Study Abroad

Leveraging Your International Experience: Baltimore Regional
Re-entry Conference

Panelist Biographies

Glenda Henkel - Associate Director, TU Career Center
Glenda Henkel is the associate director of The Career Center as well as internship program coordinator. She has completed 28 years at Towson University. Her education includes an undergraduate degree in English and secondary education, a master’s degree in education and a master’s degree in professional writing. Glenda’s approach to working with students/clients to develop effective resumes is to analyze their experiences from a different perspective and to focus on transferable skills. She also firmly believes that students/clients who thoroughly and thoughtfully talk through resume development simultaneously are preparing themselves for the interview process.

Karen Kray - University Relations Manager, SIT Study Abroad, a Program of World Learning
Karen Kray serves as University Relations Manager (Mid-Atlantic Region) for SIT Study Abroad, a Program of World Learning. Her regional expertise is in Asia: Karen previously served as Study Abroad Coordinator for SIT Study Abroad programs in Asia and the Pacific, completed her M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies, and has worked, conducted research, and studied at various locations across Southeast Asia. Throughout these professional and academic pursuits, Karen has continued to utilize her Indonesian language skills, a language she first studied as a participant in the SIT Study Abroad program to Bali, Indonesia. She holds her M.A. in International Affairs from Ohio University, Athens, and her B.A. from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

Charlotte Keniston - Graduate Student, UMBC
Charlotte Keniston loves all things travel! While in college she studied abroad twice – Art History in London and Anthropology in Tanzania. After graduating from college she worked for an international aid organization and then joined the Peace Corps where she lived in a Mayan village in the highlands of Guatemala, learning backstrap weaving and the art of eating tortillas. She is now a graduate student in Imaging and Digital Arts at UMBC, where she participates in the Shriver Peaceworker Fellows program.

Matthew Platania - CEO, PIN Consulting & Founding Director, Modern Italian Network
Matt Platania is the CEO of a small consulting company in Washington, DC known as PIN Consulting. He currently serves as the contract Principal Business Architect at the National Institutes of Health, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Prior to joining NHLBI, he served as the Washington DC Regional Managing Director of BusinessGenetics. He has also worked at larger firms such as Booz, Allen Hamilton, Cap Gemini and Gemini Consulting in the United States and Europe. He has been an Adjunct Professor of International Business and Management at Loyola University and George Washington University. Matt is also the founder and director of the Modern Italian Network, a social network of over 20,000 people worldwide who are passionate about Italy and Italian culture. Matt received his MBA in International Management from Loyola University of Maryland and Bad Homburg, Germany and his BA in Management and English Literature from Loyola University Maryland and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He is proficient in Italian and German and some Spanish. He is also a dual citizen of US and Italy (EU) and loves to travel.

Angela Shaeffer - Study Abroad Assistant Director, Goucher College
Angela Shaeffer has served in Goucher’s Office of International Studies since 2007, one year after the college instituted its ground-breaking study abroad requirement.  Angie began her career in international education at University of Maryland, where she obtained her M.A. in International Education Policy.  While at UM, she researched underrepresented populations in study abroad, specifically first-generation college students.  Originally from Baltimore, she has studied abroad in several places, including Germany, Denmark, South Africa, and Mexico, and has spent time on six of the continents.  As Assistant Director of the Office of International Studies, Angie works with students planning to study abroad in non-traditional destinations, on short-term programs, and applying for national scholarship competitions. Her favorite part of traveling is trying foods she can’t pronounce. 

Daniel Strobel – Program Manager, Cultural Vistas
Daniel Strobel is the current program manager for the US Department of States American Youth Leadership Program’s sponsored Japan-American Watershed Stewardship (AYLP:JAWS 2012) program developed and run by Cultural Vistas. A non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, Cultural Vistas provides international exchange opportunities that strengthen global networks, enhance professional skills, and advance mutual understanding in an interconnected world. He has worked with Cultural Vistas since 2010, first administering and running their Global Career Launch summer internship program which brought Chinese University students to the US for 6 week internships across the United States. In the fall of 2011, he transferred to the AYLP: JAWS program. JAWS is a virtual and international exchange experience supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The goal of this American Youth Leadership Program is to expose U.S. high school students and educators to U.S. - Japan relations through the lens of the effect of acid deposition on watersheds. Originally from Connecticut, Dan has travelled extensively abroad for both pleasure and study. He studied abroad in both Beijing PRC and London, England. Dan received his Masters in International Relations from the University of California at San Diego and enjoys working with students and young professionals.

Cynthia Terry - Chaplain, Goucher College
Cynthia Terry has been chaplain at Goucher College since 2005. Her own experiences abroad include a semester in London during college (through her alma mater, James Madison University), and two years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire) in the late 1980’s. Her on-campus work includes lots of group and individual conversations with students about a wide variety of issues, including challenges of reentry after study abroad; supporting the religious and spiritual groups and interests of students; and programming in ways that help address the big questions we face.

Study Abroad Office
Administration Building, 2nd Floor
Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Phone: 410-704-2451

Fax: 410-704-4703
Email: studyabroad@towson.edu