social policy tracks of the London Internship Program.

Shannon Williams
Interim Program Manager
sw1@bu.edu

Shannon is managing the programs in Spain, Ecuador and China, while Kathleen Rodriguez Dietzel is on maternity leave.

Jennifer DiTomasso Jacobsen
Marketing/Web Specialist
jendj@bu.edu

Jen is responsible for the BU Study Abroad web sites, as well as web-based marketing initiatives. Jen has a bachelor’s degree from the College of Communication at BU, and a master’s degree in Electronic Commerce, also from BU. She studied abroad on the London Internship Program, and has also traveled to Australia and New Zealand.

Meg Lucas
Marketing & Communications Coordinator
melucas@bu.edu

Meg Lucas has been with BU Study Abroad since 2009, where she began as a Marketing Assistant. After a brief year of working in NYC she is back in the study abroad office, leading our on-campus recruitment and outreach. Meg works with advisers, administration, faculty and student groups to integrate study abroad into the campus culture of BU. She is the spokesperson for BU Study Abroad at university-wide events such as summer orientation, and administers campus visits from our overseas site staff. She also oversees the BU Diplomats, a student-led initiative of BU Study Abroad.

Meg is a 2010 graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication with a BS in Mass Communication/Public Relations. She studied abroad on the Dublin Internship Program in the spring of 2009 and, since then, has traveled throughout Europe.

Theresa Leary
Institutional Representative
tmleary@bu.edu

As a member of our Marketing/Recruitment team, Theresa promotes our programs to students on campuses across the country. She comes from a career in international admissions and holds a Master of Education from the University of Massachusetts in Boston and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Stonehill College. While Associate Director of Admission at Smith College, she served on the Committee for Europe, the Middle East and Africa of the Council of International Schools where she developed marketing strategies for U.S. institutions recruiting abroad. She speaks French and has traveled to over 45 countries.

Kari Mueller
Marketing/Publications Specialist
muellerk@bu.edu

Kari acts as art director for the Boston Study Abroad office as well as our 30+ sites around the globe and is responsible for marketing communications, branding, and advertising.

She has a BFA in Media Arts/Graphic Design from SUNY Fredonia, an MS in Advertising from Boston University, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Graphic Design.

Prior to joining the BU Study Abroad staff in 2004, Kari worked as a web designer at a Boston-based travel company and as a graphic designer at Association Montessori International in Rochester, NY.

Amongst her travels thus far, her favorite city is Salzburg, Austria; the one that open her eyes the most is Sihanoukville, Cambodia; and the one where she discovered her family history is Dresden, Germany.

Andi Walgren
Institutional Representative
awalgren@bu.edu

As a member of our Marketing/Recruitment team since 2004, Andi promotes our programs to students on campuses around the country. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and has over 30 years of experience in educational administration, college admissions, and international program development. She served for 20 years as a senior administrator at The School for Field Studies (SFS), a provider of environmental field study programs. Andi is also an adjunct faculty at Lesley University where she teaches the course International Educational Exchange in the graduate program in Intercultural Relations.

Canaan began interning at BU Study Abroad in the fall of 2009, working for the Director of Academic Affairs, Elizabeth Goldsmith. She spent the academic year of 2008-2009 living in Grenoble, France and working as the BU in Grenoble program assistant. She has also spent 7 months in Normandy as an English language assistant, as well as a semester in Cordoba, Spain as an undergrad. At the moment, she is a PhD candidate and Teaching Fellow in French at BU.

Kathy is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Psychology. She is also pursuing a minor in Visual Arts and Advertising through the College of Fine Arts and College of Communications respectively. She works as a web assistant in the Publications and Marketing Department. She has been working for BU Study Abroad since the summer of 2009.

Amber works at our front desk, handling interactions with visitors and preliminary advising to students.

Samantha is a PhD candidate in French Literature and a Presidential Teaching Fellow in French at BU. As an undergraduate at Williams College, she traveled and studied extensively in France, including short-term exchanges at schools in Biarritz and Angers, and one year at the Université de Paris III. She began working with Elizabeth Goldsmith, Director of Academic Affairs, in the summer of 2010.

Camilla works in our Records Department, assisting with processing applications.

Yi is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, pursuing a major in Economics and a joint concentration in Philosophy and Political Science. He has worked in the Finance Department of BU Study Abroad since the summer of 2010.