Study Abroad Alumni—Where are they now?
Did you study abroad as an undergraduate at UR? We'd love to hear from you! Current students are always eager to see what alumni are doing. Please send updates to abroad@admin.rochester.edu.
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- Class of 2010
- Class of 2009
- Class of 2008
- Class of 2007
- Class of 2006
- Class of 2005
- Class of 2004
- Class of 2002
- Class of 2001
- Class of 2000
- Class of 1999
- Class of 1997
- Class of 1989
Class of 2010
Christopher Aguilar spent the fall 2008 semester in Vienna, Austria. Since graduation he has taken a job at a Nature Preserve teaching kids about Marine Biology, Sustainability, and Ecology. He is currently applying to graduate schools in Vienna involving Environmental Politics and International Relations.
Suzanne Giunta studied abroad in Melbourne, Australia in the spring 2009 semester. In August she is moving to Guyana to teach math and science to high school students in a rural community for one year.
Rebecca Orenstein spent the spring 2009 semester in Dublin, Ireland. She is currently applying for jobs in Dublin and plans to go back in August to visit or live.
Aleeza Wachs studied in Kathmandu, Nepal during the spring 2009 semester. She is planning to return to Nepal in the fall with an Israeli program called Tevel B'Tzedek to live in a village and work with women's groups on raising awareness about reproductive health and safe birthing. The program focuses on sustainable development with community involvement.
Victoria Yam studied in Berlin, Germany in the spring of 2009. She is planning to leave in late August for Cologne, Germany where she will be teaching conversational English and taking classes at the University of Cologne.
Class of 2009
Jill Endress spent the fall 2007 semester studying at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She moved back to Australia and has been living on Bondi Beach since April 2010. She is enjoying working for a media company and reconnecting with her Aussie friends from her time studying abroad.
Amanda Fuleihan spent the spring 2008 semester in Florence, Italy. She fell in love with living abroad after her experience and is currently in Beirut Lebanon studying Arabic at the American University of Beirut.
Zuri Kim studied in Beijing suring the spring 2008 semester. She has since spent time visiting relatives in Korea and is currently teaching English at a Korean elementary school.
Class of 2008
Erin Drazich studied at Cambridge during the 2006-2007 academic year. A few months after graduating, she was offfered a job as a research assistant on a project to investigate Alzheimer's Disease at Oxford University. She has been able to travel to some other countries as well, including Denmark and Gremany.
Joshua Fein spent the fall of 2007 teaching English and studying at the University of Cologne through the UR Exchange Program. After graduating, he relocated to Karlsruhe, Germany where he is continuing his training as a classical singer through their Masters in Gesang program.
Class of 2007
Sasha Bilow studied abroad in Fall 2005 in Grenoble, France, and spent a month each in Rennes, France and Oaxaca, Mexico. She is in Perpignan, France for the 2007-08 academic year on a Fulbright fellowship. After that, she plans to spend the next two years with Teach For America, and would eventually like to teach French or Spanish in a public school.
Jackie Borchardt studied in Madrid, Spain with the IES program in Spring 2006. She graduated in May 2007, as an English/Spanish double major. She will begin a two-year master of arts in journalism program at the University of Missouri-Columbia this fall. She is planning on completing the international track, a decision heavily influenced from her unforgettable experience abroad.
Colin Brown (Take 5), who studied abroad at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland Fall 2004 and with IES Amsterdam, The Netherlands Fall 2006, will be starting a Ph.D. program in Political Science in Fall 2007. He will be at Harvard University and plans to focus on comparative ethnic and racial politics in the developed world.
Robert Fitzgerald, who studied at Uppsala University (Spring 2006), will begin a two-year master's program in System-on-Chip at Lund University in Sweden in Fall, 2007. Lund University was established in 1668 and is located outside Malm, in the south of the country. He invites UR students who are in Sweden to get in touch with him.
Celeste Gagnier studied at Bond University in Australia in her junior year. She has been accepted into a new Global Scholars program through St. George's School of Medicine. She is leaving in August, 2007 for the UK where she will spend her first year of medical school at Northumbria University in Newcastle, England. The second year will be at St. George's on the island of Grenada. Finally, she will do clinical rotations for two years in the States, in locations as yet to be determined.
Sudesna Ghosh studied abroad in Sydney in Spring 2006 with the IES program. She received a scholarship from Boston University and will be attending their M.S Public Relations program from this Fall 2007.
Rebecca Hayes studied abroad in Bath on the Advanced Studies in England Program, Spring, 2006. She is going to UC Davis for law school in Fall, 2007.
Cecil Hernandez, who studied in Ghana, Arezzo (Italy) and Cairo, will begin a master's program in Higher Education at the University of Michigan Fall, 2007.
Sirish Kondabolu studied in Buenos Aires, Argentina with the IES program, Spring 2006. He will begin his first year of UR Medical School in Fall, 2007. Sirish writes "Studying abroad was one of the best experiences of my college career and I will never forget it."
