Faculty Archive - School for International Training

Danilo Buffa, MA

Abigail Henson — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:25:15 +0000

Danilo Buffa is an Italian language teacher with more than 15 years of experience working with international students in Italy and abroad. He began his teaching career in Spain, where he served as a language assistant at the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas in Badajoz. He later moved to Moscow, where he taught at the Centro Italiano di Cultura and developed his expertise in communicative language teaching. After returning to Italy, he continued his professional development in Palermo, further exploring the communicative approach and teaching practices developed at Dilit International House in Rome.

He currently teaches through Parlo Italiano Online and collaborates with the Società Dante Alighieri in Palermo as an Italian teacher and PLIDA examiner. His teaching encourages students to experience Italian as a living language through authentic communication, interaction, and discovery.

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Nhu Nguyen, BA

Abigail Henson — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 15:38:12 +0000

Nhu Nguyen has an academic background in socio-economic development, poverty and policy analysis, and community assessment. As a program assistant for ��Լ��վ, she coordinates logistics for student orientations, excursions, host-family placements, and travel across the country. She works alongside students as they settle into life in Vietnam and build relationships with the communities they visit.

Before joining ��Լ��վ, Nguyen led an international education program with a Vietnamese NGO, guiding a student delegation from Singapore and a local team through a community solar energy project in Dong Nai province. She has also worked in supply planning and logistics operations in the private sector. She grew up in Kien Giang province in the Mekong Delta, and speaks Vietnamese, English, French, and Chinese.

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Allison Randall

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 20:18:26 +0000

Allison Randall is a master’s student at the University Centre of the Westfjords studying coastal and marine resource management. Her current research investigates grey gurnard habitat occupancy in Iceland, comparing demersal and pelagic fish using data from the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute to examine differences in diet, otolith morphology, and reproductive biology. Before Iceland, Allison researched salt marsh dynamics in response to climate change in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has experience in Arctic environments, including a semester abroad in Northern Norway studying aquaculture and marine biosciences. Allison is excited to join ��Լ��վ Iceland as a program assistant, where she hopes to share her passion for the Westfjords, connect students with the local environment and community, and help create meaningful, hands-on learning experiences.

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Aurora Alessi

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:25:34 +0000

Aurora Alessi holds a master’s degree in languages, economics and institutions of Asia and Mediterranean Africa, with a specialization in China, from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. She has professional experience in international education, student services, and program administration. Prior to joining World Learning, she worked as a program assistant at Wake Forest University in Venice, where she supported student services, coordinated logistics and events, managed administrative processes, and collaborated with institutional partners. Alessi has also gained experience in intercultural communication, translation, and international mobility. She is fluent in Italian and English and has working knowledge of Chinese, French, and Spanish. Her academic and professional interests include international education, intercultural exchange, and fostering meaningful cross-cultural learning experiences.

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Maria A. Petrova, PhD

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 17:16:14 +0000

Dr. Maria Petrova’s work spans sustainability, energy, and the environment, bringing together interdisciplinary teaching, research, and advising that bridge environmental science, policy, and business. Originally from Bulgaria, she has lived and worked in Greece and the United States, building her career across international academic settings that connect scholarship with practice.

Dr. Petrova holds a PhD in environmental science from Oregon State University, a master’s in marketing, advertising and public relations from the University of Sheffield (Greece), and a bachelor’s in business administration from the American University in Bulgaria. She has held research and administrative appointments at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Georgetown University, UMass Boston, and Harvard University. At Georgetown, she launched and directed the Master of Science in Environment and Sustainability Management.

Her research and teaching center on climate and energy policy and sustainable development, examining how public opinion, institutions, and human behavior shape responses to complex sustainability challenges. Her work brings together the human dimensions of environmental problems with the development of nature-based solutions for decarbonization. She works closely with policymakers and organizations to advance practical, scalable solutions that reduce environmental impact.

As a professor, Dr. Petrova is especially interested in helping students build the analytical and communication skills needed to understand sustainability problems across disciplines and translate research and evidence into meaningful action.

Graduate Courses Taught

Sunggun Park, PhD

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 15:36:22 +0000

Dr. Sunggun Park is a political scientist specializing in international security and U.S. foreign policy. His research focuses on issues of great power competition, including the use of military force, nuclear deterrence, and intelligence activities. His current projects examine signaling dynamics in military intervention and great power subversive efforts. Dr. Park is also developing book projects on South Korean foreign policy for a broader Korean audience.

He has taught at George Washington University, the University of Virginia, and the Republic of Korea Air Force Academy. Having studied and taught in both South Korea and the United States, he brings a cross-national perspective to the study of security and foreign policy in East Asia. His professional networks across Korea’s academic and policy communities inform his engagement with contemporary policy issues on the Korean Peninsula.

Dr. Park holds a PhD in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and received his bachelor’s and master’s in political science from Korea University. An avid tennis player, he is also a certified professional with the Racquet Sports Professionals Association.

