Participant Bios

Janel has been a high school social studies teacher for 18 years and has been teaching about Cuba and US Cuba relations for her entire career. Her particular area of interest is in contemporary US Cuban relations. She teaches a class on US Foreign Policy and Cuba is a topic she would like to spend more time on in her classes. In addition, Janel is deeply interested in Cuban culture and the changes occurring inside Cuba and in the lives or Cubans as the nations "opens" to the world. Upon returning from Cuba she is looking forward to working with the University of Wisconsin to create and enrich programs for teachers about Cuba. Janel currently teach at Middleton Wisconsin. Middleton is a suburban community just west of Madison Wisconsin and has a student body of around 2,000 students. She teaches US Government and International Relations. Janel graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in history and has a graduate degree from UW-LaCrosse. She is also a member of the Graduate Studies faculty at UW LaCrosse teaching graduate courses for the Department of Educational Studies. Janel's participation in this program is being partially sponsored by the Latin American and Iberian Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin.

Sandra Silva Cisneros has been teaching for the past fifteen years. She has taught elementary, middle, and high school students. At the secondary level, she has taught all levels of Spanish from Spanish for non-native Speakers, Spanish 1 and Spanish 3 to Spanish for native speakers such as Spanish for Spanish Speakers and Advanced Placement college classes such as A.P. Spanish Language and Culture and A.P. Spanish Literature for high school students. The goal is for students to use their Spanish skills to enter the university or use the Spanish language in the workforce. Sandra currently teaches in Delhi, California in the big agricultural valley of the western state of California two hours away from San Francisco. She currently teaches middle school and high school Spanish 1, Spanish 2 and Spanish for Native Speakers. She also teaches Spanish at Modesto Community College and Spanish online. Sandra has a Master of Arts in Spanish from the University of California in Santa Barbara and a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the California State University Stanislaus. She also hold an online teaching certificate to teach Spanish online at the California Community Colleges. Sandra is married and a mother of two boys: Xavier and Sebastian. She practices Spanish with her husband and two boys daily. She promotes the Spanish language with her children and with the students as well. Sandra's goal is teaching everyone not just the Spanish language but also about the Spanish speaking nation, in this case Cuba and its culture.

Katie is a high school Spanish Teacher at Waunakee Community School District in Waunakee, WI. She has taught Spanish 1-4 at the high school level in both Wisconsin and Indiana. She graduated from University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse where she earned a BS in Spanish and Education. Aside from teaching, she also works with Los Soñadores, a high school Latino leadership club that focuses on offering support and representation for the Latino population within the schools and community. She is enthusiastic about teaching and learning various cultures and their relations between the United States. She is inspired by the connections and relationships that she sees made across cultural differences.

An Elementary Education major, Meredith Deichler has been teaching Spanish for 14 years. She is currently teaching Spanish I-IV, and next year plans on teaching a new course called Culture and Communication. She looks forward to learning as much as possible about Cuba's culture and integrate this knowledge into the class for her students. In addition to teaching Meredith is involved with the school musical and also coaches cross country and junior high track.

A Brazilian native, he holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Master's degree in Political Science from the University of Brasilia, Brazil. Currently, he is a visiting assistant professor of politics at Earlham College, where he teaches international relations and comparative politics classes in Latin American politics, ethnic conflict, Brazilian politics, and race and class in comparative perspective. Dr. Muniz wrote his dissertation on clientelistic politics in Brazil, which field research has granted him has extensive experience conducting interviews with political elites, public agents, and surveying low-income population. Recently he participated in a professional development program to China. He is also leading a group of undergrad students to Brazil in the summer to study the advancement of Afro-Brazilians. His interests include soccer, Latin music, and traveling.

Etheldra teaches Spanish I, II and Financial Literacy at Neville High School in Monroe, Louisiana. Etheldra also holds a B.A. in Accounting. Etheldra returned to college 15 years ago with the intention of obtaining a Spanish degree in order to engage in International Business and that experience led her to teaching. Etheldra has a devoted interest in improving her Spanish speaking and cultural skills as she believe this makes her classes very interesting and engages students. She has traveled to the following Spanish-speaking countries: Spain, México, Perú, Aruba, Chile, Puerto Rico, and the República Dominicana. Etheldra plans to retire in 5 years and dedicate the remaining working years in some form of employment that will allow the usage of her Spanish language and traveling skills. Etheldra is married and has one son that lives in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Dana (rhymes with Havana) has been teaching with the Milwaukee Public Schools for over 20 years. She is currently teaching first grade at Milwaukee Spanish Immersion School. She taught in a Dual Language Program for 12 years. Dana has a B.A. in Spanish Literature and a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction. She has traveled widely. Some of her favorite places include Chefchaouen, Morocco, Oaxaca, Mexico and Strasbourg, France. She spent one summer on an island in the middle of the Panama Canal. She is looking forward to uncovering some of the mysteries of Cuba, it’s culture, it’s history and the Revolution. She is particularly interested in the Literacy Campaign and meeting members of the Literacy Brigade.

Lynn is a public school teacher at Columbia Secondary School in New York City, NY with 26 years of teaching and curriculum writing experience, community activism, and non-profit work. After having lived an exciting childhood mostly in Europe, she received her B.A. in Anthropology from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN and M.A. in Environmental Education from the City College of New York. Besides teaching for 24 years, she also worked as Education Coordinator for the New York State Audubon Society, and was chosen as a recipient of the Indo-American Fulbright program in Environmental Leadership in 2005. She spent several months studying ways that individuals, businesses, and the government of India were promoting and practicing habits of environmental sustainability and co-authored some chapters of a book called Ecology and Environment, published in India. Currently she teaches global history, government, & economics. As the school’s sustainability coordinator, she works on a day to day basis to foster habits of sustainability with her students and colleagues.

Paula teaches in the city of Lodi, WI, a rural community in the Madison area. She is currently a library media specialist at the middle school and high school. Before that she taught English Literature, Communication Arts, and Media Studies for 10 years at the high school. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with BA in English Literature and a BS in Conservation Biology. She has a Masters in Education from Saint Mary's University, Minneapolis, MN and a degree in Library Science for University of WI-Whitewater. She is drawn to this program because she believes strongly in the power of travel and stories about place. she is excited to ignite curiosity and provide understanding about Cuba to her students through sharing her experiences and promoting her literature. She lives with her husband and two sons, ages 9 and 6, in beautiful Lodi, WI. Together they feel most anything in life is better when done outside.

Yi-jung Wu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States and a project assistant at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. Her previous experience includes working as a research assistant responsible for projects in cognitive science funded by Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology, and K-12 schools' professional learning community funded by Taiwan's Ministry of Education; as a consultant at the world's largest human resources consulting firm; and as a middle school mathematics teacher in Taiwan and Vietnam. These varied experiences in science, consulting, and education from developing world to developed world inspired her to pursue a Ph.D. in an interdisciplinary research area. She started to be interested in Latin America in the summer of 2017. She attended the Ecuador summer study abroad program led by Dr. Raul A. Leon from Higher Education and Student Affairs at Eastern Michigan University. The experience abroad opened the door to a new world and she began to be interested in Latin America. She looks forward to visiting Cuba and learning from other participants in this program.