Global Scholar Summer Seminar Staff

	Kate Willard, Global Scholar Coordinator Kate graduated from Western Michigan University, where she majored in Political Science and French. She spent two semesters abroad, one in Besançon, France and the second in Cape Town, South Africa, and has traveled throughout Europe and southern Africa, falling in love along the way with Dublin, Paris, Berlin and all of the Eastern Cape. Kate volunteered with many organizations while in college but focused on working with high school students, through the PeaceJam Foundation in the United States and the Students’ Health and Welfare Centres Organisation in South Africa. Kate speaks English and French and a little bit of Afrikaans and isiXhosa, and has decided on Spanish for the next language in her collection. She likes writing, traveling, theatre and being near the water. Email: kathleen@aidemocracy.org
	Carolyn DeChants Carolyn DeChants is a senior at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michican where she is majoring in Political Science and French. Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, she spent her junior year studying abroad in Clermont-Ferrand, France. While in France she had the opportunity to travel throughout Europe and work at a French restaurant in addition to her studies. At Kalamazoo she is a member of the Kalamazoo College Democrats, and the women's Ultimate Frisbee team. In her spare time she enjoys reading and playing the guitar.
	S. Fatima Tazeen Tazeen is a senior at University of Texas at Arlington. Since high school, she has volunteered at and helped run a community clinic, organizing health fairs and outreach programs. Seeing firsthand the medical crises in her native India, she is motivated to promote health education and improve health services and is thus studying Biology and Psychology and plans to attend medical school.
	Kristen Thomspn Kristen is a senior in the Honors College at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. She is pursuing degrees in Political Science and Communication Studies. In the future, she hopes to study International Relations in graduate school. She recently studied abroad with the Semester at Sea program and values the experiences she gained. The cultural interactions revealed the importance of intercultural understanding and relationships, which she seeks to facilitate through her involvement in the Americans for Informed Democracy chapter at her home university. She helped form the AID chapter at the College of Charleston where she currently serves as the president of the group. In her free time she enjoys surfing, scuba diving, and traveling.
	Arya Zarrinkelk Arya is the Human Rights/Peace and Security Program Assistant at Americans for Informed Democracy. He received his B.A. degree from the University of California, Davis in Communications and a M.P.P. from the Pepperdine School of Public Policy with an emphasis in International Relations as well as State and Local Policy. At U.C. Davis Arya realized his passion for art and service while working with local artists to increase the amount of artistic opportunities offered by the university and the town. His main interests are promoting understanding amongst human beings, civil rights, and the power of art. Arya has also spent time working with the Iranian American Political Action Committee and a Los Angeles based political affairs firm known as Cerrell, Associates, Inc. In his spare time Arya concentrates on interfacing with as much art as possible and enjoying a healthy lifestyle that includes playing soccer and basketball. Arya hails from Irvine, California where he intimately learned firsthand how people of diverse backgrounds and cultures can coexist together in harmony.
	Leah May Leah is a recent graduate of Edgewood College in Madison, WI where she is double majoring in Intercultural Communication Studies and Spanish with a minor in Global Studies. On campus, Leah volunteers as an English tutor for native Spanish speakers and works in Center for Global Education. She is also a Resident Assistant in the Global Connections Living Learning Community, which she helped to design and implement. Leah has done extensive traveling in Latin America, including a semester abroad in the Dominican Republic where she attended classes and volunteered with a local day care to improve health and safety standards as well as educational programming. Leah has a strong interest in Global Issues and is planning to pursue a Masters degree in International Education after graduation.

Global Scholar Staff