Meet Our Faculty
SIT Graduate Institute faculty practice what they teach. With expertise in conflict transformation, international development, English and foreign language learning, international education, social justice, management, and human rights, faculty at SIT Graduate Institute have come together at an institution that bridges practice and theory. The collective experience of the faculty shapes a curriculum that equips students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of global citizens.
Their professional and academic networks provide opportunities for students to make career connections around the world. The diverse, multicultural faculty members have experience as consultants, trainers, and developers in the business, nonprofit, education, and public sectors, and many are returned Peace Corps volunteers. They pursue specialty areas of interest and frequently publish research on topics ranging from sustainable industrial development to brain-friendly learning and the role of technology in language teaching. Affiliated faculty and practitioners in residence from across the World Learning international education and international development network provide additional resources for graduate students.
Administraton
John Lucas
Senior Vice President for Academic Programs
Chief Academic Officer
John Lucas brings nearly two decades of international education experience to his position as senior vice president for academic programs at World Learning. An alumnus of SIT Graduate Institute, Lucas serves as the chief academic officer for World Learning's graduate programs, SIT Study Abroad, and The Experiment in International Living, overseeing programs in more than 50 countries.
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Daniel Yalowitz
Dean, SIT Graduate Institute, Vermont Campus
Dr. Daniel Cantor Yalowitz has been a community builder and activist locally and professionally for nearly three decades. He has served as a faculty member and administrator in both baccalaureate and graduate institutions in New England.
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Preeti Shroff-Mehta
Dean, SIT Graduate Institute, Washington, DC Center
Dr. Shroff-Mehta has over 25 years’ leadership, management, and teaching experiences in the field of democratic governance, civil society strengthening, and institutional capacity development. She has taught graduate courses in Citizen Leadership, Policy Advocacy, Good Governance at World Learning’s SIT Graduate Institute, and School for International and Advanced Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins.
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Core Faculty
Tatsushi Arai
Associate Professor, Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation
Dr. Tatsushi Arai is an associate professor of peacebuilding and conflict transformation at SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont and a visiting scholar at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, where he earned his doctorate in 2005. Previously, Dr. Arai taught international relations at the National University of Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide.
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Kanthie Athukorala
Assistant Professor
Sustainable Development
Kanthie Athukorala holds a doctorate in international education. A member of the SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 2000, she teaches courses in research methods, theory and practice of sustainable development, and assessment and evaluation.
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Susan Barduhn
Professor
Chair, Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Low-Residency Program)
Susan Barduhn holds a doctorate in English language teaching. In 2003, she joined SIT Graduate Institute, where she has directed the summer MA in TESOL program and now directs the low-residency MA in TESOL program, teaches in the MA in TESOL program, and supervises student teachers all over the world.
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Karen Stromgren Blanchard
Associate Professor
Chair, Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management
A member of SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 1988, Karen Blanchard developed and taught the Institute’s first course in conflict transformation. She also has directed a training program for Southeast Asian development professionals in the US and in Southeast Asia, and has been an academic director in Nepal.
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Charles Curry-Smithson
Professor
Sustainable Development
Charles Curry-Smithson holds a doctorate in human and organizational systems, as well as four master's degrees in organizational development, sociology, religious education, and theology. A member of the SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 1989, Charlie teaches courses in social change, policy advocacy, leadership and organizations, program planning and project design, and monitoring and evaluation.
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Sora Friedman
Associate Professor
Chair, International Education
Sora Friedman has worked in the field of international education for 27 years, focusing on the administration of adult exchanges in public diplomacy, international training programs, high school exchanges, and international policy advocacy. She joined the SIT Graduate Institute faculty in 2005 and was an adjunct faculty member for three years before that. Sora holds a doctorate in cultural studies, as well as a master’s in international administration and a certificate in distance education.