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Nikitta Dede Abena Adjirakor, PhD

Abigail Henson — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:08:08 +0000

Dr. Nikitta Dede Abena Adjirakor is an activist-scholar committed to designing educational and cultural systems. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in literary theory, research methods, and African and postcolonial studies. Her publications and research interests revolve around multilingualism, popular culture, death narratives, digital humanities, African and world literature, and decolonial education. She is also a multilingual creative writer and is the author of multiple children’s books in English with translations into French, Ga, and Asante Twi. Her debut poetry chapbook, “Learning to Say my Name,” was published by The African Poetry Book Fund in 2023 and explores the intersections between language, death, and Black women’s sexual and reproductive health. She is also a writer for and the producer of the film “A Thousand Needles”, which expands upon similar themes of language and health.

Courses Taught

Tomás González, BA

Abigail Henson — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:24:32 +0000

Tomás González is an English teacher from Universidad Alberto Hurtado with experience in English as a Foreign Language teaching in Chilean school contexts. His work focuses on communicative language teaching, student-centered learning, and the integration of educational technology and artificial intelligence to support language development. González has experience designing and implementing lessons for students from primary to secondary education, adapting instruction to diverse learning needs and proficiency levels.

Research Interests

Stephanie Bengtsson, EdD

Abigail Henson — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 19:58:17 +0000

Dr. Stephanie Bengtsson is a researcher, policy analyst, and educator with 20 years of experience in development, teacher education, education in crisis contexts, and equity and inclusion. Her work has focused on education as a lifesaving right and a key catalyst for sustainable development. Upon completing her doctorate in 2011, Bengtsson joined the faculty of the School of Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where she trained teachers, taught courses, and conducted research on a wide range of issues in comparative and international education. Since 2015, she has worked as a research scholar, program specialist, and consultant with a range of organizations and institutions such as the Institute of Development Studies, UNESCO, the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Educational Planning-UNESCO, Save the Children, VVOB, and more. She is a founding partner of benedex, a Vienna-based consultancy offering services in international development and education.

Courses Taught

Fiu Sānele Leota

Abigail Henson — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:18:35 +0000

Fiu Sānele Leota brings the Samoan language and culture to life through engaging, immersive teaching that inspires students to learn with confidence. He is a staff member in the Centre for Samoan Studies, where he teaches and promotes Samoan language, culture, and Indigenous knowledge. With extensive experience teaching international students, Leota equips participants with the language skills and cultural understanding needed to engage meaningfully with Samoan communities. As both a teacher and a guide throughout the program, he plays an essential role in helping students feel welcome, connected, and confident during their time in Samoa.

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Kavita Gurung

Abigail Henson — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:19:29 +0000

Kavita Gurung is an education and development leader with more than a decade of building and directing community-based programs across Nepal at the intersection of education, health, and livelihood. With Himalayan origins from Manang, Gurung grew up in Kathmandu and has lived and worked across Bahrain, Austria, the United States, and the United Kingdom before taking on continuous leadership in education and development in Nepal. In 2013, she co-founded EduLift that spearheaded life-skills development through experiential, project-based learning to Himalayan and Tibetan youth in Kathmandu. She then served from 2018-2025 as program director for Amics del Nepal, Barcelona. While deeply committed to equity, human development, and transformative education, Gurung is also passionate about poetry and creative writing and has been published in poetry anthologies and independent online and print publications.

Courses Taught

Mark McCormick, PhD

Abigail Henson — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 19:22:30 +0000

Dr. Mark McCormick is a distinguished marine ecologist and the director of Northern Exposure Consultancy, following a long career as a professor at James Cook University, Australia. Dr. McCormick’s research focuses on reef restoration, climate change impacts, and the effects of anthropogenic stressors (including marine noise and microplastics) on coral reef fish populations. A founding chief investigator for the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, he has secured more than $4 million in research funding. With more than 350 publications, his work is highly influential in the scientific community. Dr. McCormick also earned the 2013 Supervisor of the Year award and has supervised 50 doctoral students.

Selected Publications

Mohamed Mastere, PhD

Abigail Henson — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 21:11:26 +0000

Mohamed Mastere is a senior professor at Mohammed V University of Rabat, where he serves as the director of the University Risks Observatory. He leads and oversees numerous research projects at both national and international levels. Additionally, he holds the position of associate professor at the University of Caen Normandy, the International University of Rabat, and the College of Public Administration at the University of Johannesburg.

Mastere serves as project director of Working Group XI: Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience, established in Manila with the support of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. In this role, he collaborates with international academic institutions, local governments, and global organizations to advance research, policy, capacity building, and governance approaches for disaster risk reduction, crisis management, and urban resilience.

Throughout his career, he has collaborated with major international organizations, including the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the CIMA Research Foundation, and the Belgian Science Policy Office, among others. He has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and has edited several books for scientific publishers.

Graduate Courses Taught

Said Saddiki, PhD

Abigail Henson — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 20:47:03 +0000

Said Saddiki is a professor of international relations and international law at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco, where he has headed the Department of Public Law since 2023. He also served as a professor at Al-Ain University in Abu Dhabi, UAE, for nearly seven years. He is a senior fellow at the Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis and co-chair of the Research Committee on Migration and Citizenship of the International Political Science Association.

