Back Row: Rick Kotowich and Murilo Moscheta, Middle Row: Sarra Hassan Ali and Saliha Bava
Front Row: Babafemi Babatope, Lois Holzman, Hellen Nuwagaba, Ahmad Saeed Khan, Livia Daza-Paris
Sarra Hassan Ali is a public health physician from Sudan interested in advancing the health and human rights of marginalized peoples. Her drive to work with vulnerable communities stems from her experiences in conflict and post-conflict regions such as South Sudan and Darfur, where she was exposed to the legacy of war, the trauma that lingers, and the unique challenges facing these communities.
Toward this end, Sarra served as senior program officer at the Sudan IDS Association and program officer at the Blue Nile Health Project in Sudan, and program consultant at the NH Minority Health Coalition in New Hampshire. As a member of the Sisterhood for Peace strategic group, Sarra participates in organizing events to raise awareness about the crisis in Darfur. She also assists in building capacity for community leaders and grassroots organizations working to promote peace and human rights in Sudan. Sarra earned her Masters in International Health Policy and Management from the Heller School for Social Policy at Brandeis University.
Babafemi Babatope began his career as a lecturer in 1995, teaching in Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Ondo State, Nigeria. He left for the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, in 2004 where he has been lecturing in the Department of Theatre Arts and Music ever since. He has attended many academic conferences and workshops within and outside Africa and published in academic journals. In addition to teaching and scholarly work, Babafemi has directed several plays, written a few, and acted on stage and screen.
Saliha Bava is interested in the performance of (complex) relationships among people, the systems we create, and the construction of our social lives and realities. As a social "actor" ("scientist") she combines interdisciplinary ideas and methodologies to reflect, design and perform processes for transformational relational processes. She embraces living as processes of improvised inquiry. Originally from India, she is becoming a New Yorker after relocating from Houston for a sabbatical.
Saliha is a consultant and designer of performative and dialogic processes within human systems—organizational, family/community, learning and research systems. She also performs as a couples and family therapist and coach for generative professional and personal relationships. Over the last seven years she has consulted on disaster preparedness and response to organizations in profit, non-profit and governmental sectors. She received a leadership award from the City of Houston's Disaster Mental Health Crises Response Team for directing the Mental Health Services at the George R. Brown Katrina Shelter in 2005. She is one of 12 US trainers in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network on Psychological First Aid.
Formerly the associate director of Houston Galveston Institute, Saliha is currently a researcher and consultant to the International Trauma Studies Program affiliated with Columbia University where she is researching the use of theater for community resiliency and psychosocial intervention among refugees of political violence. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Yeshiva University in NYC, an online faculty member at Massey University in New Zealand, and doctoral advisor at the Taos-Tilburg Social Sciences Program, Netherlands. Saliha received her PhD in Human Development with specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy from Virginia Tech.
Ahmad Saeed Khan started his professional career in the development sector while studying for a Masters of Public Administration at Punjab University Lahore in 2001. For the past seven years he has been engaged in Pakistan with leading development sector organizations, including USAID, CIDA, UNDP, the Ministry of Social Welfare and other national institutions. His work has involved event management, design and implementation of training programs, research studies, strategic management and policy making. Ahmad is also actively involved in forming community organizations at the grass roots level mostly in rural and disadvantaged communities through providing trainings on social activism, community empowerment, participatory management, human rights and gender mainstreaming in nation-building. He is a published author on the topics of democracy, peace, good governance, social inclusion, migration, minority rights, and development.
Ahmad has been awarded scholarships from leading educational institutions, including EC, Austrian Ministry of Education, University of Espana, OSI, University of Helsinki, and Council of Europe. He is currently enrolled in a Joint European Master in Comparative Local Development with University of Trento (Italy), University of Regensburg (Germany), Corvinus University, (Budapest) and University of Ljubljana (Slovenia).
