GSL Trainers and team

Academic, corporate, civil society, international and economic development experiences profile the qualified and talented GSL trainers and team. Interested professionals complete the GSL Train the Trainers program.  After careful consideration, qualified and committed educators and leaders are invited to join the

GSL Training Team

 Ann Marie Almeida is the Director of the Global Student Leadership Program. As Director, she is responsible for strategic direction, sustainability, and organizational capacity for the program. Much of her time is also spent in the classrooms as she joins her colleagues in teaching GSL’S curriculum. She is also Founding President of the AWBC, a non-profit that serves, trains and promotes women’s entrepreneurship. Ms. Almeida is an appointed board member of the National Women’s Business Council, a bipartisan organization advising the President, members of Congress and the Small Business Administration on matters relating to women’s entrepreneurship. She earned a BS in Psychology from Boston College, an MBA from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics and is an alumnus of the Philanthropy School at Indiana University.

Carolee Berg , PhD, is an Anthropology Professor at Manhattanville. Before returning to college for her Ph.D. she was a psychotherapist in private practice, the founder of a program for women at the YWCA, and entrepreneur who started her own company with two friends in NYC. She believes education is the key to empowerment and understanding how people make sense of the world leads to dialogue.

Alison Carsen, PhD is an assistant professor in the Psychology department at Manhattanville College.  She is a cultural psychologist and teaches courses in her area of expertise such as Psychology and Culture, Psychology and Identity, and Qualitative Approaches to Psychology.  She received her training as a cultural psychologist and received her doctoral degree from Boston College in 2000.  She received her BA from Franklin and Marshall College in 1995. Professor Carson’s dissertation research investigated conceptions of fairness comparing an urban and rural community in the Philippines.  She has presented this work at numerous conferences.  She is currently investigating culture change, particularly in the context of acculturation and immigration.  She is exploring how concepts of body and body image change as a result of acculturation.  Professor Carson has included a number of students in her research and most recently students have accompanied her to national conferences.

Carolina Casas Cordero, a Fulbright Scholar, is currently completing her Ph.D. in Survey Methodology from the University of Maryland and doing consulting work for the United Nations Development Program on the first educational longitudinal survey in Chile. Caroline participated in the GSL Program in 2000, along with other 25 young women from 9 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean. Carolina later came to the US in 2004 under a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue a M.A. in Survey Methodology.

Daniel Dominguez joins GSL with hands on experience as Manhattanville‘s Network Operations Analyst.  His peer-to peer teaching style and day-to-day application of current technologies and applications allow GSL students access to real-time, real world training and gives then the edge in implementing their business plans.

Sr. Reyna Gonzalez, RSCJ, the Director of Iyolosiwa in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, partners with GSL to open the door to further partnerships in Latin America, beginning with Mexico. Her expertise is in the pedagogy and methodology of popular education and has brought this expertise to the evolution of the GSL curriculum.  Reyna brings experience working with youth and women.  In addition to serving as Director of Iyolosiwa, SLP she is also Co-Director of the Sacred Heart International Service Project.  Her passion lies with building bridges between people and groups to work toward social justice and equity.  Sr. Reyna Gonzalez is a Religious of the Sacred Heart.

Jim Jones, PhD has been teaching at Manhattanville for 17 years and was the first Chairperson of African Studies at the College. Professor Jones is active in a number of interfaith efforts in the United States. Internationally, Dr. Jones has lectured at, taught in or consulted to institutions in Bahrain, Bermuda, Egypt, Jerusalem, Trinidad-Tobago, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Over the last three decades, much of his personal and professional work has been focused on conflict resolution within families, communities, and across national and cultural boundaries. Dr. Jones earned his Doctorate of Ministry in Christian-Muslim Relations from Hartford Seminary, a Masters in Religion from Yale University Divinity School and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education (History) from Hampton University. He is also a visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (Ashburn VA.).

Isabel Matenje obtained a B.Sc in Agriculture from the University of Malawi’s Bunda College of Agriculture in 1981, a postgraduate diploma in Food Science and Nutrition from the International Agricultural Center in the Netherlands and a Masters Degree in Rural Social Development from the University of Reading, UK. Isabel has held several positions on women’s programs, gender and development, and gender and reproductive health. She worked as the Director for Gender Affairs in the Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services and as a Social Development Specialist in the GOM/EU Micro Projects Programme.

Dr. Fenella Mukangara is the Director of the Gender Centre University of Dar es Salaam holds a Ph.D. in information Studies, is an Academic Librarian lecturing in M.A.-Information Studies Programme. She is a gender expert and trainer on gender related issues in higher educational institutes. She is one of the founding members of the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme where she served as the Chairperson for the same organization from 2002-2006 and is a member and leader of the African Universities Gender Focal Group that receives Carnegie Foundation support.

Rita Vanderven holds a BA in Psychology, Sociology and Education and an MA in Educational Leadership. Recently retired as the Executive Director of Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women, she has also worked in the education and administration of preschools, elementary schools and also at the college level in Ghana, Taiwan and Mexico. A counselor in state and county agencies and manager of child and family non-profit organizations, Rita is also an entrepreneur, successfully owning and operating restaurants in the US.