Administrators, Staff, and Faculty

Telephone:(801) 422-8110
Fax:(801) 422-0305
Email:benfell@byu.edu

Late medieval and Renaissance literature, literature and philosophy, literature and religion

PhD, Comparative Literature, New York University, 1994
MA, Comparative Literature, New York University, 1990
BA, Comparative Literature, BYU, 1987

Stan Benfell was born in Utah, but he did most of his growing up in New Jersey. In 1980, Benfell came to BYU to prepare to apply to medical school. After a mission to Paris, France, however, he changed his mind and ended up majoring in comparative literature, completing a BA in 1987. He then attended graduate school at New York University, earning an MA and a PhD, both in comparative literature. While in graduate school, he married Leslie Cantwell, and they have three children: Jacob, Matthew, and Frances. Benfell became fascinated with European literature, particularly that of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, and while writing his dissertation, received a Fulbright fellowship to study in Italy. He was hired into his current position at BYU in 1994, has taught many courses related to his specialty, and has written many studies, especially concerning Italian literature from that time. Dante Alighieri, the late medieval poet, is a particular favorite, and Benfell has just finished a book-length study of Dante's use of the Bible, which is currently under review. He has served as department chair, has been awarded an Alcuin Fellowship, and in 2004, he was recognized as BYU's Honors Professor of the Year. In the summer of 2004, Benfell was a fellow in an NEH seminar on the seven deadly sins, which was held in Cambridge, England. He has taught on three London Study Abroad programs, serving as director for the London summer and fall programs in 2008.

Office:208 HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-6513
Fax:(801) 422-8748
Email:Bob_Boden@byu.edu

designing and creating graphics for print

MS, technology education with emphasis in graphic arts, Brigham Young University, 1995
BFA, advertising design, University of Utah, 1966

Boden joined the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies in November 1997. In addition to his graphics work with the center's publications, he is also a part-time instructor at the university's School of Technology Teacher Education program. Previously Boden was the art director for Normart Advertising, Charles Looney Advertising, and Prisma Graphics in Fresno, California, where he operated his own graphic design studio for more than twelve years.

Office:204E HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-6677
Fax:(801) 422-1487
Email:malcolm_botto@byu.edu

Cross-cultural training, international program development
Linguistics (Spanish and Latin American indigenous languages, particularly Mayan language family)
Mass media and identity construction
Latin America, Spain

MA mass communications, BYU, 2008
BA, linguistics and anthropology, BYU, 2001

Malcolm Miguel Botto, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, completed his undergraduate degree in linguistics and anthropology at Brigham Young University. Botto's graduate work in mass communications focused on media (particularly music) and indigenous identity construction in Guatemala. He has been involved in the Living Legends' production of Seasons, a cultural show representing Native American, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures through music and dance. In addition to being an ISP coordinator, he enjoys teaching the language course: Introduction to K´iche´.

Office:203 HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-3409

Email:donna_bowen@byu.edu

Middle East
women's issues
religion

MA, PhD, Near Eastern languages and civilizations, University of Chicago, 1972, 1981
BA, political science with honors, University of Utah, 1968

Bowen teaches comparative politics, gender politics, and Middle Eastern politics in the Department of Political Science at BYU. She writes on the intersection of religion, tradition, and politics in the Middle East and has authored numerous articles and books dealing with the relation of Islam and political policy, specifically social policy concerning family planning and abortion. Her recent book, the second edition of Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East, is widely used in universities. She currently serves as vice president of the American Institute for Maghrib (North Africa) Studies, an international research and study association for North Africa. She was named Alcuin Fellow (1995–98). Two Fulbright grants have provided research opportunities overseas and helped her complete numerous prestigious tasks for her profession. During her study and research she lived for extended periods of time in Egypt, Iran, Tunisia, and Morocco and has traveled in other parts of the Middle East. In addition to her academic work, Bowen has completed consulting projects on aspects of population, politics, development, and women’s status for the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the United States Agency for International Development.

She and her husband, Jim Barnes, have three daughters and eleven grandchildren.