Rick Kotowich has lived most of his life in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. He holds a Bachelor of Administration degree from the University of Regina. Throughout his career, Rick has served as a community educator and community developer in First Nations and Metis communities in rural, reserve and urban settings; he has worked in various roles including youth recreation organizer, small business education instructor, program developer, inner-city community school coordinator, public health aboriginal community development coordinator, aboriginal health project manager, and indigenous consultant on social and cultural matters. , and a program developer. For the past five years, Rick has been a member for the National Aboriginal Council on HIV/AIDS (NACHA) and served as co-chair of the Metis Caucus that advises federal government departments on effective responses to the epidemic. Rick’s commitment to community development also extends to his community volunteer interests; presently he chairs the board of Common Weal Community Arts Inc., a provincial community arts organization that connects artists and communities for social change, and he serves on a steering committee for Creative Kids, an emerging charitable organization designed to help poor and marginalized children and youth advance in creative and artistic development. Rick is married to Patricia Erhardt, and together they parent four offspring who are themselves involved and growing in academics, music, dance, and community life.
Murilo Moscheta started his career as a clinical psychologist in Brazil. He has worked in a variety of institutional contexts, mostly with groups of people concerned with health issues such as breast cancer, anorexia and bulimia, diabetes and aging. As an educator he has taught undergraduate psychology courses and supervised practica. Murilo received his masters degree in psychology from the University of São Paulo – Brazil and is now working on his PhD with a fellowship from the University of New Hampshire. A founder of VIDEVERSO, a group that researches innovative ways of working for the development of GLBTs communities, he works in collaboration with a health care team in Brazil to develop a more effective health assistance to GLBT patients. Murilo is interested in qualitative research methods, community development, social constructionism, GLBT issues, music and arts.
Hellen Nuwagaba is a social worker and the project coordinator of the International Power Center Children and Youth Ministry, a non-governmental organization that aids orphaned and disabled children and youth in Kampala, Uganda. She has collaboratively written proposals seeking funds for the project’s construction and educational needs. She encourages play, music, drama and arts and crafts and teaches introduction to computers class to the youth. hence her interest in attending the developmental approach to child development and social therapy for more advancement in her field of work with the organisation.
The International Class 2008-9
From the left: Prativa Sengupta, Lisa Dombrow, Esben Wilstrup, Simon DeAbreu, Armida (Midz) Aligada,
Celiane Camargo Borges, Peter Nsubuga
Armida (Midz) Aligada is from Quezon City, the Philippines and has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Centro Escolar University. For six years, Midz worked in a shelter for women and children sexually exploited in the trafficking industry. She is now in the US and plans to attend graduate school. Midz currently volunteers at the All Stars Project.
Celiane Camargo-Borges is a researcher and psychologist with a Ph.D. in Public Health. Celiane worked with communities and groups on issues of health care using social constructionism as a theoretical background. A native of Brazil, Celiane has experience working in the country's national health care program. She is currently teaching classes in qualitative research at the Yan Ming University in Taipei, Taiwan where she was recently relocated. She also volunteers at a center for expatriates and their families in Taipei.
Simon DeAbreu is the founder and artistic director of the TLC (Theatre of Liberation Community Project) in Ontario, Canada. The TLC Project uses arts-based activities to help children and teenagers ages 7-17 develop a greater knowledge of themselves and a larger understanding of their environment locally and globally. Simon received a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications, Theatre and Film from McMaster University and a master’s degree in Theatre Studies from York University.
Lisa Dombrow, a native New Yorker, has worked in the field of education for over twenty years. She was a nursery school and kindergarten teacher before moving into informal education, eventually becoming the coordinator of the Discovery Room, a hands-on science learning environment for all ages at the American Museum of Natural History. Today she continues her work in the Discovery Room while also serving as a development specialist for The Learning Stage. She has an undergraduate degree in psychology and masters in early childhood and elementary education from Bank Street College. Lisa loves to play and is excited about playing and learning with The International Class.
