AFS Global Competence Webinars

Dr. Michael Vande Berg is the principal of MVB Associates, and has held leadership positions at a number of institutions and organizations. He has led several research projects and has published widely. He serves as senior faculty member at the Summer and Winter Institutes for Intercultural Communication and has taught intercultural courses, seminars and workshops on five continents. A founding board member of the Forum on Education Abroad, he has received the Forum’s Peter A. Wollitzer award for his “remarkable effectiveness in influencing institutions of higher education to understand and support study abroad,” and the IDI Intercultural Competence award “for outstanding contributions to organizational development in increasing intercultural competence.”

Dr. Darla K. Deardorff is the executive director of the Association of International Education Administrators at Duke University in the United States. She is an adjunct or visiting professor at numerous universities around the world. Dr. Deardorff has served on faculty of Harvard University’s Future of Learning Institute and is faculty at the Summer Institute of Intercultural Communication. Dr. Deardorff has published and presented widely on topics in international education, global leadership and intercultural learning assessment. Find out more here.

Marcela Lapertosa is the Director of Education and Intercultural Learning at AFS Intercultural Programs. She has 12+ years of experience working as a trainer and coach in over 20 countries. She led the AFS Educational Methodology Review project including the development of the AFS Student and Host Family Intercultural Journeys. She was designer of the AFS Intercultural Link Program, a training and assessment program aiming at develop the intercultural competence of AFS volunteers and staff around the world. She also led the development of Sentio’s Global Competence Certificate, a blended learning program for 18+ study abroad participants. Marcela is a Child Psychologist with a Master degree in Cross Cultural Psychology and is also a certified administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory.

Bert Vercamer is the Chief Program Innovation Officer of AFS Intercultural Programs and the General Manager of Sentio, the Global Education Network, a subsidiary of AFS. He has worked in the intercultural and educational field over the past 16 years, having lived in six countries on four continents. Bert worked with international companies and Belgian corporations on global competence building of executives and staff assigned abroad. He also worked with non-profits, building global competence of social workers in an international refugee context. Bert has a Masters in Economics and is currently pursuing a Masters in Intercultural Relations in the USA.

Sherifa Fayez is National Director of AFS Egypt Intercultural Educational Programs. She holds a Masters degree in Intercultural Communication from University of Pacific and an Economics degree from American University in Cairo. Sherifa has authored chapters in several publications related to intercultural communication and is passionate about spreading intercultural learning particularly in school curricula and professional workplaces.

Elisa Briga is the Programme, Project and Advocacy Coordinator for the European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL), the umbrella of AFS Intercultural Programs in Europe. In the past she worked for the European Knowledge Center for Youth Policy at the EU-CoE youth partnership. Elisa holds a Masters degree in International Relations and Diplomacy (University of Trieste) with a thesis on the role of youth information centres in the promotion of youth mobility. She volunteers for CISV International, a volunteer-driven organisation promoting peace education.

Julia Taleisnik is the Volunteer Development Director for AFS Argentina and Uruguay and has been working with the Intercultural Learning Strategy for Volunteers and Educators since its beginning. She is a member of SIETAR Argentina, and in the past has volunteered for peace building organization in Argentina. Julia holds a psychology degree from the University of Córdoba (Argentina) and in her spare time she enjoys wiriting and travelling.

Carla Rey Vasquez is in charge of organizational development and intercultural learning at AFS New Zealand. She began her career in cross-cultural communication, lecturing and tutoring at the Anthropology Foundation at Victoria University of Wellington and the Open Polytechnic. She also worked in the fields of cultural consumer behaviour in Latin America, and gender research in New Zealand. Carla has a Masters degree in Cultural Anthropology and her thesis looked at children’s understanding of health, gender, and ethnicity in primary schools.