Staff
Students, parents, faculty and advisors can rely on the Alliance for Global Education to provide insightful guidance and thorough support services throughout their experience. Before departure, students may contact Julia Levy, Alliance Senior Program Coordinator, with any questions or concerns. Once students arrive overseas, the Alliance for Global Education's Resident Directors and Program Assistants in Beijing and Shanghai lead orientation programs and are be available to students at all times for academic and personal support and practical advice. They work to enhance students' experience through planned cultural activities, lectures, field study trips, and social events.
U.S.-based staff
Janice Levitt, Director
Our U.S.-based Director, Janice Levitt, has spent her professional life working in the field of study abroad in China and the United States. Janice is a committed educator and has extensive understanding of and fluency in Chinese language and culture as well as years of experience working with students, faculty and administrators both in the United States and China. She earned her B.A. in East Asian Studies from 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, China. She spent more than four years living and working in China and has traveled throughout the country. Janice is responsible for the leadership and direction of the Alliance and handles China program development, program promotion, staff management, and finance.
Julia Levy, Senior Program Coordinator
Julia has been with the the Alliance for Global Education since its inception. In addition, she has been with Arcadia University's Center for Education Abroad since 1988, shortly after receiving her BA 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 coordinator and since her arrival has advanced to Associate Director. In her current role, she manages the admissions and pre-departure process for the Alliance for Global Education.
Dr. Andrea Custodi, Director
Our U.S. based Director, Dr. Andrea Custodi, brings a background in international education to the Alliance that includes over seven 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 is responsible for the leadership and direction of the Alliance and handles India program development, program promotion, staff management, and finance.
Kyle Westgard, Institutional Relations Manager
Kyle Westgard began studying Mandarin more than twenty years ago, and has worked for both Chinese and American companies in China, Taiwan, and the United States. Kyle graduated from Middlebury College in 1990 with a BA in East Asian Studies with concentrations in Economics and Chinese. In 1989, he spent a semester studying Chinese at Harbin NormalUniversity. Kyle is responsible for program promotion and student recruitment and works with advisors, faculty, and students across the U.S. He visits many university campuses in the fall and spring and is happy to speak to language classes in Chinese.
Traci Chupik, Program Manager
Traci joined the Alliance for Global Education in spring of 2008 after working as a Program Manager for the Arcadia University Center for Education Abroad 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.
China-based Staff
Han Bing, Director, Beijing Program
Han Bing is a native of Beijing, who has worked in study abroad and Chinese language teaching since 1997. He has many years of experience as a program director as well as a Chinese language instructor in China and the United States. In recent years he has taught Chinese language, culture, film studies, and Chinese business culture in China and in the US at both Vassar College and Williams College. He has also led numerous student trips throughout China, including Yunnan, Sichuan, Northwestern China, Silk road, Northeastern China, Eastern China, Guangdong, and Tibet. In addition to managing the Beijing program, Han Bing leads the Field Study Trip for Fudan program students. Han Bing earned a BA in Electrical Engineering in 1996, a BA in International Trade in 1997, and an MA in Microwave Communications Technology in 2000.
Yunqi Shao, Fudan Program Assistant
Yunqi assists Brian in all aspects of student services at the Fudan program. Yunqi earned a Bachelor of Law in Sociology from Shanghai's East China Normal University in 2004, and she just recently completed a Master of Philosophy in Developmental Anthropology at the University of Bergen in Norway. She has spent time working as an English teacher at a school for migrant workers in Shanghai, and more recently, she was a teaching assistant for a Globalization Studies course conducted in conjunction with Fudan University and the University of Bergen.
Dr. Brian Hammer, Director, Shanghai Programs
Brian first went to China in 1986 and has spent six years living there. He has invested much of that time in Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, and Harbin, and traveled through much of China's eastern, central and northern provinces during vacations. Inner Mongolia is a personal favorite place to travel in the summer. A few years ago Brian conducted his dissertation research on a new policy initiative called "community building" and urban spatial politics in Shanghai and he is very happy to be living in Shanghai once again. Reflecting his Ph.D. in Human Geography from the University of Washington, Brian's interests range from architecture and real estate development to history and cultural change. Shanghai is a fantastic city in which to consider the confluence of these interests both as a historical question and a present-day phenomenon. In addition to these academic interests, Brian has experience managing programs in a variety of settings, including a study abroad program in northeastern China's city of Harbin as well as a Rockefeller Foundation-funded Project for Critical Asian Studies at the University of Washington. He is also a founding board member for the China AIDS Orphan Fund. His other interests range from music to tennis and cross-country skiing to film and photography.
Helen Wang, SUFE Program Assistant
Helen assists Brian in all aspects of student services at the SUFE International Business program. She has experience teaching Chinese to foreign students and acting as a translator for several organizations. She earned her BA in Political Science and English from Liaoning Normal University, and her MA in International Relations from East China Normal University in Shanghai.
India -based Staff
Prashant Kothadiya, Director, Pune Program
A well-known development consultant, social activist, and head of the Sakaal Social Foundation, Prashant Kothadiya brings to the Alliance over 10 years of study abroad program management in India, as well as extensive experience in Indian higher education and development work with regional, national and international NGOs. A Pune native and committed international educator, Prashant is well-connected within academic, non-profit, and performing arts communities, and shares the Alliance's vision of introducing U.S. undergraduates to contemporary India though the lens of development issues, environmental studies, public health, and related disciplines.
Uttaraa Jadhav, Assistant Director, Pune Program
Uttaraa Jadhav comes to the Alliance with five years of experience in study abroad management in India, a strong professional background in business administration and information technology, and extensive experience in higher education as a consultant to the University of PuneÕs NAAC project for Performance Excellence in Higher Education. A Pune native, Uttaraa has strong ties to business, IT, and the performing arts, and with her strong interpersonal skills and prior experience in international education, is a ready listener and good advisor to students on cultural adjustment matters.