Jeffrey Melvin studied abroad in Fall 2005 at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia with the IES program and traveled to Italy (Arezzo, Siena, Florence, and Rome) in Summer 2004 for the ME105 Roman Structures course. He graduated with a major in biochemistry and a minor in chemistry and will continue his education in a biochemistry Ph.D. program at Duke University in the Fall of 2007.
Ebiere Okah studied in Ghana in her junior year and is moving to NYC to work at the Federal Reserve Bank.
Katrina Rudd studied in Auckland, New Zealand with the IES program in Fall 2005. She also participated in the Malawi Immersion trip in the summer of 2007. After graduating she spent a year as a WorldTeach volunteer, teaching of English as a foreign language in the Marshall Islands.
Samantha Stern-Leaphart studied in London in the Spring of 2006 on the UR Internships Program and writes, "it was one of the best experiences I ever had!" She just graduated from UR with a BA in English and will be pursuing her Ph.D. (in English) at Rutgers in the Fall 2007.
Brittney VornDick studied in Freiburg, Germany on the IES program. She will begin the PhD in Physics at North Carolina State University. Brittney double-majored in physics and math, and minored in German. In summer, 2007, she will be "in Europe for 5 weeks for vacation... before committing to another 5 years of school..."
Katherine Wallace graduated in May 2007 with a Human Rights Studies major and minors in Spanish and Linguistics. She studied abroad as a direct enrollment international student at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru in Lima during the Fall 2005. If anyone ever wants to talk to her about the program they're welcome to email her - Glenn has her info. She also spent a summer doing research in Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula. Now she is working as an intern at Greater Rochester Enterprise through the Urban Fellows program. After that she hopes to work in community development with housing in Rochester.
Stephanie Yurchyk (Take 5) is heading out west in August, where she will pursue a masters of science at the University of New Mexico in geochemistry. This summer she is temping in Boston and teaching political science at a college camp for high school students. Stephanie studied in the summer of 2004 on the Russian in Russia program in St. Petersburg, and spent Spring, 2005 in Melbourne, Australia on the IES program.
Class of 2006
Steven Kraft, who majored in mechanical engineering, studied in Tokyo on the Temple University in Japan program during the Fall, 2004 semester. After graduation, he traveled to Shanghai, China, where he was a DJ. Now, Steven is completing a master's degree in Chemical Engineering at UR, working on sustainability, with a focus in bio-fuels for developing nations. To see some of Steve's pictures from his travels to Asia in 2006, check out www.stevenkraft.com
Emily Nunes, studied abroad on both the Summer Arezzo Archaeology Program in 2005 and the London EPA Summer Internship in 2006. She graduated in August of 2006 after accepting employment from her internship providers at the National Portrait Gallery in London. After many travels around Europe she continues to live in London. Emily currently works at London Metropolitan University as the Short Course marketing and events planning manager, and for the study abroad program Academic Solutions as their internship coordinator.
Class of 2005
Dan Apfel was a history major and studied in Alicante, Spain in 2004 with CIEE. Since graduation Dan spent about a year in Rochester baking Hispanic pastries and working at Sector 4 Community Development Corp. After working to improve Southwest Rochester, he followed many other alumni and made the move to New York City. He is currently working on education and youth programs at the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (www.cdcu.coop) Dan maintains a strong connection to Rochester through his service on the Ant Hill Cooperative Board of Directors (http://ant-hill.org) and participation in the now forming University of Rochester Alumni for Social Responsibility. Besides Dan's interests in cooperative development and Sustainability, he enjoys spending his free time sailing in New York Harbor and has recently returned from trips to Israel and Chile. If you are interested in the cooperative movement or any of his other activities, Dan welcomes contact through the Study Abroad office.
Niki Reitz double-majored in Spanish and math, and spent the Fall of 2003 in Salamanca. She is living in Boston and working as an Assistant Director of Admissions at Northeastern University. She is currently busy planning her fall Admissions travel, as Northeastern’s representative to Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Utah and Puerto Rico). Niki and her friend Sara Doyle (also UR '05) are traveling for three weeks this summer to Japan. Niki writes “We have been planning for almost a year (Sara has really done most of the work) and we've been taking Japanese lessons since January. We're flying into Nagoya, then going all the way up to Rebun and Rishiri for some hiking, then back down to Kyoto for the Gion Matsuri Festival, then Koyasan, and ending with a week in Tokyo and day trips around the city. We are SO EXCITED--leaving on July 7!!”
Christine Stoelting, spent the fall of 2003 on the IES Paris program. In summer, 2005 she did a business internship in London. She earned her MS degree in Marketing in June, 2007 and will be at the Simon School for another year to complete her MBA. This summer, she has an internship at Fisher-Price toys (Mattel) in East Aurora, NY, developing custom products, using skills of both creativity and analysis. She has a particular interest in the creative team that designs the logos and names of new products, and is also intrigued by the international team, which produces toys targeted specifically to children in different cultures.
Carrying on the study abroad tradition, she is president of SimonUnited, Simon's diversity and international club.