Dikeledi (Maggie) Moremi is a research psychologist and lecturer in the Department of Psychology (Medunsa Campus) at the University of Limpopo in Pretoria, South Africa. She currently works with a project called Children on the Move, an organization providing care for children orphaned by parents with HIV/AIDS and their caretakers and guardians. The project utilizes improvisational activities to develop a supportive environment with children and empower caretakers and guardians overwhelmed by childcare challenges.
Peter Nsubuga is a community worker in Kampala, Uganda. A trained accountant, Peter switched professions to respond to the need for help in communities suffering from disease, extreme poverty, and lack of clean water. Peter founded Hope for Youth, an organization that provides food, clothing and education for 120 children. He is looking to his experiences with The International Class to help him develop tools necessary to provide emotional support services to children as well.
Prativa Sengupta is chief psychologist and coordinator of SEVAC (Sane and Enthusiastic Volunteers Association in Calcutta), a mental health and human rights resource center and NGO in Calcutta (Kolkata), India. SEVAC recognizes the violation of human rights of people suffering from mental illness, and provides psychiatric, occupational, mental health education, outreach and human rights advocacy services. Prativa is one of only 3,500 mental health professionals for the 1.13 billion people in India. She practiced as a clinical psychologist before ending her private practice to join SEVAC. Prativa has a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Kolkata.
Esben Wilstrup is a postgraduate student of psychology at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. He is committed to figuring out the best way to facilitate profound learning and change on individual, group, and organizational levels. His experiences as a leisure-time teacher and as a facilitator of role playing games has made him a firm believer in the learning potential of play and performance. Esben studied educational psychology at the University of Aarhus (where he earned his bachelors in psychology) and at the University of Technology, in Sydney, Australia. He sees The International Class as an opportunity to become part of a community of learners who both discuss and theorize about learning and education and see social action as an inherent part of being an educator and a human being.
International Class 2007-8
Top Row: Svetlana Kijevcanin, Milena Lazic, Joe Spirito, Miguel Cortes
Middle Row: Shoaib Iqbal, Ishita Sanyal, Kim Sabo, Jane Connor, Ignacio Dalton, Lupe Barahona
Bottom Row: Itzel González, Emina Dervisevic, Lois Holzman, Radmila Zivanovic
Ana Guadalupe Barahona (El Salvador)
Jane Connor is Bartle Associate Professor of Human Development in the College of Community and Public Affairs, Binghamton University, New York. Her current teaching and scholarly interests include multicultural psychology, playback theatre, and compassionate communication (also known as nonviolent communication) -- a process that supports better connections and understanding among people to meet the needs of all. She received an award from the NAACP in 2002 and the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2003. Jane is co-author of Connecting Across Differences: A Guide to Compassionate Nonviolent Communication. She attended several Performing the World conferences, where she became intrigued by the Institute's work. "I am excited about exploring and developing ways in which performance and improvisation can support the sharing of nonviolent communication in under-served communities."
Ignacio Dalton, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, works at the Universidad del Salvador, Secretaria de Investigaciones Educativas (Division of Research), Instituto de Capacitación Continua. With a Master’s degree in education and a specialization in clinical psychology for children, Ignacio is a member of several professional associations concerned with early childhood literacy and has researched the relationship between language learning, literacy and play. He is a member of the International Reading Association from which he received a research grant in 1993. He was attracted by the opportunities offered by The International Class to work with other professionals to “develop new understandings about the impact of culture on social, moral, and cognitive developmemt with a focus on Vygotskian theory.”
Emina Dervisevic– a citizen of the Balkans -- was born in Croatia, moved to Serbia as a child, and for the last 20 years has lived in the capital city of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Living in a post-war, nationalistically divided Balkans, Emina was drawn to postgraduate studies in human rights and democracy. After earning a Master’s degree in psychology, she worked in several mental health settings, including programs for women survivors of domestic violence. She currently works in Sarajevo as an evaluator for a mental health service and as a research assistant at a psychiatric clinic. Her greatest motivation for joining The International Class has come from her interest in challenging traditional models of psychology and psychotherapy and in sharing experiences with people coming from different backgrounds and cultures.