He has authored six books, including “World of Walls: Structure, Roles and Effectiveness of Separation Barriers” and “The State in a Changing World: Nation-State and New Global Challenges.” He is also the co-author of “Borders and Border Walls in the Arab World: Challenges of Security, Migration, and Policy.” He has published several articles, book chapters, and policy papers and received several international awards and grants, including a Fulbright Visiting Scholarship, a Research Fellowship at the NATO Defense College in Rome, and the Arab Prize in the Social Sciences and Humanities.

Graduate Courses Taught

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Abigail Henson — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:06:48 +0000

��ǳ�ԲԲ��ѳܰ��ǲ� is a member of the Aboriginal Australian nation of Western Yalanji. His connections are deeply rooted in the Laura region of Far North Queensland, home to the internationally significant Quinkan Rock Art galleries. A passionate speaker and mentor, Murison regularly presents to schools, businesses, government agencies, and community groups on Aboriginal culture, cultural awareness, leadership, and Indigenous entrepreneurship, inspiring people from all backgrounds through his knowledge, experience, and deep connection to Country.

Murison is the owner and operator of Jarramali Rock Art Tours, an award-winning Aboriginal tourism business that has been sharing the stories, culture, and landscapes of Quinkan Country for nearly a decade. Through immersive cultural tours, Johnny brings the rich stories of his heritage to life, offering visitors a genuine connection to Country, culture, and history.

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Jordy Groffen, PhD

Maya Kuriki — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:06:10 +0000

Jordy Groffen is a conservation biologist with more than 15 years of international research experience specializing in climate change, behavioral ecology, and the conservation of amphibians and reptiles. For his doctoral program, he studied the ecology, parental care behavior, and climate-change vulnerability of terrestrial-breeding frogs in the Australian Wet Tropics. Groffen’s research combines field ecology, animal behavior, and innovative wildlife monitoring techniques to better understand how species respond to environmental change. Groffen has co-authored more than 35 peer-reviewed publications and collaborated with researchers across 10 countries on projects involving frogs, salamanders, crocodiles, turtles, flying foxes, insects, and other wildlife. In addition to his research, he teaches ecology and biodiversity courses and has worked in Australia, the United States, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and the Netherlands. He is passionate about applying ecological research to conservation and environmental management.

Select Publications

Elia Hauge, BS

Abigail Henson — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 22:15:07 +0000

Elia Hauge is an environmentalist, educator and engineer. She joined ��Լ��վ in 2023 and currently coordinates student internship placements, supports students and host organizations in developing meaningful internship projects, and teaches research methods. Hauge has been teaching sustainability-based courses at a university level since 2018, with a focus on humanitarian engineering and sustainable infrastructure systems. Her postgraduate research explored climate-resilient water systems.

Beyond her academic work, she is actively engaged in green politics and serves as an elected local government representative. For Hauge, sustainability is not just an academic pursuit but a practice lived out across political, community, and personal life.

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Carlotta Sestito, BA

Abigail Henson — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 18:52:56 +0000

Carlotta Sestito has a background in foreign languages and literature, specifically English and German, and studied abroad in Oslo, Norway. It was here that she first discovered her passion for international education.

In 2022-2023, Sestito worked as an Italian teaching assistant at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. After returning to her home city of Bologna, Italy, she worked as a program assistant at Dickinson College, an Italian instructor for the University of California Education Abroad Program, and a program coordinator for faculty-led programs at the Spring Hill College Italy Center.

She is currently working on her master’s in applied linguistics at the University of Bologna.

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Dian Kurnia Widi Astuti, BA

Abigail Henson — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 21:05:42 +0000

Dian Kurnia Widi Astuti has a background in education and language. She currently serves as a program assistant for ��Լ��վ and supports the center director in planning, coordinating, and implementing programs, contributing to the smooth delivery of both academic and logistical components. Astuti also volunteers with NGOs and community initiatives and is particularly interested in supporting causes related to environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and education.

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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

Maya Kuriki — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 18:04:56 +0000

Ilya Malafei supports the academic design and delivery of all programs at ��Լ��վ Amsterdam. Prior to joining ��Լ��վ, 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 ��Լ��վ Study Abroad as a university relations manager in April 2026. Bringing over a decade of professional experience in global education to her role at ��Լ��վ, 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 ��Լ��վ 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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Faculty Archive - School for International Training

Danilo Buffa, MA

Nhu Nguyen, BA

Allison Randall

Aurora Alessi

Maria A. Petrova, PhD

Sunggun Park, PhD

Nikitta Dede Abena Adjirakor, PhD

Tomás González, BA

Stephanie Bengtsson, EdD

Fiu Sānele Leota

Kavita Gurung

Mark McCormick, PhD

Mohamed Mastere, PhD

Said Saddiki, PhD

���ǳ�ԲԲ����ѳܰ������ǲ�

Jordy Groffen, PhD

Elia Hauge, BS

Carlotta Sestito, BA

Dian Kurnia Widi Astuti, BA

Aldo Anzures, PhD

Ilya Malafei, MA

Annastasia Williams, MEd

Aarti Iyer, PhD

Eleonora Morganti, PhD

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