Faculty Archive - School for International Training

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 91̽��Ƶ 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 91̽��Ƶ 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

Abigail Henson — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 18:04:56 +0000

Ilya Malafei supports the academic design and delivery of all programs at 91̽��Ƶ Amsterdam. Prior to joining 91̽��Ƶ, 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 91̽��Ƶ Study Abroad as a university relations manager in April 2026. Bringing over a decade of professional experience in global education to her role at 91̽��Ƶ, 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 91̽��Ƶ 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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Ferdinand Gerlich

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:17:14 +0000

Ferdinand Gerlich studied culture politics and society at Central European University. As a child, he lived in Hopkins, Minnesota, for a year, where he got to experience and appreciate American culture and customs, creating a long-lasting bond with the United States. As a Vienna native, he assists program participants with logistics and general needs. Gerlich acts as a facilitator, connecting students to local institutions and Vienna’s rich culture. He is also an avid basketball fan, loves music and cinema, and is well-versed in classical literature.

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Tsering Youdon Lama

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:34:58 +0000

Tsering Youdon Lama is a public health graduate born in Dolpo, Nepal, with strong experience in community service, education, and youth leadership, particularly in remote Himalayan regions of Nepal. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public health from Nobel College, Kathmandu, and has been actively involved in volunteering, teaching, and humanitarian work since her early academic years. Youdon has worked with schools, youth-led NGOs, health clinics, and educational hostels, contributing to areas such as sexual and reproductive health education, disaster management, academic mentoring, and community health outreach. She has coordinated programs, led teams, and managed student residences, demonstrating strong leadership, organizational, and communication skills. Fluent in multiple languages, including English, Nepali, Tibetan, and local Dolpo dialects, she brings cultural sensitivity and commitment to social impact, with a deep interest in volunteering, education, and community development.

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Elia Lo Parrino, PhD

Abigail Henson — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:52:18 +0000

Dr. Elia Lo Parrino is a zoologist with a strong interest in biodiversity conservation in human-modified environments, with a particular focus on freshwater ecosystems. His research has primarily addressed the drivers of species distribution, biological invasions, and ecosystem functionality, especially in inland waters. To investigate these topics, Dr. Lo Parrino integrates field-based ecological monitoring with statistical modeling, spatial analyses, and molecular tools, aiming to translate ecological knowledge into effective conservation and management actions. He has contributed to 23 scientific publications in ecology, conservation biology, and biogeography.

Throughout his academic career, Dr. Lo Parrino has been extensively involved in field surveys of amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates across a wide range of environments, including lowland wetlands, Mediterranean islands, and cave systems. As a postdoc researcher, he studied invertebrate communities in springs and subterranean systems in Italy to reconstruct trophic webs and functional diversity at the interface between hypogean and epigean environments.

Selected Publications

Akwasi Amankwah-Bonsu

Joanna Tanger — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 19:53:59 +0000

Akwasi Amankwah-Bonsu is a Ghanaian educator and communications professional from Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. He holds a bachelor’s in education from the University of Education, Winneba, and a master’s in communication studies from the University of Ghana. He has served as the program coordinator at 91̽��Ƶ Ghana since 2022 and is also an Asante-Twi lecturer. He plays a key role in academic program management and student engagement. His professional interests focus on education and language. He is passionate about driving, music, and building meaningful connections with students.

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Samar Mezghanni, PhD

Joanna Tanger — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 20:51:26 +0000

Dr. Samar Mezghanni is a Tunisian Canadian writer and international speaker, advocating for children, youth, women, and marginalized people to become storytellers of their own narratives. She has written over a hundred short stories for children and published 16 books.

Dr. Mezghanni obtained her master’s in communication, culture, and critical discourse from the University of Birmingham and has worked with the British Council and the United Nations as a consultant on civil society and youth programs. She holds a PhD in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Mezghanni was named by the BBC as one of the most influential women in the world (2013) and by Arabian Business as one of the most important young leaders in the Arab region (2012). She is a member of various international and regional NGOs, including as a UN Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Selected Publications

Trang Nguyen

Abigail Henson — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 20:10:15 +0000

Trang Nguyen is an academic program and international support specialist with more than 15 years of experience supporting international education and development programs. She works closely with students, faculty, and partners to support academic writing, provide structured feedback, and assist students in navigating research and experiential learning processes. Before joining 91̽��Ƶ, she worked across a range of internationally funded projects and academic support initiatives, supporting collaboration between Vietnamese institutions and global partners. Her work involved coordinating multi-stakeholder projects across cultures and time zones, strengthening communication and quality standards, and supporting academic rigor in diverse international contexts. At 91̽��Ƶ, Trang supports the coordination and delivery of academic programs by assisting with assignment review and grading support, advising students through their independent study projects or internships, facilitating connections with local institutions and advisors, and supporting students’ cross-cultural learning and reflective integration of field-based experiences.