Office:2034 JFSB
Telephone:(801) 422-342

Email:Ralph_Brown@byu.edu

Globalization Southeast Asia
Sociology of the community
Natural resources, social change, and development
Social iImpact assessment, survey research, and qualitative methods

PhD, sociology, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1992
MS, sociology, Utah State University, 1988
BA, sociology, Utah State University, 1986

Brown is a professor of sociology at BYU and director of the international development minor at BYU. Since coming to BYU in 1998, he has served as graduate coordinator, associate department chair, and for the past five years, he has led a BYU Study Abroad and Internship program in Southeast Asia—Thailand and Cambodia. He is a rural sociologist by training with expertise in rural, agricultural, and community development. Prior to coming to BYU, was an assistant professor of sociology at Mississippi State University where he was also tenured and promoted to associate professor. At MSU, Brown also served as graduate coordinator before joining the Sociology Department at BYU. He worked on two USAID projects upon completing his PhD, one in Kenya and another in Indonesia, and he speaks fluent Indonesian/Malay and is conversant in Thai.

Office:273B HRCB
Telephone:422-2651
Fax:(801) 422-8748
Email:devin_christensen@byu.edu

configuring, administering, and troubleshooting Windows NT 4- and 5-based networks

MA and BA, Public Policy, Brigham Young University, 1996
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) NT 4.0
Microsoft Certified Professional + Internet (MCP+I) NT 4.0
Microsoft Certified Professional (Windows 2000, Windows NT)

Christensen is proficient in web site planning and database design and administration. He does freelance IBM-compatible and Macintosh support. Christensen recreates with a motorcycle, plenty of mountain biking, and full-court basketball.

Office:204B HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-6244
Fax:(801) 422-7075
Email:elliottl@byu.edu

international student programs, East European politics

PhD, foreign affairs, University of Virginia, 1991
MA, international relations, Brigham Young University, 1987
BA, economics, Brigham Young University, 1985

Elliott's first trip overseas was with the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble on their tour to Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. By the time Elliott left BYU with his master's degree, he had toured twenty countries and had decided to pursue a career in international education. As a PhD candidate, he specialized in East European politics and served as assistant director for that college's study abroad program in Poland. In 1992, he returned to BYU as a coordinator for performance tours with Performing Arts Management. In this position, he arranged tours for BYU performing groups in over forty countries, including groundbreaking tours to Vietnam, Indonesia, Armenia, and West Africa. He left BYU in 2001 for a position at Utah Valley State College as the International Center's associate director and study abroad director. In June 2004, he returned to BYU in his current position.

Office:220 HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-5321
Fax:(801) 422-0382
Email:china_teachers@byu.edu

We lived and worked in California, London, Hawaii and Provo, Utah
We taught English and economics at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, 2006–07 and 2008
Kirk worked in business (CPA) and management for years
Kirk was vice president of administration at BYU—Hawaii, 1994–2002
Midge was professional teacher for twenty-two years

Kirk:
MBA, University of California, Berkeley, 1966
BA, Accounting, Brigham Young University, 1962

Midge:
MA, Education, California Polytechnic University at Pomona, 1989
BA, Brigham Young University, English and Music Education, 1962

Kirk and Midge participated in the China Teachers Program at China Foreign Affairs University for the academic year 2006–07 and for fall semester 2008. Kirk is a retired accountant, having spent years in various management positions in California, London, Paris, and Hawaii. He was vice president of administration at BYU—Hawaii from 1994 to 2002. Following that he was a marketing director at BYU—Provo. Midge taught English in Salt Lake City for three years. She taught special education in California, Hawaii, and Provo beginning in 1987. They are the parents of five children and grandparents of nine—all wonderful, of course!

Office:237C HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-6621
Fax:(801) 422-0382
Email:mikefrancom@byu.edu

Fund accounting, quantitative analysis, facilities management, contract negotiation, project management, process management.

MPA, finance, Marriott School, Brigham Young University, 2002
BFA, sculpture, Brigham Young University, 2000

Francom was a project manager and business manager at BYU’s Museum of Art previous to joining the Kennedy Center. In addition to his stewardship as controller, he enjoys promoting and participating in fine arts events. He also enjoys the outdoors, poetry, and has a crossword puzzle habit.

Office:237-F HRCB, 674 SWKT
Telephone:(703) 422-9131
Fax:(703) 422-2354
Email:Earl_Fry@byu.edu

Canada–U.S. economic relations
international trade and investment
international activities of non-central governments such as states and provinces

PhD, political science, UCLA, 1976
MA, political science, Brigham Young University, 1972
BA, political science, Brigham Young University, 1971

Fry has served as Fulbright lecturer, Sorbonne; director of International Education and Canadian Studies, State University of New York at Plattsburgh; Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow; and special assistant in the U.S. Trade Representative office (USTR)–part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States—specializing in international investment issues and in U.S.–Canada trade relations. He has also been a visiting professor at the Université de Montréal (1989) and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris (1990). In addition, Fry was visiting fellow at the Americas Society in New York City (1991–92) and the Bissell–Fulbright professor in Canadian–American Relations, University of Toronto (1995–96). Fry served as president of the Washington, D.C.-based Association for Canadian Studies in the U.S. and on the board of directors of the Fulbright Association.