Kim Sabo Flores is an evaluation consultant and leader in the emerging field of youth participatory evaluation. With an undergraduate background in developmental psychology and philosophy, Kim received her Ph.D. in environmental psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. As a consultant, she introduces adults and young people, their programs and their communities to the empowering impact of creative and sustained participation, reflection and evaluation. She has worked with numerous foundations to help build their evaluation capacities, supporting them to measure their “community” impacts and progress toward achieving their missions. Her approach – informed by a study of developmentalist, Lev Vygotsky – highlights the performatory nature of participatory evaluation and the contribution of performance to human learning and development. A founder and principal of the New York City-based Kim Sabo Consulting, Kim generates collaborative projects that educate program staff and funders about ways that participatory evaluation can help to build organizational capacity. She is the author of numerous articles on participatory evaluation and the author of the recently published, Youth Participatory Evaluaion: Creative Strategies for Involving Young People in Evaluation.
Diana Itzel González comes to The International Class from Ciudad Juárez in the State of Chihuahua México where she works with CASA Promoción Juvenil, a nonprofit organization that supports the leadership and development of young people in marginal communities. As a community organizer with CASA, she heads the Young Women’ s Program, which hosts self-help groups and community intervention to prevent acts of violence against women. Diana also participates in Mesa de Mujeres, a network of NGOs that lobbies and advocates on behalf of the rights of women. She holds a B.S. in psychology and has completed post-graduate studies in gender studies, sexuality and human rights. As a social activist she is interested in learning social therapeutic methodology to support her work as an innovator in building community.
Shoaib Iqbal is an arts educator from Lahore, Pakistan. He began his involvement with community theatre in 1986. He studied with Pakistan’s independent and volunteer political theatre group, Punjab Lok Rahs, while completing his degree in computer science. Intrigued by acting and performance, Shoaib gradually developed a passion for “pro-people art” and theatre education--“grabbing hold of theatre for the rest of my life.” He has come to believe that art and art education is important to social cohesion and vital to shaping the lives of ordinary people. Recently, Shoaib completed a fellowship at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He enters The International Class with an interest in complex models for arts education and progressive theatre.
Svetlana Kijevcanin joins The International Class from Belgrade, Serbia. With a Master’s degree in psychology, she is the co-founder of one of the first NGOs in Serbia. Through this work, she helped create and implement programs in constructive communication and conflict transformation. She has been a peace trainer for years and has conducted hundreds of trainings for many groups. In recent years, she has played a managerial role in several international NGOs. Svetlana has traveled extensively in the Balkans, Europe, and North America but always returned to Serbia…“no matter how difficult it was.” Svetlana has developed a global network through her travels and looks forward to expanding her circle of friends and colleagues in The International Class.
Milena Lazic is a psychotherapist from Belgrade, Serbia. She completed her undergraduate studies in psychology and personal construct psychotherapy at Belgrade University and is now pursuing a postgraduate program in Gestalt psychotherapy at the Gestalt Studio. Since 2001, she has worked as a trainer with young people and adults, teaching basic communications skills, active listening, conflict resolution and team-building. She also volunteers with a kindergarten program that supports the emotional development of young children. Milena was greatly impacted by the discoveries of Lev Vygotsky – and was especially intrigued by his concepts of lifelong development through joint activity and the zone of proximal development. She thinks that The International Class may help to bridge her professional interests as a psychotherapist and trainer. “It’s an opportunity to explore new psychologies and methodologies, create new insights, question traditional notions and then pose new questions all over again.”