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Bárbara Costa, MA

Abigail Henson — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 21:52:17 +0000

Bárbara Costa has worked as an assistant professor at the Polytechnic University of Leiria, Portugal, where she taught digital marketing and communication, semiotics, and multimedia content production. She has also worked in corporate communications, handling internal communications, public relations, event planning, multimedia production, digital strategies and content, and social media accounts. She has worked as a production assistant in television advertising projects for clients such as IKEA, Volvo, Volkswagen, and Decathlon. She has also been active in youth and climate nongovernmental organizations, designing digital campaigns, narratives, and social media content, and attending United Nations climate change conferences. She holds a master’s degree in marketing and communication, specializing in corporate social responsibility communication.

Selected Presentations

Carolyne Mukuha, MD, MBA

Abigail Henson — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 18:26:06 +0000

Dr. Carolyne Mukuha is a Kenyan physician and health-systems specialist with more than a decade of experience in clinical practice, public and global health, and academic program design. Before joining 91̽��Ƶ, Dr. Mukuha worked across Kenya’s public, faith-based, and private health sectors, leading initiatives that link academic learning with real-world health systems challenges. She has served as a research fellow with the KEMRI–Wellcome Trust HIGH-Q project, leading county-level analyses on workforce capacity and service delivery. As a consultant, she has supported hospitals and government agencies to implement quality standards and to strengthen institutional quality-improvement and patient-safety systems. She holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and an MBA in Healthcare Management. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Healthcare Management at Strathmore Business School in collaboration with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). She also completed postgraduate programs in Safety, Quality, Informatics, and Leadership at Harvard Medical School and in Teaching and Research in Global Health at Heidelberg University.

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Julianna Lewis, BS

Joanna Tanger — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 22:04:37 +0000

Julianna Lewis earned her bachelor’s in public health with a minor in Spanish from Tulane University. As a student, she studied abroad independently at Universidad EAFIT in Medellín, Colombia, and with 91̽��Ƶ in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She also led semesterly development projects to San Pedro Sula and surrounding communities in Honduras. After graduating, Lewis dedicated herself to a year of service with Volunteers in Development, Education, and Solidarity (VIDES). Her first placement site was in Bogotá, Colombia, where she worked in an elderly care home and her second placement site was in Geneva, Switzerland, where she represented VIDES at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Lewis has been with World Learning/91̽��Ƶ since 2021, previously serving on the Fulbright Specialist Program and the IDEAS Program. Since 2026, she has served as an admissions officer and is eager to assist students in jump-starting their study abroad journey. In her free time, she enjoys sewing, hiking, and traveling the world. She is a native Spanish speaker.

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Steve Luther

Joanna Tanger — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 21:55:56 +0000

University Relations Manager for Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Illinois, and Indiana

Steve Luther brings over two decades of international higher education experience with both U.S. and overseas based study abroad program providers. Previously, Luther was senior director of institutional relations for London-based FIE: Foundation for International Education. Prior to that, he held a variety of outreach, institutional relations, and program development roles with GlobaLinks Learning Abroad (originally AustraLearn). He’s worked with universities across the U.S. and throughout Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Europe, and Asia, with experience in study abroad, internships, full degree and custom faculty-led programming. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Central Connecticut State University and is currently enrolled in an online graduate program through Millersville University of Pennsylvania focusing on space weather. A native New Englander born and raised in Connecticut, Luther spent 20 years in Colorado and has been based in Beaverton, Oregon, since 2014. He is an avid traveler, hiker and outdoor adventurer who has a particular passion for chasing and photographing the Northern Lights around the U.S. and internationally.

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Hala Al-Fayez, PhD

Maya Kuriki — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 16:02:21 +0000

Dr. Hala Al-Fayez brings more than 15 years of experience in teaching Arabic as a foreign language and has worked with academic institutions at all levels. She has extensive experience in language instruction, culturally sensitive curriculum design, and creating positive learning environments.

Utilizing her background in counseling, mental health, sociology, and women’s studies, she integrates an interdisciplinary approach to teaching that meets the diverse learning needs of all students.

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Mahmoud S. Shafie, PhD

Maya Kuriki — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 16:02:01 +0000

Dr. Mahmoud Shafie joined School for International Training in 2007. Prior, he taught Arabic to foreigners at the Language Center of the University of Jordan.

He is the author of the “Noon wal Qalam” series for teaching Arabic to non-native speakers, which is the textbook used at 91̽��Ƶ. He has co-written additional works, including the “Ad-Dhad” series (Dhad Institute for TASOL, University of Nizwa, 9 levels) and “Noor al-Arabiya” (Islamic Services Foundation, USA) with Dr. Waleed Anati. A member of the Jordanian Writers Society, he has also published two novels.

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Faculty Archive - School for International Training

Mohamed Mastere, PhD

Said Saddiki, PhD

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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

Ferdinand Gerlich

Tsering Youdon Lama

Elia Lo Parrino, PhD

Akwasi Amankwah-Bonsu

Samar Mezghanni, PhD

Trang Nguyen

Bárbara Costa, MA

Carolyne Mukuha, MD, MBA

Julianna Lewis, BS

Steve Luther

Hala Al-Fayez, PhD

Mahmoud S. Shafie, PhD

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