Resident Directors
BCA Study Abroad on-site resident directors are experienced international educators selected for academic training, management abilities, language skills and experience with issues and concerns of U.S. undergraduate students. Directors oversee the academic programs, which can include an orientations and language courses, internships and independent study, as well as arrange housing, orientation, educational excursions and other activities.
Barcelona, Spain:
Carmen (Maika) Barbosa-Torralbo has been directing the BCA program in Barcelona since 1992. A native of Spain, she studied comparative literature at the University of Chicago, linguistics at the University of Iowa and art history at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
She has taught at the University of Chicago, the University of Iowa, DePaul University and Roosevelt University. Before working for BCA, she was the director of the Lake Forest International Program in Lake Forest, Illinois and Madrid, Spain.
She has published books and articles on Spanish poetry and narrative and periodically lectures on Spanish painting and architecture. She is interested in European and non-Western cinema and enjoys many different types of music. She has participated in the organization of the blues and jazz festival in Barcelona.
Education:
Ph.D., University of Chicago
M.A., University of Iowa
B.A., Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
Download CV here
Languages:
Spanish, English, Catalan, Italian
Email: cbarbosa-torralbo@BCAstudyabroad.org
Brussels, Belgium
BCA's resident director in Brussels since spring 2013, Stephanie Gardner wears two hats as assistant professor of law at Vesalius College (BCA’s host institution) and director of the Brussels program.
A native of North Carolina, Stephanie holds dual U.S. and Belgian nationalities and has lived and worked in Brussels for over 20 years. An avid traveler, Stephanie combines her passion for teaching with meeting new people (especially students), both near and far. She is currently a guest lecturer at universities and higher education institutions located in Morocco, Serbia, Vietnam, France, and the Netherlands.
Stephanie holds a B.A. in American Studies and Mass Communications from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a J.D. from Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, Nebraska. As former President of the Student Bar Association at Creighton, she received the Faculty Award for Outstanding Community Service and was featured in Creighton’s alumni magazine. Stephanie considers herself a “perpetual student” and has attended courses at Georgetown, Boston University and Harvard University.
Stephanie lives outside of Brussels with her husband and son. She enjoys Belgian & French cuisine, long walks along the North Sea and is also a member of a Brussels Book Group for expats and writes poetry.
Education:
Juris Doctor: Creighton University, Nebraska
BA: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Download CV here
Languages:
English, Dutch and French
E-mail: sgardner@BCAstudyabroad.org
Cheltenham, England:
A native of Liverpool, England, Denise Kendry has been director of BCA's Cheltenham program since 2006. In addition to her role as resident director for BCA, Denise also works as International Student Coordinator for the University of Gloucestershire's business school. Previously, Denise led the University's MBA and other Master's programs, managing both domestic and international cohorts of students. Denise is interested in cross-cultural learning and equipping students with global competencies.
Education:
1991 MBA -University of Warwick
1984 - 85 Masters in Management modules at Illinois State University
1975 - 76 Institute of Linguists: Pass in Swedish Preliminary and Part One exams
1972 PGCE - Oxon
1971 BSc (Econ) Hons - Queen Mary College, London
Download CV here
Email: dkendry@BCAstudyabroad.org
Chennai, India
Anupama (Anu) Pai, joined the BCA India program as Resident Director in April 2010. A native of India, she completed her master's in Ecology at Pondicherry University, and went on to work with several research and development agencies. Before working with BCA, she helped establish the Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning (FERAL), and served as the Managing Director and co-ordinated several programs. Her work focused on areas of community based natural resource management with a special focus on gender and livelihood strategies. In addition, she designed and conducted environment education and gender training programs for school children, village communities and other agencies. Involved with study abroad programs since 2005, she helped establish BCA's program in India and has developed programs on a range of topics. She also teaches Gender and Development and Indian Culture and Society to BCA students.
Education:
M.S., Ecology, Pondicherry University
B.Sc., Mount Carmel College, Bangalore University
Download CV here
Languages:
English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada
Email: apai@BCAstudyabroad.org
Dalian, China:
Danny Hsu joined BCA as resident director of the Dalian program in 2007. Born in Taiwan, Danny moved to the U.S. when he was seven years old. He has a Ph.D. in modern Chinese history from UCLA and has many years of experience living and studying in China. Danny conducted research in China as a Fulbright scholar (2003-2004) and his work on the development of the Chinese legal system was supported by an NSEP grant. He is currently revising his dissertation into a book manuscript and starting a new project on U.S.-China cultural relations. Danny is passionate about traveling and working with college students to broaden their understanding of China.