Ishita Sanyal is a psychologist in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, where she makes her living working part-time as a psychotherapist and corporate consultant. Ishita is founder and secretary of Turning Point, an NGO whose mission is to rehabilitate victims of mental illness and fight stigma. She is also director of Disha, a child guidance and care center. In both contexts, she incorporates creative play and performance as an approach that inspires confidence and joy, as well as allowing participants to transform who and how they are. Ishita is a regular advice columnist for newspapers in Calcutta and has written books and chapters on mental illness. In 2003, she received the David Feinsilver Award for her research work on family empowerment and, in 2007, the Manthan Award. Ishita hopes that The International Class will enable students to share experience and become more able “to create a new world free from agonies.”
Joe Spirito (USA)
Miguel E. Cortés Vazquez lives in Ciudad Juarez in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, near the US/Mexican border. As a doctoral student in experimental psychology at Washington State University, Miguel became deeply aware of his minority status and of how psychology’s core assumptions could not be addressed within the framework of cognitive psychology. He studied authors that questioned the premises of his course work and research – diving into critical psychology, socio-historical psychology, liberation psychology and Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. After health concerns forced Miguel to return to Juarez, he eventually earned a Master’s degree in systemic family therapy, but then started his unofficial “postgraduate work” at a non-profit community group, CASA, working in one of Juarez’ most marginalized areas. This work inspired him to continue to develop and grow personally and professionally, which led him to The International Class. He is interested in exploring the impact of Lev Vygotsky on social therapy and in “revolutionizing” his work with young people. Miguel and his wife Mariana are the proud parents of Lila who is now 9 months old. Miguel plays percussion with the band, Cosas de Circo.
Radmila Zivanovic comes to The International Class from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. She completed her undergraduate studies psychology, has a Master’s degree in communications, and completed a year of study in youth work. As a community psychologist and practitioner, she supports groups of young people in their personal and social development. She has worked as a project manager for community youth programs and as a drama workshop facilitator with young people – in both contexts, using art and performance as tools for social change. Radmila sees young people as responsible co-creators of their communities and, conversely, believes that communities are responsible for providing support to young people to grow as active citizens. She looks forward to learning and developing with her mentors and her colleagues in The International Class and in applying new practices in her community.
The International Class 2006-7
Top Row: Ernesto Barahona, Halim Faisal, Loree Lawrence, Syed Mizanur Rahman, Dejan Dimitrov, Powpee Lee.
Bottom Row: Julie Vaudrin-Charette, Rebecca Widom, Lois Holzman, Synthia Borilekic.
Not Pictured: Diane Holliman, Pamela Ateka
Ernesto Barahona was born in El Salvador, and immigrated to the United States when he was seven. His family lived in a dangerous neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles, where his father was a fundamentalist preacher. Ernesto attended Occidental College on scholarship, and later received a B.A. from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. He worked for a short time as a fashion designer in L.A.’s garment industry, then left to enter the nonprofit sector. Ernesto joined the staff of St. John's Well Child & Family Center, a network of free medical, dental and mental health clinics that provide services to over 70,000 patients a year who come from the poorest neighborhoods of LA. As its development director, he raises millions of dollars each year in grants and contracts, while also building a community fundraising committee. A community activist and organizer, Ernesto directs outreach and education for St. John’s and is director of the L.A. chapter of the All Stars Talent Show Network, a performance-based supplemental education program for young people.
Synthia Borilekic (Synthia Zbojilek)—Czechoslovakian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French Canadian—is a film director and writer based in Montreal. She is currently completing her graduate studies in drama therapy at Concordia University and works as director of business development for Voice Job, Inc. Synthia has worked as a drama and singing teacher and at numerous arts centers, community development organizations and youth organizations, including Carrefor Jeunesse Emploi, where she served as immigration counselor.Synthia’s latest project is Ça brime Sabrina, a short film on the theme of bullying that she wrote, directed and produced with a grouping of 27 Haitian, Central and South American drama students. Other collaborations with students include Au Retour de l'Amour (about September 11th), and We Know Aliens. Synthia is currently writing her first documentary on the subject of freedom.
