Program Directors

Dr. Erin Barnhart

Program Director, M.A. in International Development and Service, Portland, Oregon USA

Erin L. Barnhart, Ph.D. is the Graduate Program Director for IPSL's Master of Arts in International Development and Service program at Concordia University. In addition, she is the Founder & President of Effective Altruism, LLC and serves on the Board of Directors for the Building Bridges Coalition and Volunteer Positive, as a Co-Chair of the National Human Services Assembly's Volunteer Development Council, on the Oregon Committee on Volunteerism, and as an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon, Portland State University, and Concordia University.

A former Fulbright Scholarship recipient and AmeriCorps NCCC alum, Dr. Barnhart earned her Ph.D. in Urban Studies from Portland State University in 2012, having completed her dissertation research on global host organizations of international volunteers. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Geography, a Master of Public Administration, and a Graduate Certificate in Not-for-Profit Management, all from the University of Oregon.

Ms. Lavinia Bracci

Program Director, Siena, Italy

Founder and director of The International Center for International Exchange. She holds a diploma in Translation and Simultaneous Translation in German and Russian from the Special School for Translators and Interpreters in Rome. She has published a number of articles in the field of language learning and is the author of the Italian language text Dimmi Tutto!.

Mr. Adam Dedman

Director, Institute of South East Asian Affairs, Program Director Chiang Mai, Thailand and Phnom Pehn, Cambodia

Adam grew up in the US where he was raised bilingual English and Japanese. He completed a BA in Comparative Religion and Philosophy from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. During graduate school, Adam received a fellowship from the Japan-America Society to conduct a year of research in Japan on post-WWII Japanese religious movements. It was during this year in Japan that Adam changed his field to Thai Studies. Adam graduated with a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University where he studied Thai religion with Dr. Donald K. Swearer, a leading scholar in the field of Thai Buddhism and long-term researcher in Chiang Mai.

Ms. Andrea Losada Vasquez

Program Director, Ecuador - Guayaquil

Bachelor of Arts in Translation and Interpretation with over 5 years of experience. Language skills and hands-on experience in teaching and tutoring in several internationally recognized institutions with certification in Cultura y Lengua Española at Universidad de León, Spain.

Prof. Tania Ledergerber

Program Coordinator, Ecuador - Quito/Galápagos Islands

M.A. in International Service and Development Studies, University of Surrey Roehampton, London, and Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, México (IPSL M.A. program); B.A. in Sociology for Development at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador. Program Director and professor for IPSL Quito Program. Also serves as Director for the Integrative Cultural Research Project, Kalamazoo College (Michigan, US) in Quito, Ecuador; Director of the Congal Biomarine Reserve, Fundación Jatun in Muisne, Esmeraldas, Ecuador; and Coordinator for the Biological Reserve, Fundación Jatun Sacha, Quito, Ecuador.

Ms. Mar Tejedor Paloma

Program Director, Segovia, Spain

Mr. Ramiro Salas Bravo

Program Director, Cusco, Peru

Ramiro Salas Bravo is the Vice President of Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola (USIL). He holds a Master's degree in Architecture with studies in Peru, Germany and Italy. He has broad experience in Tourism and Architecture for almost forty years in Europe and Latin America. He is the former Vice Minister of Tourism for Peru and has been a professor and lecturer in presigious institutions in Peru, Germany and Italy.

Ms. Veronique Martin

Program Director, Montpellier, France

Veronique MARTIN became Director in 1999 and developed the IML into the Institut Mediterraneen de Langues & Services (IMLS) in 2001. Since then the IMLS increased its service activities to include a hospital for children, food banks, rehabilitation centers and tutoring activities for training teachers. Veronique MARTIN’s dedication to Service-Learning resulted in a prize rewarding her outstanding aid to handicapped people : “Victoires de l’Association des Paralysés de France”

Diploma from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Appliques et des Metiers d’Art (ENSAAMA) Paris
Art & Language studies at University of Central Lancashire (UK) and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA)
Institut Mediterraneen de Langues (IML) Director in 1999
Creation of Institut Mediterraneen de Langues & Services (IMLS) 2001
IMLS Director since 2001
Director of Service-Learning programs - Victoires de l'Association des Paralyses de France award in 1999

Dr. Chantal Thery-Boyron

Program Director, Montpellier, France

Chantal THERY-BOYRON was the founding President of the Institut Mediterraneen de Langues (IML) whose aim was to develop study-abroad programs and especially Service-Learning. The IML was able to provide services which could not be offered by the university. The IML became the IPSL France program as early as 1988. Students have thus been able to link up theory in the classroom at the University for French language and IMLS for a French Institutions course and practice in their community service activities.

Diploma from de Ecole Superieure d’Interpretes et Traducteurs de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne Nouvelle (ESIT)
Professeure agrégée in English
Retired from the University of Montpellier
Chevalier dans l’ordre des Palmes Académiques
Founding president of Institut Méditerranéen de Langues (IML)
IMLS Academic Advisor

Dr. Kalyan Ray

Program Director, IPSL, Kolkata (Calcutta), India.

Professor Kalyan Ray (Ph.D. University of Rochester), a noted Indian scholar and former close collaborator with Mother Teresa, won the 2006 NISOD Award for Teaching Excellence. He co-authored "Visions of Service," a comparative theological treatise on the concept of Service in the major religions of the world. He is the author of several works of literary criticism, books of translation into English (including "City Of Memories" published some years ago by Viking Penguin with a preface by Allen Ginsberg) and the critically acclaimed novel "Eastwords." He is currently finishing his novel on the Indian and Irish Diaspora. He is married to the celebrated Indian film director Aparna Sen and has acted in major roles in two feature films in India.

Dr. Arnab Ray

Program Co-Director, IPSL, Kolkata (Calcutta), India.

Assistant Professor in English, Rabin Mukherjee College, University of Calcutta and Visiting Faculty, Department of English, Rabindra Bharati University. Dr. Ray's dissertation centers on the works of Tony Kushner.

Mr. Don Schofield

Director of Special Programs, Perrotis College

Don holds an MFA in creative writing from University of Montana and an MA in English from CSU, Sacramento. A resident of Greece and educator in international universities for over 30 years, he has published three books and received numerous honors for his poems and translations. At Perrotis College, among other responsibilities, he coordinates the study abroad program and teaches the service-learning course. Though the course itself is a recent addition to the College's curriculum, the service-learning element of study abroad fits perfectly with the American Farm School's century-long tradition of cultivating a student's "head, hands and heart."

Mr. Benjamin Ksongo

Program Director, IPSL and Kei, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Dr. Tal Stanley

Program Director, IPSL, Dublin, Ireland

A tenth-generation Southwest Virginian, Tal Stanley grew up in Dublin, in Pulaski County. He lives and works at Emory & Henry College where he is the Director of the Appalachian Center for Community Service, Chair of the College's Department of Public Policy and Community Service, and Director of the Bonner Scholars Program. He also directs the Master of Arts program in Community and Organizational Leadership.