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Meet the Staff

Professor Khatharya Um

Director
Berkeley Programs for Study Abroad

With EAP Since 2006

Bio coming soon!

Jan Kieling

Administrative Director,
Berkeley Programs for Study Abroad

With EAP since 1974

I studied in Padua, Italy on EAP in 1971-72 as a junior at Cal. My degree is from Berkeley's School of Journalism. I started at the EAP office in 1974 as the only student adviser. That fall, Berkeley sent 90 students on full year programs to 16 countries. Now, it's closer to 900! If I could go on any EAP program available today, it would either be Brazil (for the beauty of the people, the language, and most of all, the music) or Australia (hysterically funny people living in an unique and amazing place). I have visited Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Cuba, Great Britain, Israel, Mexico, and Ireland, and most of continental Europe. My idea of a perfect vacation is two weeks hiking through the awesome grandeur of the Canadian Rockies. My traveling mottos are: "Get up early, eat a big breakfast, and hit the trail" or, if in a strange new city, "Don't be afraid to ask directions, as long as you don't mind getting lost." What I like most about working at EAP is seeing students change, often in dramatic ways, after living abroad. Although EAP has evolved over the past 31 years, the core experience remains the same: academic challenge, cross-cultural immersion, the humbling experience of learning another language, the joy of seeing yourself in places you used to read about in books. Welcome to EAP!

Linnea Soderlund

EAP Regional Adviser: Egypt, Ghana, India, Korea, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam

With EAP since 1980

What international experience have you had?
I lived in New Delhi, India and taught English to elementary students at Sri Aurobindo Ashram. It was a life-changing experience and the beginning of my interest in the developing world in general. I count myself fortunate to work with a number of developing countries within EAP.

If you could pick one EAP program to go on today, which would it be?
I'd choose the Brazil language and culture program. Portuguese is such a beautiful and exotic language!

If you could take six months off work to travel, where would you go?
West Africa.

How many countries have you visited?
22

What is your traveling motto?
Travel lightly, bring lots of patience, a sense of humor, good will and a great camera.

Nadine Gerdes

EAP Regional Adviser: Canada, France, Mexico

With EAP since 1982

Did you go on an EAP Program?
No. Although I went to UCB from 1969 through 1975 and got my B.A. in economics here I never heard of EAP in all the years I was on campus. I was actually very interested in issues "international." I remember thinking in my senior year that it might be interesting to study at the London School of Economics (I had a friend who was thinking of going on study abroad, but not on EAP). And I was very interested in Mexico and in studying its development and economy towards the end of my degree.

What other international experience have you had?
I took a break between sophomore and junior years at UCB and traveled to Canada for a month to visit some friends of mine who were living in Toronto. After seeing them, I traveled across Canada by train and, after interesting stops along the way, made it to Vancouver before taking a bus home. For my next international experience fast forward from 1972 to April of 1991: I'm a brand new study abroad advisor in the EAP office and the only way I can learn about my new country, Mexico, is to go there and see it for myself. After applying for and getting a travel grant from EAP, my husband and I take a week to visit the Mexico Study Center and tour the city. That visit taught me so much about Mexico, the EAP-Mexico program, and about the field of study abroad. (Ironically, I went to Mexico twice that year. In July my family and I traveled to Baja to see the 6 minute solar eclipse-the experience of a lifetime in the wonderful setting of Cabo San Lucas.) My next visit to Mexico was in January of 1995. Ernesto Zedillo had just been elected president, the peso had just been drastically devalued, and the country was in turmoil. Great time to visit and I'm not being sarcastic! I did a program for international educators, offered by Augsburg College's Center for Global Education which was based in Cuernavaca and Mexico City. It was fabulous! We met many local people who were working for social and environmental change and I also met really interesting international educators from all over the U.S.

Virtually all my international travel has been work-related since then. I have visited all of the current programs I work with in Canada and France and am familiar with both how EAP works and what it feels like to be there. I have also learned a lot by attending study abroad conferences in international settings: in Barcelona in 1997, in El Paso, Texas/Juarez, Mexico in 1998, Montreal, Canada in 2000 and Budapest, Hungary in 2003. I guess the only real abroad vacation I've taken was in December of 2001 when I traveled with my family to London and then Scotland to visit my oldest son when he did the EAP-UK/I Edinburgh program as a UCLA student. But even then I was following the EAP trail, so to speak.

If you could pick an EAP program to go on today, which would it be?
In my opinion, the best thing EAP has to offer you is a chance to learn a language! I would study as much French or Spanish as was required and go abroad for a year, and come back with a much better accent and proficiency in the language than when I left, as well as a deeper understanding of the country and people. I'd go to France or Mexico for the year-France because I studied French all through grammar school and high school and never became fluent, a wasted opportunity, and Mexico because it's my favorite EAP country.

Scott McElhinney

EAP Regional Adviser: Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia

With EAP since 1991

Did you go on an EAP program?
I studied in Göttingen, Germany on EAP in 1979-80 as a Junior at Cal. Best year of my undergraduate years by far, and the one I remember the most vividly, even 20+ years later.


What other international experience have you had?
After graduation in 1981, I spent a year doing volunteer work in the Alps of Italy. Since I began to work as an EAP adviser in 1991, I've visited most of the programs where I send students, but I still have a few to go (Berlin, Bayreuth, Moscow).

If you could pick one EAP program to go on today, which would it be?
If I could participate on any EAP option available today (so many more than there were in 1979!), I could think of a good reason to do virtually all of them. If forced to choose just one, I'd probably pick the Russia program because I had wanted to do that after my year in Germany, but L&S wouldn't let me go over the unit ceiling --- some things have hardly changed a bit in 20 years! Good luck wherever you choose to study!

Barbara Tassielli

EAP Regional Adviser: Spain and United Kingdom/Ireland Immersion Programs

With EAP since 1987

I graduated with a double major in English and Art Practice from UC Berkeley in 1989 after having spent a year on EAP in England at University of Leeds in 1986-87. My international experience includes site visits to EAP host universities and cities in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Thailand. If I were to go on an EAP program today, I'd want to go to Thailand and take Buddhist Studies.

Andrea Brown

Program Assistant

With EAP since 2006

What international experience have you had?
My mother is Spanish so I have spent numerous summers in Spain, mostly in the Basque Country and Madrid. I also lived in Vitoria, Spain for 7 months after high school, where I audited a couple art history courses at the local university. Some other places I've visited include Peru, London, and lots of crazy places like Fiji and Thailand when I was a kid.

If you could pick one EAP program to go on today, which would it be?
Regretfully, I never did EAP while studying here at Cal, so if given the opportunity (and if I had to pick just one), I would do one of the Brazil programs at PUC-Rio or a year at University of Ghana.

If you could take six months off work to travel, where would you go?
I would love to back pack all over Central and South America, but I might need more than six months to do it :)

What is your traveling advice?
"When in Rome, do as the Romans do." I know it's cliché, but I've often had the best experiences when I just hung out and did everyday things like everybody else, instead of trying to check off everything in my guidebook. Instead of trying to visit 27 countries in 7 days, focus on staying in one place longer and getting to know it better.