Dejan Dimitrov is from Glozan, a town in Vojvodina, Serbia. An activist and organizer, he works with the Roma Students Association, a 20-member grouping helping Roma (gypsy) and other marginalized people in Serbia lead more dignified lives. The Association has been effective in advancing the mainstreaming of Roma children into the public schools. Their practical assistance to Roma first-graders includes providing snacks, books and other materials that the children need for school. Dejan also contributes as facilitator, organizer and advisor to other social and educational inclusion-projects advocating on behalf of the Roma community. These include the League for the Decade of Roma; the Educational and Health Committees; the Roma School; and the “Happy Childhood” organization. All work to create public dialogue on inclusionary pre-school education policy. Recently, Dejan also served in the Roma Elderly Care Project and Roma Health Education Project.In his free time he likes going fishing!
Halim Faisal is a clinical social worker at the Odyssey Health Care and Home Care Hospice in Valdosta, Georgia. He came of age in New York City during the 1960s and was involved in a variety of counter-cultural experiences (social and political.) He left New York as a young man in his mid-20s. Presently, he works for a rural clinic, where he spends his days traveling from home to home meeting and interacting with people who are dying or are grieving the loss of a spouse, parent or friend. He also works with young people referred by the court system. “I am someone who works in the trenches, wherever I am,” says Halim. “I occasionally experience a connection with people who are so different from myself that I am able to see the world through their eyes. People who would have been strangers or enemies, or merely nondescript, teach me something I hadn't expected to learn. They teach me what it means to be a human being, regardless of what my preconceptions may have been.“
Diane Holliman is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia. She completed her social work studies at the University of Georgia and her Ph.D. at the University of Alabama. A postmodern social worker, her research and teaching interests focus on social work and health care, hospice care, social work with the elderly, and social work policy/services in rural areas.
Loree Lawrence is an artist, educator and researcher whose work with community arts initiatives in Canada spans 20 years. Since being hired as the Theatre Director at KYTES (Kensington Youth Theatre and Employment Skills) in Toronto in 1995, she has worked primarily with homeless and street youth. Working in both Toronto and Vancouver, Loree organized “at-risk” young people to create collaborative multi-disciplinary performances combining theatre, video, music, movement and visual arts. In 2006, Loree completed her Masters degree in Arts Education, focusing her studies on the evaluation of community arts projects. Currently in Toronto, she is researching and developing The Junction Storefront Installation/Performance Project. She is the lead installation artist and the youth and evaluation consultant with the Jumblies Theatre, and has a developing consulting practice: Resonance Creative Consulting Partners.
Powpee Lee was born into a farming family in rural Taiwan. After graduating from college in 1991, where he was active in the student movement, Powpee became a community organizer – helping to build alliances among local trade union laborers and undocumented workers.Powpee served a compulsory two-year tour of duty in the Taiwan Army, then went back to his work in the labor movement, where he served as a labor education project organizer for the National Confederation of Trade Unions. In 1999, Powpee helped establish a community university for radical adult education, Lu-Di Community University. He has served as director of Lu-Di since 2002. Powpee received his Masters degree in psychology in 1995 and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Fu-Jen Catholic University,Taiwan.
Syed Mizanur Rahman is a youth worker and community theatre organizer from Bangladesh. He describes himself as someone who has come from poverty and, because of this, can relate to development / growth issues with an empathetic heart. For Syed, psychological poverty is a major contributor to financial poverty. While studying economics at Jahangirnagar University in Savar, Bangladesh, Syed developed a deep interest in theatre. Discovering the power of theatre to both entertain and motivate, he began to actively participate in theatre as an actor, director and producer. In addition to staging classics, he produced performances on drugs, tobacco, AIDS, and intolerance. Syed completed a second Masters in Drama (Direction) at Rabindra Bharati University, India and received a Diploma in film direction from the National Institute of Film and Fine Arts in India. Upon his return to Bangladesh, he joined an advertising firm as Executive Creative, and later Directorate of non-formal education for social mobilization. In 1999, Syed along with a grouping of dynamic young people, established the Theatre for Research Education and Empowerment (TREE) aiming to access the potential of theatre to teach and to empower audiences/participants.