Education:
University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D., History, 2007
Modern Chinese history
M.A., History, 1999
University of California, San Diego
B.A., Chinese Studies, June 1996
Download CV here
Languages:
English (native); Mandarin Chinese (fluent); Classical Chinese (reading); Japanese (2 years language study)
Email: dhsu@BCAStudyAbroad.org
Derry, Northern Ireland:
Resident Director Gavin Duffy is a native of Northern Ireland and grew up amidst the conflict which was pervasive in the north-west. He was a Prize Research Scholar and stipendiary tutor at the University of Oxford prior to several university appointments in Ireland, and visiting posts at numerous international universities including Fujen (Taiwan) Ritsumeikan (Japan) Tripoli (Libya) and Dartmouth (in the USA). He was also a visiting professor as part of a British Council Vietnam Program for more than ten years.
Gavin has more than 30 years experience managing and delivering academic and practical programs in the field of conflict resolution and conflict management. He was the senior course tutor for the first Masters level course in this field in Northern Ireland and specialized in conflict resolution theory and comparative conflict resolution, drawing on his extensive local and international field experience.
He has worked at a senior level for the United Nations, European Union, OSCE, NATO, Red Cross, IMO, World Bank, Carter Center and other international organizations in more than 50 countries, and he has extensive practical experience of UN peacekeeping and grassroots conflict resolution work covering interpersonal conflict resolution, hostage negotiation, community peace-building and post conflict peace and reconciliation processes. His deployments have included Cambodia, Somalia, South Africa, Namibia, Rwanda, Burundi, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Palestinian Authority, Gaza, Guatemala, El Salvador, Congo, Sierra Leone, Eritria, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Darfur.
He has published extensively in this field, of which his special interests have included peace culture, peace museums and zones of peace, and an eclectic mixture of commissioned research reports for the UN system.
His personal bibliography runs to more than 200 items of which a coherent synoptic theme has been the management and resolution of conflict in transitional and post-conflict societies. On going recent commitments include guest professorships at the Australian Military Academy, the Irish-American International Summer School and the University of Wales.
Download CV here.
Email: gduffy@bcastudyabroad.org
Marburg, Germany & Vienna, Austria:
Kristopher Riggs has been directing the BCA program in Marburg since June of 2001. Born and raised near Kansas City, Missouri, he studied German at William Jewell College and spent one of his four undergraduate years studying in Austria. Kris became involved professionally in international education after completing his M.A. in German. He has worked as a foreign credentials evaluator for Josef Silny and Associates and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, a foreign student advisor at Frostburg State University, and as a freelance translator. Kris’s academic interests lie primarily in translation and cross-cultural communication. He is endlessly fascinated with the phenomenon of language, and he is also an avid photographer and videographer. Kris lives in Marburg with his wife and two daughters.
Education:
M.A., Bowling Green State University
B.A., William Jewell College
Download CV here
Languages:
English, German, Czech
Email: kriggs@BCAStudyAbroad.org
Quito, Ecuador:
Christopher Lupoli has been fascinated by Ecuadorian culture and geography since he spent his junior year in college studying in Ecuador nearly 15 years ago, during which time he completed an internship with an ecological organization on the Ecuadorian coast. He was fascinated by the friendly and free-spirited coastal Ecuadorian culture, while at the same time alarmed by the injustices brought upon the Ecuadorian people and coastal ecosystems as a result of the growing shrimp farming industry. He later served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Panama, in which he promoted sustainable agroforestry techniques in an isolated region inhabited by the Kuna indigenous people. This life-changing experience permitted him to view the world through a non-Western perspective and afforded him the opportunity to learn an indigenous language which he still uses today with his wife, Mery, a Kuna woman.
Christopher has also coordinated a community service program for U.S. teens in Dominica, worked as an ecotourism guide in Nicaragua, managed an eco-lodge in Ecuador, and developed a management plan for a state park in Brazil. He taught Spanish at a U.S. high school for three years, during which time he developed a passion for teaching and providing cross-cultural opportunities for students to gain a holistic understanding of global issues and an appreciation for cultural diversity. He has most recently completed his Ph.D. at Auburn University, for which his dissertation focused on the diverse local impacts of international volunteer tourism in host communities. As part of his research he conducted workshops in numerous communities in Ecuador and Costa Rica to understand the role played by volunteer tourists in promoting sustainable development and community well-being.