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Linda Drake Gobbo
Professor
International Education
A former dean of SIT Graduate Institute and member of the faculty since 1984, Linda Drake Gobbo teaches courses and advises students in international education and management in both the online and face-to face programs. She has travelled as faculty with SIT Graduate Institute programs, and has also provided administrative support from the home campus to various SIT Study Abroad programs in such areas as crisis management, health, student development, and professional staff support.
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Paula Green
Professor, Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation
Program Director
Paula Green is a professor of conflict transformation at SIT Graduate Institute, and the founder-director of Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (CONTACT), a graduate certificate program of the SIT Summer Peacebuilding Institute held annually for peacemakers from around the world.
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Nikoi Kote-Nikoi
Professor, Sustainable Development
Nikoi Kote-Nikoi, who holds a doctorate in economics, has been a member of the SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 1989. He also has served as a policy analyst and director of research at the Institute of Economic Affairs in his native Ghana, and as a visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen, Marlboro College, and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.
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Christian Parenti
Professor, Sustainable Development
Christian holds a PhD in sociology (co-supervised in geography) from the London School of Economics; he later completed a series of post-doctoral fellowships at the City University of New York Graduate Center where he worked closely with the geographers Neil Smith and David Harvey. He has held fellowships from the Open Society Institute, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation. He arrived at SIT in 2011 from a teaching position at Brooklyn College.
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Richard Rodman
Professor, International Education
Richard Rodman, who holds a doctorate in comparative international education, teaches graduate courses in international education, program planning and project design, social change, and intercultural communication. Richard has a special interest in theory-to-practice modeling in international and experiential education, non-formal education, and intercultural communication.
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David Shallenberger
Professor, International Education
David Shallenberger joined the SIT Graduate Institute’s International Education program in 2006, after four years serving as director of European and Middle Eastern studies for SIT Study Abroad. He also served for one year as dean of SIT Graduate Institute.
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Alex Silverman
Associate Professor
Chair, Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Alex Silverman holds master’s degrees in Slavic and French linguistics. A faculty member of SIT Graduate Institute since 1974, he serves as a supervisor and teaches in the areas of general linguistics, methodology, culture, sociolinguistics, and English language and linguistics.
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Marla Solomon
Professor, Sustainable Development
Marla J. Solomon came to SIT in 1992, and is a professor at the SIT Graduate Institute. She has also served as dean and associate dean. She currently teaches courses in practitioner inquiry, program monitoring and evaluation, leadership and organizations, gender, adult literacy, and development.
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Elizabeth Tannenbaum
Associate Professor
A member of the SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 1987, Elizabeth Tannenbaum teaches courses in methodology and applied linguistics, with a special interest in teaching large classes with limited resources, self-directed language learning, and adult literacy.
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Janet Y. Thomas
Associate Professor
Janet Thomas received her PhD in educational policy studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also has an Ed.M. in educational psychology from Widener University and a BA in the sociology of education from Norfolk State University.
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Syed Aqeel Tirmizi
Professor
Dr. Aqeel Tirmizi’s professional portfolio includes more than 20 years of international experience in teaching, research, management and capacity building. The major focus of his work extensively deals with managing and leading in global and multicultural environments as well as working with themes of social justice and social innovation.
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Elka Todeva
Professor
Elka Todeva holds a doctorate in English applied linguistics and a master’s degree in British and American literature, English linguistics, and simultaneous interpretation. At SIT Graduate Institute since 1993, she teaches and does research in the areas of second language acquisition, English applied linguistics, critical pedagogy, language analysis, multilingualism, teacher cognition, and ecological approaches to teaching.
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Leslie Turpin
Faculty
After teacher-training in refugee camps in Thailand, Leslie began teaching in SIT’s Master of Arts in teaching programs in 1989. Her interests include refugee adjustment, cultural identity and memory, cultural and linguistic revitalization, reflective practice, classroom inquiry, teaching practice, literacy non-formal education, and teaching supervision.
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John Ungerleider
Professor
Chair, Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation
John Ungerleider has been teaching about conflict transformation at SIT for more than 20 years—a time span he finds hard to grasp. He has authored articles that address youth, peacebuilding, dialogue, and empowerment programs, music in peace culture, and he edited a book on child labor.
