Staff

Janice Levitt, Executive Director and Director for China Programs
Janice is responsible for the leadership and direction of the Alliance. She also oversees the China programs.  Janice fell in love with China and Chinese as an undergrad and spent four and half years studying and working in mainland China.  She has worked in the field of study abroad since 1994, serving as a Resident Director in Beijing and Harbin, recruiting students in the U.S, and developing and managing study abroad programs in a variety of countries in Asia and Europe.  She’s enjoyed travel to over 20 countries.  Fluent in Chinese and with a fascination for exploring other cultures, Janice is committed to providing linguistic, cultural, and educational opportunities for students -- especially those going abroad for the first time.  She studied East Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and did graduate work at the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, based in Nanjing.

Andrea Custodi, Ph.D., Director for India Programs
Andrea is responsible for the development and oversight of the Alliance's India programs, with a background in international education that includes over ten years of program management in India and short-term faculty-led programs in Nepal. In addition to her travel, fieldwork and development work in South Asia, Andrea's academic interests are interdisciplinary, with doctoral research and publications incorporating contemporary critical, feminist, and psychoanalytic theory with a focus on South Asian religious materials, in particular the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. Andrea currently serves on the Forum on Education Abroad’s Standards Committee, as well as its Ethics and ACCRAO working groups, and serves as leader and moderator of the Association of U.S. Academic Programs in India (AUSAPI).

Ting Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Director for China Programs
Ting assists the Executive Director with the management and development of the Alliance’s China programs. Prior to joining the Alliance, Ting had broad cross-cultural experience in international media exchange and development. She holds a M.A. in American Studies from China Foreign Affairs University and a Ph.D. in Media Studies from Northwestern University. Ting's academic research centers on media institution, globalization and cultural identity from the perspectives of political economy, cultural studies and audience research, particularly where China and the United States intersect. Having studied, taught and worked in both the U.S. and China, Ting has a long-term passion for international education and exchange, and is committed to promoting cross-cultural awareness and understanding between the two countries through study abroad initiatives.

Jonathan Ferguson, Assistant Director for India Programs
As Assistant Director for India Programs, Jonathan assists the Director with the development and management of the Alliance’s India programs. He has over five years experience in higher education administration and study abroad, including academic programming, operations, program development, and marketing. With a Master’s degree in Urban Planning and Policy, and a particular interest in urban development in the developing world, Jonathan recently returned from India where he was a David L. Boren Fellow at the East-West Language Institute in New Delhi.

Julia Levy, Senior Program Manager for China Programs
Julia has been with the the Alliance for Global Education since its inception. In addition, she has been with the College of Global Studies at Arcadia University since 1988, shortly after receiving her B.A. from Dickinson College. Julia's long-standing relationship with Arcadia began during her undergraduate years, when she participated in a study abroad program to England. Following college graduation, Julia began a career as a program assistant and since then she has held a number of different positions at Arcadia. In her current role, she manages the admissions and pre-departure process for Alliance China students. 

Traci Chupik, Senior Program Manager for India Programs
Traci joined the Alliance for Global Education in spring of 2008 after working as a Program Manager for the College of Global Studies at Arcadia University since June 2006. She earned her B.B.A. in Management from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999 and completed her M.S.Ed. in Intercultural Communication from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. After studying abroad in London as an undergraduate, Traci became committed both personally and professionally to international education and exchange, and has since taught English at an elementary school in Misato, Japan, and volunteered as an intern at an educational exchange organization in Yerevan, Armenia. As an Alliance Program Manager, Traci is responsible for the admissions and pre-departure process for Contemporary India students.

Clay Harmon, Institutional Relations Manager
Clay's primary responsibility is student recruitment.  He maintains the Alliance's relationships with a wide variety of colleges and universities throughout the United States. His fluency in Mandarin Chinese, as well as his combined knowledge of study abroad in China and American higher education, contributes to the Alliance's success in enrolling students and communicating with language faculty and study abroad offices. Clay holds a B.A. in Asian Studies from the University of Puget Sound and an Ed.M. in Higher Education from Harvard University. He studied in both Taiwan and Beijing as an undergraduate, and has traveled extensively throughout China and elsewhere in Asia. In addition, Clay served as resident director for the Critical Language Scholarship program based at the Alliance site in Shanghai in summer 2010. He is committed to ensuring that increasing numbers of American students have the opportunity to study in Asia.

Courtney Kenny, Communications Manager
Courtney joined the Alliance headquarters in September 2008. Shortly after graduating with a B.A. in Communications from Penn State University in 2003, Courtney spent a month backpacking Europe and 3 months working on Paros, a small island in Greece. After this experience, she became an advocate of international exchange and travel. In 2005, she left Washington, D.C. for Yamanashi, Japan where she spent a year teaching English in a high school and a year in the local government. She continued her travels in Latin America, spending two and half months volunteering in Costa Rica. After returning to the States in late 2007, Courtney worked for several months with the Embassy of Japan and the Institute of International Education. As Communications Manager for the Alliance, Courtney manages the daily operations of the Washington office and supports its programs in China and India.

Teresa Bellono, Program Coordinator
Teresa primarily assists the Communications Manager and other staff at the Alliance headquarters and abroad, and also serves as Office Manager. She earned a B.A. in French and International Studies from Indiana University and is currently pursuing her M.A. in International Training and Education from American University. Her passion for international student exchange stems from her own year abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France. Teresa has previous experience in supporting program marketing and management as a Peer Counselor in the Office of Overseas Study at Indiana University. She is eager to learn more about this incredible field through working with the Alliance and to expand her knowledge of Asia.