Christopher is excited to become the new resident director for BCA Study Abroad in Quito, Ecuador. He looks forward to providing BCA students the opportunity to develop global citizenship and a deeper understanding of the issues faced by Ecuadorians in a developing nation. He has two daughters, Ayana and Ayla, ages five and one. His hobbies are cooking, fishing, gardening and hiking.
Education:
Ph.D., Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University
M.S., Environmental Management, Duke University
B.A., Spanish, Linfield College
Download CV here
Language(s):
English (native); Spanish (fluent); Kuna (fluent); Portuguese (near-fluent); Italian (intermediate).
Ramallah, Palestine:
BCA Palestine Resident Director Thomas Ricks has lived and worked in Palestine as a history professor at Birzeit University working with Birzeit’s Research Center on oral history, a research journal and refugee projects. He created the first US summer study abroad programs for US students at Birzeit and Bethlehem universities. In addition to completing a Fulbright oral history research project of Palestinian schools in Ramallah, Jerusalem and Bethlehem during the British Occupation, he helped complete a textbook on oral history research methods with Palestinian colleagues focusing on the First Intifada. Tom is a social and cultural historian of the modern Middle East with special interests in schools and learning under occupation.
Education:
B.A., University of Notre Dame, 1961 Philosophy
M.A., Indiana University, 1968 Persian Language and Literature
Ph.D., Indiana University, 1975 Middle East History
Download CV here
Email: tomricks@BCAstudyabroad.org
Rome, Italy
Thomas Govero has been directing study abroad programs for over 25 years in several countries. He has worked in Italy, France, Spain, Greece and Morocco. Previously he taught classics In American universities and currently teaches classics and communications part-time at John Cabot University in Rome. Rome has been a “home” for him ever since he studied archeology and Roman art on a Fulbright there. Tom Govero also served in an administrative capacity at NATO in Naples, Italy for many years. He has lived for many years in Italy and before that in France. During the years in France he was the regional director for The School for International Training developing study-abroad programs in Europe and North Africa. Tom has traveled widely and particularly enjoys classical archeology, gardening and cooking. His translations from Italian have been published in recent years and he has also contributed travel articles to various international publications.
Download CV here
Languages:
Fluency in French and Italian. Conversant in Spanish and German.
Email: tgovero@BCAstudyabroad.org
Sapporo, Japan:
Yosuke Nagashima has been directing the BCA program in Sapporo since Fall 2011. Originally from Tokyo from a traditional Samurai royal family, Yosuke studied International education at the University of the Incarnate Word and business management in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to joining BCA, he was the International Awareness director at University Programming Council at University of the Incarnate Word and educational/medical professional interpreter for the City of San Antonio in Texas.He has taught at the University of the Incarnate Word and University of Texas at San Antonio, and he periodically lectured and mentored Japanese students preparing to study abroad in the U.S. He has published journals and research papers on translating educational research instruments into Japanese. Yosuke also participated in the organization of the educational, peace, and religious organization in Texas/Oklahoma region.
Education:
Ph. D., in International Education & Entrepreneurship at University of the Incarnate Word
M. Ed., in International Education at University of the Incarnate Word
B.A., in Business Management at University of the Incarnate Word
Download CV here
Languages:
Standard Japanese, Classic Japanese, English, Spanish, Korean
Email: ynagashima@BCAStudyAbroad.org
Xalapa, Mexico:
Robert Kruger is in his twelfth year as Director of BCA Xalapa. Originally from Rockford, Illinois, Rob studied anthropology and archaeology at the Universities of Illinois and Pittsburgh. He specializes in the Olmec, one of the earliest Mesoamerican cultures and was a Fulbright scholar to Mexico in 1992. Rob taught at the University of Pittsburgh and Guilford College in North Carolina, twice leading their Guadalajara program. He moved to Xalapa in 1995. He occasionally teaches archaeology at the Universidad Veracruzana, and remains active in the archaeological community there. Rob’s interest in Mexican Archaeology has developed into a love for the country and people of Mexico. He loves to travel and explore, and delights in taking BCA students off the beaten track.
Education:
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
Graduate Certificate in Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh
B.A., University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign
Download CV here
Languages:
English, Spanish
International Education Experiences:
Rob has been working in Mexico since 1989, and has been living there since 1995. He has traveled through Europe, parts of North Africa and Israel, as well as parts of Central and South America. He has conducted archaeological research in the United States, Colombia, and Mexico.
Email: Rkruger@BCAStudyAbroad.org