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Jeff Unsicker
Professor
Chair, Sustainable Development
Jeff Unsicker completed graduate studies in international development, education, policy analysis, and administration. His research focused on the political economy of foreign aid for adult education, rural development, and Ujamaa socialism in Tanzania. A member of the SIT faculty since 1990, Jeff has also served as academic dean and interim president of SIT Graduate Institute.
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Ryland White
Associate Professor
Ryland White, associate professor, has been a member of SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 1993. She teaches courses in training design for experiential learning, training for social action, dismantling disability, and ethics and intercultural training design.
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Kenneth Williams
Associate Professor
Kenneth Williams completed his doctorate in organization and leadership at Columbia University, and his master's degree at the London School of Economics. He teaches courses in Organizational Behavior and Team Development; Organizational Behavior and Leadership; Social Identity; Research, Decision-making and Analysis; Qualitative Research Methodology; Quantitative Research Methodology using SPSS and Excel; Leadership, Community and Coalition-Building.
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Emeritus Faculty
Alvino Fantini
Professor Emeritus
Alvino E. Fantini holds degrees in Latin American studies, anthropology, and applied linguistics. A senior faculty member since 1964, Alvino helped turn the Sandanona estate into the present SIT Graduate Institute.
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Beatriz Fantini
Emeritus Associate Professor
Director, Language and Culture Department
Beatriz Fantini, director of the Language and Culture Department at SIT Graduate Institute, has worked at World Learning since 1966. She has served in various capacities, including as a Spanish teacher, a teacher trainer, and a supervisor for both the Graduate Institute and Study Abroad. She also ran the summer language programs in Mexico.
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Claire B. Halverson
Emeritus Professor
Claire Halverson holds a doctorate in education. A member of the SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 1986, she teaches Organizational Behavior, Multicultural Organization Development, and Social Identity.
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Patrick Moran
Emeritus Professor
Patrick Moran holds a doctorate in educational studies. A member of the SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 1977, he has a special interest in courses related to French and to the interface of intercultural communication and second language education, a topic he explores in Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice (Heinle & Heinle).
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Senior Practitioners
Chris Foley
Senior Practitioner Faculty
Master of Arts in Sustainable Development: International Policy and Management
Christopher T. Foley has worked for the National Democratic Institute (NDI)’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) team as the deputy regional director since 2004 and has managed field operations and program implementation throughout the region. He has developed expertise in local governance and administrative processes as well as election-day related policies and processes.
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Jennifer Collins-Foley
Senior Practitioner Faculty
Jennifer Collins-Foley is a democracy, governance, and gender specialist with 22 years of experience in the US and around the world. She currently serves as senior practitioner faculty with World Learning/SIT Graduate Institute’s master’s in international sustainable development program in Washington, DC where she teaches “Issues in Sustainable Development” and “Gender and Human Rights”.
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Thomas H. Fox
Senior Practitioner Faculty
Tom Fox has forty-five years of experience working with and on behalf of developing countries. As a senior program manager and supervisor, his expertise includes organizational development, governance and management of NGOs, strategic planning, fundraising, knowledge management, evaluation, and performance measurement and monitoring.
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Velina Petrova
Senior Practitioner Faculty
Master of Arts in Sustainable Development: International Policy and Management
Velina Petrova teaches Program Monitoring and Evaluation and Quantitative Research Methods in SIT's Sustainable Development program in Washington, DC. She is the senior associate for program impact evaluation at Creative Associates International, where she is primarily responsible for the development of a comprehensive organizational design, monitoring, and evaluation strategy.
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Adjunct Faculty / Guest Lecturers
Hugh Birdsall
Adjunct Faculty
Master of Arts in TESOL, Low Residency
Hugh Birdsall teaches language analysis and lesson planning for the Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL, Low Residency) program. He also supervises the interim-year teaching practicum and facilitates the peer mentoring program.