Dominique Fertinel (Class of 2006), who studied in Paris on IES and the Internships Program, is also on the e-board as VP Special Events. Dominque is currently interning at Heineken USA in public relations. In April, they put on a show for Simon that featured Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Business students from these three countries performed demonstrations, tae kwan do, dances, songs, etc.
Class of 2004
Mike Litrownik studied in Brussels in the Spring of 2003 on the UR Internships Program. He had an internship at the European Parliament and took two classes at Vesalius College. In the Fall of 2007, he will enter law school at Washington University in St. Louis. Between leaving his job and starting law school, Mike is looking forward to a vacation in Europe. He'll go back to Brussels for a week or so, and then to Spain.
David Weiner studied on the Advanced Studies in England program in the Fall of 2003. He is currently an Admissions Counselor in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at UR. Eventually, he plans to go on to graduate school for German history.
Class of 2002
Rachel Isenberg worked at the European Parliament in Brussels through UR’s Internships in Europe Program in the summer of 2000. She has studied in and traveled much of western Europe, Central and South America, and the Middle East. Currently, as a certified Tennis Professional, she works for Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education (www.ashetennis.org) in Philadelphia, running tennis clinics, life skills lessons, and educational programs for inner city kids, autistic and special needs populations; as well as beginner, intermediate, and advanced players. Moreover, she runs an early development language program teaching Spanish to pre-school and kindergarten children. Studying abroad instilled in her an ongoing desire to learn and explore. Rachel continues to travel on her own - she recently spent a month in Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize. She can't wait for her next adventure!
Matt Moffa studied in Arezzo, Italy in the spring of 2000, and participated in The College’s Archaeology Program in Israel the following summer. After graduating, Matt spent three years performing research at Georgetown University, focusing on neurocoginitive differences between native language speakers and later language learners. Since 2005, Matt has been employed as a Patent Agent with the Nath Law Group in Alexandria, VA, where he prepares and prosecutes patent applications at the U.S. Patent and Trandemark office for domestic and foreign clients. In 2006, he married Anne Lyster ('02), who interned in Brussels at the European Parliament ( UR’s Internships in Europe Program). He is applying to law school for Fall, 2008.
Class of 2001
Mary Delmastro studied in Arezzo, Italy in Spring 2000. She has spent the last 4 years working as a structural analysis engineer at ITT Industries in Rochester, NY. In the Fall 2007, after daydreaming of being abroad again for far too long, she will begin a Masters program in Italian Renaissance Art at Syracuse University, two semesters of which will be spent studying in Florence. She is thrilled!
Class of 2000
Andrea (Nikulich) Mravlja studied on the St. Petersburg, Russia CIEE program in the Fall of 1999. She had an amazing experience and the best host family anyone could have hoped for. After receiving her M.B.A in Finance, Organizational Strategy, she is currently working at UR in the Financial Aid Office as Associate Director.
Jesse Weisz, who majored in film studies, studied film production at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia during his junior year. In 2003, he began work as an outside consultant for new businesses for European advertising agencies. Over the past four years, he lived in twelve countries. Jesse returned to the United States and moved to Washington DC to start a non-profit organization called Global Exploration for Educators Organization. (http://www.geeo.org/) GEEO's goal is to make Americans more outward looking by encouraging teachers to travel abroad and share their experiences with their students.
Class of 1999
Jerramy Fine, who majored in political science, studied in London on the UR Internships in Europe program. She worked in the House of Commons by day, took classes at night, and loved every minute of it – so much so that 18 months later she returned to the UK to pursue her master’s degree in Social Policy at the London School of Economics. Soon afterwards, Jerramy was hired by Guinness World Records to be their political researcher and happily worked in their London office for four years. Recently Jerramy began writing her own book - a story that details her life-long love affair with all things English. Entitled Someday Day My Prince Will Come, it will be published by Penguin Group in spring, 2008.
Class of 1997
Huey Hsiao studied on the Beijing, China IES program in the spring of 1996. After graduating from UR, he taught English at Nankai University in Tianjin, China. He later spent five years working for the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE). Most recently, he completed an M.B.A at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain; and he and his wife, Cara, welcomed a baby girl, Charlotte Rose Hsiao, into the family. They currently reside in Syracuse, NY, where Huey is the assistant director of student services for the MBA & MS Programs at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management.
Class of 1989
Brenda Goldstein Berry studied in China. She was a Chinese language and history double major and graduated from Temple University's Beasley School of Law in 1995. Since 2005 she has been employed as an attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Rochester in the Domestic Violence Program. She writes "my Chinese language skills have come in handy here, and I often interpret for attorneys and paralegals who are meeting with Mandarin-speaking clients in the office."
As a member of the Rochester International Council she enjoys volunteering at the many exciting events designed to introduce international students to American culture and to foster cultural exchange. Every summer, she takes three weeks off to work with Mandarin-speaking exchange students from Mainland China. She is always looking for hosts for Chinese student for three weeks in summer (weekdays they attend classes from 9 to 5). If you are interested, contact Brenda at bberry@lasroc.org.