His publications focus on state and local governments, trade policy, and international investment. He has also been invited to testify before committees of the U.S. Congress on international investment and trade issues. Over the past few years, he has made presentations on international and regional trade, investment, economic development, and foreign policy issues to business and academic audiences in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Fry is currently living in Virginia while he is on assignment in Washington, D.C.

Office:237 HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-3560
Fax:(801) 422-0382
Email:kennedy_accounts@byu.edu

Budgeting numbers to maximize efficiency and minimize financial gaps 
Peoplesoft, Business Objectives, accounts payable, accounts receivable 
Communication and interpersonal skills in sales and marketing

BA, business administration, Stevens-Henager College, 2006

Galbraith has been the assistant controller for the Kennedy Center since 2006. Previously, he worked with Nu Skin Enterprises as an enterprise shipping supervisor. He loves sports, and in his spare time, he participates on various city-league sports teams. He is also an avid BYU football fan. Galbraith and his wife, Rachel, have two daughters and two sons.
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Office:204B HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-4302
Fax:(801) 422-7075
Email:Landes_Holbrook@byu.edu

Latin American cultures and language

MPA candidate, BYU, 2002
MA, TESOL, BYU, 1993
BA, Spanish, University of Utah, 1990

Holbrook began working full-time at BYU in 1993 as an English as a Second Language instructor/administrator at the English Language Center (ELC). At the ELC, he coordinated all grammar and listening/speaking sections and taught students from all over the world.

In 1995, Holbrook left BYU to assume a position with the LDS Church Security Department as a security/political analyst in the Confidential Services section. His area of responsibility was Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, where his duties entailed forecasting risk analysis for the safety of LDS missionaries, general authorities, and Church assets, as well establishing contacts and professional relationships with U.S. foreign service officers, NGOs, LDS and other religious leaders.

Returning to BYU in 1998 to work as an academic advisor for the Office of Graduate Studies, Holbrook advised more than thirty departments on university policy and procedure, and oversaw all international graduate admissions. In 2000, he filled a dual role as an undergraduate admissions counselor and as an area coordinator over the northeastern United States for School Relations, before joining the Kennedy Center in 2001.

Office:273-D HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-3548
Fax:(801) 422-0382
Email:debbie.kinjo@byu.edu

academic advisement
domestic internship enrollment

Certified psychiatric technician, Anoka-Ramsey Community College (Minnesota), 1973
BS, social work with minor in child development and family relations, Brigham Young University, 1980

Kinjo has completed one year of graduate coursework in educational psychology at BYU. She is currently working toward the graduate certificate in academic advising from Kansas State University and is an active member of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) and the Utah Advising and Orientation Association (UAOA).

Prior to joining the Kennedy Center academic advisement office in May 2006, Kinjo’s work experience as a vocational counselor was primarily in the private sector and in private and state psychiatric hospitals, where she assisted patients as they prepared to re-enter the work force following hospitalization. She administered, scored, and interpreted aptitude, intelligence, and interest tests, and taught resume writing and job interviewing skills workshops.

Kinjo served two years in the U.S. Army as a psychiatric social worker, where she counseled with military personnel and their families, predominantly with child abuse/neglect cases. While serving in the Army, she received the State Volunteer of the Year award from Oklahoma Governor David Boren, for her work in forming and sustaining a local child abuse council in the city of Lawton.

She and her husband, Masahiko, are the parents of two daughters. She enjoys reading, preparing ethnic foods, baking desserts (she once had her own catering business, Mrs. Kinjo’s Kitchen), volunteering in the community, attending cultural events, and is looking forward to becoming a grandma! Someday Kinjo hopes to travel to many of the exciting and exotic countries where the students intern, but until then, she collects the postcards they send her.

