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About Us

Faculty

The IEP has excellent staff and professional teachers. All of our faculty and staff members have lived in other countries around the world. Our faculty have at least a Masters degree, and many have experience teaching in other countries and speak more than one language.

	MICHELLE ÁLVAREZ IEP Director MA Linguistics, University of Florida BA TESOL, Eckerd College I have been working at the University of Miami Intensive English Program since 1988. I have been an IEP faculty member, Level Coordinator and Assistant Director for Academics at the IEP. It has been an extraordinary experience that has allowed me to meet many wonderful students from all over the world. I enjoy making sure that these students make the most of their learning opportunities at the IEP. We have a high quality academic English program that provides students with an education experience that will last a lifetime. I look forward to welcoming you to the IEP at UM!
	BRUCE BENTLEY Faculty MA TESOL, University of Miami BA Latin American Studies, Trinity University I grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida but I have traveled to many countries and have lived in Germany, Brazil and the west coast of the U.S. My life has included working in the military, working as a river boat captain on the Amazon, managing a large retail store and now teaching. My interests are varied. I enjoy my students, silversmithing, motorcycling, bicycling, magic, puppetry, my accordion and a clean environment. My Brazilian wife and I are very involved with Brazil and we travel to and from there frequently.
	MELISSA BOUZA Secretary BS Psychology, University of Florida Since I was young, I've always had a natural curiosity and love for knowledge about the world and people. I have traveled and studied abroad in Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada. My adventures abroad facilitated learning experiences outside of the classroom which I could have only dreamed of. Those experiences lead me to my interest in learning about other cultures and languages, including French, and the context in which we learn them. I have a background in commercial and fine arts, Montessori education, and psychology. Before coming to the University of Miami, I have trained, taught, and worked in different educational and mental health programs teaching Spanish, Montessori and Life Skills to children and adults. I enjoy helping a wide variety of students cultivate their own natural desire to learn within a culturally diverse and social environment. I am pleased to continue assisting students as part of the IEP.
	LORI GILES Faculty MA TESOL, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale BA English Literature, Murray State University I was born and raised in Southern Illinois. I also spent several years in Southern California outside of Los Angeles. I lived in the Middle East for seven years, teaching two years in Kuwait at the Faculty of Medicine and five years in the United Arab Emirates at both the University of Sharjah and the Military Language Institute in Abu Dhabi. During my time in the Middle East, I traveled to many of the neighboring Gulf countries such as Bahrain and Oman, as well as Malaysia and Cyprus. My favorite subjects to teach are reading and grammar. I enjoy doing yoga and spending time with my grandson.
	CALLA GUDHEIM Faculty Ed.M. Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Boston University B.A. Retail Management, Simmons College My love for teaching English to speakers of other languages began when I was living in Boston and helping those most in need learn to read and write in their second language. It was there that I worked to develop an ESL program to serve disenfranchised women in the community. Since then, I have taught in a variety of educational settings and have raised my own son to be bilingual. I have started my own business, studied and lived abroad, and struggled to perfect my own second language. It is my diverse background in business, combined with my studies and travel abroad, that enables me to bring a unique perspective of the world into my classroom each and every day.
	MATT KAEISER Faculty/Testing Coordinator MS Education, University of Miami, Florida Graduate Certificates in Enrollment Management and Student Life and Development, University of Miami MA TESOL, Monterey Institute of International Studies BS Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee I have almost twenty years of experience teaching English as a second language, and I have also earned a lot of graduate credits in counseling. Therefore, I have a real interest in cross-cultural issues. My teaching interests include utilizing active and accelerated learning strategies and using different techniques to help students enhance their memory. My travel experience includes nearly two years in Honduras and extensive travel and study experience throughout Central America, Mexico, and Japan. My hobby is music, and I composed the background music for a professionally produced CD which is used to help relax cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