Julie Vaudrin-Charette is a Montreal-based practitioner in Theater for Change. Over the last five years, she has led participatory drama and media workshops in Senegal, Peru and Malawi. She is particularly interested in exploring theatre as a language to build empathy and community, especially in communities affected by HIV / AIDS. Julie completed her masters degree in Communication at Universite du Quebec a Montreal. Her thesis focused on the use of clowning for health education. At home in Quebec, she is part of Vichama Collectif, a socially engaged multimedia art group. She is also working in the NGO sector as a communications specialist, integrating storytelling into development education. Julie's areas of interest includes HIV/AIDS prevention and community supprt, intercultural communication and aboriginal issues. On a more personal note, Julie is a proud mother of baby Theo.
Rebecca Widom is a researcher, program evaluator, advocate and activist currently working on the Homelessness Outreach and Prevention Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York. In her work with the homeless, she advocates for improved access to public benefits. An innovator in finding new ways to use research for social change, Rebecca is involved in a number of research projects at the Urban Justice Center. Her research on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Stamps Program has drawn attention from policy researchers across the country and has been cited in publications such as The New York Times. Rebecca earned her Masters degree in Sociology at the University of Arizona.
The International Class 2005-6
Top Row: Kathleen Stauffer, Charlie Weinberg, Kitche Magak. Bottom row: Betsi Pendry,
Anna Gertruida Pistorius, Joan Mahon-Powell, Lois Holzman, Melina Lucila Baracco
Melina Lucila Baracco is a community psychologist from Rosario (Santa Fe) Argentina. She works at the Centro Unico de Donación, Abación e Implante de Organos (an organ donation center.) She volunteers with the Community Assistance Center at the Universidad Nacional De Rosario and with Volunteers Against AIDS. Melina completed her postgraduate studies in Clinical, Institutional and Community Psychology at Universidad Nacional De Rosario.
Kitche Magak is a lecturer in Psychology at Maseno University in Kisumu, Kenya and a longtime community organizer and communications consultant in the area of reproductive rights. Kitche has a Masters in Literature from the University of Nairobi and a Diploma in Mass Communications from its School of Journalism. He is a published poet and short-story writer.
Joan Mahon-Powell is an educational consultant with 25 years experience in New York City public schools as a teacher, curriculum writer, staff developer, assistant principal, principal, community school district superintendent and local instructional superintendent.
Betsi Pendry is the founder and director of the Living Together Project in Johannesburg, South Africa, an organization dedicated to helping families and communities overcome the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. Betsi completed her undergraduate studies in Dance and Psychology at Hampshire College and earned a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University. She is a graduate of the Institute's therapist training program.
Anna Gertruida Pistorius is a licensed clinical and industrial psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa in Pretoria and a senior lecturer in community psychology at the University of Limpopo. Annalie spearheaded the Youth Psychosocial Wellness Project in partnership with the Johannesburg-based Living Together Project.
Kathleen Stauffer is a specialist in early childhood education. She is a pre-school teacher at the Paoli Methodist Nursery School in Paoli, Pennsylvania, helps prepare new teachers as a faculty member at Montgomery County Community College, and is an instructor at Pennsylvania Pathways, a career development program for childcare workers. Kate has a Masters in Education from Cabrini College in Philadelphia.
Charlie Weinberg, originally from the U.K., has worked with young people in Managua, Nicaragua since 2001 as part of Puntos de Encuentro youth development program. Charlie is the script-writing coordinator for organization’s original TV “soap opera,” Sexto Sentido, which invites exploration of sexuality, family relationships, drug use and violence.
The International Class 2004-5
Top Row: Deborah Forhan, Susan Massad, Ruben Reyes Jiron, Vera Erac, Tiffany Ebden
Bottom Row: Bibiana Cologne, Marjory Levitt, Lola Broomberg, Kerstin Gauffin-Holmberg,
Lois Holzman