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Janis Amara Birdsall
Adjunct Faculty
Master of Arts in TESOL, Low Residency
Janis Birdsall teaches two classes for the Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL, Low Residency) program: Approaches to Teaching Second Languages and Teaching the Four Skills. She also supervises the interim-year teaching practicum and reads independent professional projects.
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Ray Clark
Adjunct Faculty
Ray Clark has been involved in the world of language teaching and learning since 1963 when he was immersed in TEFL training at the University of California, Los Angeles as a Peace Corps Volunteer for Nigeria.
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Susal Stebbins Collins
Adjunct Faculty
Conflict Transformation
Susal Stebbins Collins teaches intercultural communication and the arts in SIT's Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management program.
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Sean Conley
Adjunct Faculty
Sean Conley holds a BA cum laude in English literature and an MA in teaching from SIT. He also holds a TESOL certificate, and earned a postgraduate certificate in conflict transformation from SIT’s Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management program, in which he also taught. In 2010, Sean was appointed associate dean of the Marlboro College Graduate School.
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Tana Ebaugh
Adjunct Faculty
Tana Ebaugh teaches Four Skills for the Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL, Low Residency) program. She also supervises students during their interim-year teaching practicum and their Independent professional projects.
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Golam Samdani Fakir
Adjunct Faculty
Mohammed Golam Samdani Fakir holds a doctorate in economics. As senior manager and director of training for BRAC, one of the world’s largest NGOs involved in rural development, he is responsible for 13 training and resource centers throughout Bangladesh.
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- Alvino Fantini
Professor Emeritus
Alvino E. Fantini holds degrees in Latin American studies, anthropology, and applied linguistics. A senior faculty member since 1964, Alvino helped turn the Sandanona estate into the present SIT Graduate Institute.
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John W. Garrison
Guest Lecturer
Mr. John Garrison is a senior civil society specialist in the Civil Society Team at the World Bank, where he has worked since 1996.
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Diane Larsen-Freeman
Adjunct Faculty
Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL, Low Residency)
Diane Larsen-Freeman holds a doctorate in linguistics and has been associated with the SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 1978. She has authored articles and books on discourse analysis, English grammar, language teaching methodology, and second language acquisition research, and is series director for Grammar Dimensions, a four-level grammar series for ESL/EFL students.
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Paul LeVasseur
Adjunct Professor
Paul LeVasseur has been a member of the SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 1990. He teaches Intercultural Communication, Social Change, Organizational Behavior, Literacy in the ESL Classroom, Teaching the Four Skills, Curriculum Design and Assessment, Way of Council, and Leadership, Community, and Coalition Building.
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Bonnie Mennell
Adjunct Faculty
Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL, Low Residency)
Bonnie Mennell’s work as an educator for the last 39 years has centered on creating inviting, vital, collaborative “containers” for self-directed experiential learning in community—whether that community is a language classroom, a department meeting, a language teacher training session, or a weekend training in The Way of Council.
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- Janaki Natarajan
Lecturer
Janaki Natarajan holds a doctorate in the sociology of education and policy. Born in Bangalore, South India, she has worked with the Sarvodaya and southern African liberation movements.
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Tessa Woodward
Adjunct Faculty
Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL, Low Residency)
Tessa Woodward is a teacher, teacher trainer/educator, and the professional development coordinator at Hilderstone College in Broadstairs, England. Since 2000, She has been teaching courses at SIT Graduate Institute for those who want to become more skilled as teacher educators, trainers, or mentors.
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Cate Woolner
Adjunct Faculty
Cate Woolner co-founded The Mediation and Training Collaborative (TMTC) in Greenfield, Massachusetts, in 1987.
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Phone:
802.257.7751
Admissions:
800.336.1616 (toll free in US)
802.258.3510 (outside the US)
TTY:
802.258.3388
Fax:
802.258.3428
Mailing Address:
PO Box 676, 1 Kipling Road
Brattleboro, VT 05302 USA