Center for Latin American Studies

Patricio Zamorrano (CLAS '08) performs Chilean music

Master's Degree Candidates 2009-2010

Eddy Acevedo was born and raised in Miami, Florida. He earned a BS from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama with a dual major in Psychology and Political Science. He currently serves as the Legislative Assistant to Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. As a Nicaraguan, he has witnessed and experienced the poverty and strife prevalent in a third world country. His future goal is to help to enhance US foreign policy in Latin America to benefit our hemisphere.

Chelsea Arndt

Carlos Barletta Vallarino was born and raised in Panama City, Panama. He received his B.A. in 2007 from Brandeis University in International and Global Studies, Politics, and Latin American Studies. He worked thereafter as a economic and government journalist for Diario La Prensa and Bloomberg News in Panama and Costa Rica. His M.A. concentration in Political Economy

Juan Pablo Barrientos

Tracy Lynn Casey Arend is originally from Williamsburg, Virginia and received her BA in Government from Georgetown University with a minor in Spanish language. After completing her Master's degree, she hopes to pursue doctoral work in Comparative Government and is especially interested in violence and the rule of law in the Andean region and Brazil.

Michael Coe is an M.A. candidate at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Prior to attending Georgetown, he completed his B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His research interests include Mexico and countries of the Southern Cone with an emphasis on poverty alleviation, indigenous issues, informal sector economics and legal mechanisms, emerging capital markets, and the effects of free trade on agriculture, services, and immigration.

Veronica Colon-Rosario holds a Bachelors Degree in Psychology/Neurobiology from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. Before coming to Georgetown she was a research assistant for the National Institute for Health. She is currently concentrating in Government and is particularly interested in how political and economical forces structure most forms of human rights violations.

Clark Donley is originally from Kansas and is in the five-year program. He has studied and traveled in both Chile and Ecuador, and spent the past summer researching the Zapatistas and post-structuralist tactics of resistance through a Georgetown fellowship. His interests include Latin American literature, critical and post-colonial theory, indigenous politics and insurrection, and radical resistance movements.

Patricia Fortunato is a journalist from Brazil. She came to the United States to learn more about Latin America and then work to improve Brazil's relations with its neighbors.

Samantha Garcia-Fialdini

Stephen Gilbert

Michael Graybeal After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh in Spring 2007 with a B.A. in History and a minor in Latin American Studies, he returned to his family farm and worked as an interpreter between Spanish-speaking employees and staff. This work only increased his desire to study the region in more detail especially in economic development. He hopes to work as a development consultant in the DC area.

Christina Hawkins

Kate Henvey received her BA in Political Science from Trinity University and a MA in International Conflict Resolution from St. Mary’s University. Prior to coming to Georgetown, she worked at the World Bank Group for two and a half years with community consultation and social and environmental issues in extractive industry projects, primarily in Latin America, and two years at the North American Development Bank in community driven infrastructure development in the US-Mexico border region. She has also held human rights internships at the Carter Center in Atlanta and the World Organization against Torture in Geneva. Kate’s concentration is Government. She is interested in Latin American sub-national governance, community driven development, and community consultation and development in the extractive industries.

Taylor Jardno

Jitka Jerbakova received her B.A. in Spanish Linguistics and Literature from Charles University in Prague. In the Czech Republic she worked for various non-governmental organizations helping to integrate Roma people and immigrants in to the Czech society. She studied for a semester at the Santiago de Compostela University in Spain on an EU scholarship. She earned her MBA with concentration in International Business at the University of the District of Columbia while living in Washington D.C. She interned for Amnesty International USA and the Embassy of the Czech Republic. At the Georgetown is focusing her studies on international migration and sustainable development.

Jakub Liskowiak was born in Chicago, IL. Grew up in Poznan, Poland. Came back to the US and got a BA in Political Science and Sociology. His MA concentration is Government. Jakub's interest is US-Latin American relations, US foreign policy towards Latin America, Narcotrafficking and Security.  He spent the summer in Brazil on a fellowship. Jake is currently spending a semester abroad in Rio de Janeiro. He has been offered an internship by the State Department for Spring 2010 (US Embassy in Mexico City).  After graduation he plans to join the foreign service.

Nathan Loehr

Alyssa McGarry

Melissa Miller received her B.A. in International Studies and Spanish from Susquehanna University. She is interested in Development, Democratic Process and the future of economic integration in South America. In the future, Melissa plans to travel to Argentina or Chile to do research and would like to pursue doctoral work in Comparative Government.

Ana Janaina Nelson was born and raised in Manaus in the central Brazilian Amazon. She received a BA in International Relations from the University of Brasilia. While in college she interned at the Carter Center in the Americas Program and at the United Nations division in the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations. She also studied abroad for a semester a McGill University in Montreal where she directed her academic focus towards security studies in Latin America. She has presented papers at several conferences, on topics such as transitional justice and decision-making processes in foreign policy. At Georgetown, her concentration is government with particular research interest in conflict prevention.

Andrew Parker

Fabiana Perera

Claudia Pirela was born in Caracas, Venezuela and raised in Herndon, Virginia. She received her B.A. in International Affairs and French with a minor in Economics from James Madison University. While at JMU she studied abroad in Paris and Martinique and participated in the Washington Semester program, where she interned for the OAS. Before coming to Georgetown Claudia spent one year teaching English in a small town in France called Moissac, and one year teaching math and science in French at Herndon Elementary school. Her concentration is in Political Economy.

Gabriela Porro

Carl Riemer has a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Linguistics from the University of California, Davis. He has studied abroad in Chile and has taught English in the People's Republic of China. After graduation, Carl hopes to become a Foreign Service Officer or work for a Latin-American based International Governmental Organization.

Daniel Rico

Greg Rivera

Hank Russ

Jennifer Schuett was first introduced to Latin America in 2004 when she worked for a development project called Familias de Esperanza in Guatemala. From there she studied International Studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio focusing on Latin American Studies and Political Science. Her studies have included travel to Argentina, Peru and Venezuela. She currently works at the Center for International Policy on the Cuba Program and intends to focus her studies on Governance and Democratization.