	DAVID KRAMER Faculty MA Modern Foreign Languages, University of Wisconsin BA Spanish, University of Wisconsin I have been working in the ESL world for many years in numerous places. I worked in Madrid, Spain, at the North American Cultural Center, ACHNA. Later I returned to the United States to teach English for Academic Purposes at Boston University, CELOP and Harvard University, IELP. Before coming to the University of Miami, I taught Academic English at the University of Sydney in Australia. This extensive teaching experience has given me greater insights to work successfully within an international community. I strive to instill a sense of internationalism in all the classes I teach.
	KIMBERLY McGRATH MOREIRA Faculty MA TESOL, The University of St. Mary's BA Political Science, The University of Western Ontario Before coming to The University of Miami, I taught, developed curriculum, and trained teachers in a variety of English language institutions, including Harvard University, Boston University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Cambridge College, and the Arthur D. Little School of Management at Boston College. Though I am a native of Canada and earned my degrees there, I have lived and worked outside my country for many years in places such as the US, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Nigeria, and South Africa. My lifetime of experience living and working abroad has taught me that the world is a place where cross-cultural communication and exchange is as important as the language we study.
	DIANE MAHIN Faculty/Resources Coordinator MA in English as a Foreign Language, Southern Illinois University BS in Elementary Education, Illinois State University As both a teacher and a resource coordinator, one of my jobs in is to teach the wonderful international students who come to study in the University's Intensive English Program. My other job is to make sure that everything in the program's computer labs is working properly. I have been teaching English as a Second Language for more than 20 years in Brazil, Spain and the United States. I am originally from Chicago, but I have been living in South Florida since 1994.
	HELEN PARK-CAVALLIN Faculty MA TESOL, Hunter College (CUNY) MA Classical Art & Archaeology, University of Michigan BA Classics & Fine Arts, New York University I was born in Seoul, South Korea, but I grew up in New York City. I came to teaching after I had spent time studying and working on the archaeological field in places such as Tunisia and Cyprus. Now, after various international travels and teaching English as a second language in New York, I am living in Miami with my Argentinean husband and having a wonderful time teaching at the IEP. I look forward to continuing my work with the wide array of students that walk through my classroom door.
	DULCE M. RODRIGUEZ DE KRUEGER Secretary BA General Studies in Modern Languages and Literatures/Management, University of Miami (in progress) I have been working at the University of Miami for the past 12 years. Working with IEP/ILI staff, faculty and international students has been a rewarding experience. In my position, I enjoy promoting the program to prospective students from around the world. I was born in the Dominican Republic, but have lived most of my life in New York City, Pennsylvania, Miami and Berlin, Germany where I held positions speaking English, Spanish and German. I am completing my Bachelor of General Studies degree in German/Management. I enjoy learning new languages and cultures and am happy to be a part of the IEP.
	ETHAN TALMADGE Faculty MA TESL, St. Michael's College BA, University of Denver Born in New Hampshire and raised in Vermont, I have been involved in ESL / EFL since 1993. I studied English Literature at the University of Denver in CO, and later received an MA TESL degree from St. Michael's college in Colchester, VT. I have lived and taught in Italy, Japan, Spain, Thailand, and Brazil, while gaining a degree of understanding of each culture and their people. In 2006, I returned to the US after nearly 13 years abroad and worked as the Academic Director of an intensive ESL school in Boston, MA for two years before moving to the pleasant climes of Miami, FL. I have always enjoyed teaching, and it is a great pleasure to be a part of UM's IEP.
	JENNY VARGAS Assistant Director for Student Services MA International Administration, University of Miami BA Social Thought and Political Economy, University of Massachusetts at Amherst BA Anthropology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst As the Assistant Director of the Intensive English Program, I have the pleasure of assisting students with questions about immigration, payments, cultural adjustment, other UM offices and services around Miami. I also organize many activities and trips for IEP students each semester. I enjoy working with students from around the world and learning about their countries and cultures. Before coming to Miami, I lived in Mexico for four years, where I taught and coordinated English programs for children and adults.
	CARA D. WENIG MORI Faculty/Academic Coordinator MA TESOL, Eastern Michigan University BA Political Science/Social Relations, Michigan State University I have been involved in the field of English as a Second Language for over a decade. Before my arrival at the University of Miami in 2006, I taught in Chile and Ecuador and was a teacher / curriculum coordinator at an intensive English program in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Traveling throughout South America and Europe has shown me the importance of learning other languages to succeed, and it is a pleasure to know that teaching English as a Second Language will contribute to students' future opportunities.