Office:237 HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-3377
Fax:(801) 422-0382
Email:cory.leonard@byu.edu

international affairs
diplomacy and multilateral negotiations
cross-cultural awareness

MPA, organizational behavior emphasis, Marriott School, Brigham Young University, 1997
BA, English, Brigham Young University, 1994

Cory W. Leonard is the assistant director at the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies and serves on the Executive Committee. He directs events, outreach, hosting, and publications for the center while developing academic and informational events, print/web/video projects, conferences, and training for education, business, media, and alumni. In addition, Cory directs the Kennedy Center's nationally-recognized student programs (Intercultural Outreach IAS 353, Model United Nations IAS 351) and coordinates student organizations.

Office:216 HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-9134
Fax:(801) 422-0382
Email:christopher_lund@byu.edu

Renaissance and Baroque Portuguese literature
Portuguese manuscripts
Works of Ciro dos Anjos

PhD, Portuguese literature, University of Texas—Austin 1974
MA, Portuguese literature, University of Texas—Austin 1970
BA, Portuguese, Brigham Young University, 1967

Lund, a Utah native, answers to Kit. After a four-year stay in Logan, while his father finished a degree at Utah State University, he moved to Orangeburg, New York, and cheered as his father finished an MA at Columbia University. In 1961, he traveled to Provo where he studied English and art at BYU. From 1964 to 1966, Kit represented the Church in Brazil, and upon his return finished a major in Portuguese. In 1966 he married Nancy Irene Robins. They have five children: Christopher, Benjamin, Gretchen, Jeremiah, and Ashley. Rutgers University hired Kit in 1973 to build a Portuguese program. While he was doing this, the Library of Congress (LC) contracted him to produce a catalogue of the Portuguese Manuscripts Collection (1980), items acquired in 1924. His interest peaked by the intense archival research, he since has researched the fields of Renaissance and Baroque Portuguese literature, and is particularly charmed, in a neo-historical sense, by works which remained unpublished for any number of reasons, but were well known enough to have had an impact on the literary canon. One such work, the Parnaso de Vila Vicosa, written in 1618 by Francisco de Morais Sardinha, has been published by the University of Coimbra. The Parnaso, besides being an important and original panegyric, contains a collection of late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth-century poems utterly ignored until now. Lund also researches classical and enlightenment prose and is a fan of Fernando Pess.

Office:204E HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-7935
Fax:(801) 422-0381
Email:Reid_Minster@byu.edu

processing student registration, scholarships, and grades submission

BS, psychology, University of Utah, 1986

Minster joined the Kennedy Center in July 2002. Prior to joining the center, he worked for Big Planet (NuSkin Enterprises), Novell, and WordPerfect in various customer support management positions.

Office:204F HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-3309
Fax:(801) 422-0381
Email:Chelitap@byu.edu

international education programs

study in business management and Russian

Chelita Pate is the Study Abroad Coordinator for BYU International Study Programs at the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies. A native of Guatemala, Pate has lived in the U.S. since coming as an exchange student when she was thirteen years old. She has aided in the development of study abroad programs worldwide and currently oversees more than forty programs annually, evaluating programs in over thirty countries. Recently, Pate learned Russian and directed the study abroad program to St. Petersburg, Russia, during spring/summer 2007.

In the fall of 2007, she began working with the deans for BYU’s Fulton College of Engineering and Technology to implement their vision of internationalization by creating new study abroad programs in the technical field of engineering.

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Office:215 HRCB and 166 FOB
Telephone:(801) 422-5526, (801) 422-5928
Fax:(801) 422-0382
Email:Darren_Hawkins@byu.edu

international economics
open economy macroeconomics
exchange rate dynamics
economic growth
Chinese and Korean economies

PhD, economics, University of Rochester, 1991
MA, economics, University of Rochester, 1990
BA, economics and Asian studies, Brigham Young University, 1986

Phillips has been teaching economics at BYU since 1992. Before teaching at BYU, he was on the faculty of the business school at the University of Michigan, and he was a visiting professor at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center at Nanjing University in 2000–01. In addition, he was a senior economist at the Joint Economic Committee of Congress for six months in 2004. He has also been an adjunct professor at Korea University’s International Summer Campus in Seoul, Korea. He and his wife, Yeongmi, are the parents of four children.

Office:205 HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-2238
Fax:(801) 422-0382
Email:dana_pike@byu.edu

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Ancient Israelite names, religion, and inscriptions
Dead Sea Scrolls

PhD, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern studies, University of Pennsylvania, 1990
BS, Near Eastern archaeology and anthropology, Brigham Young University, 1978

Pike taught Old Testament at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, for a year (1991–1992) before joining BYU's faculty in 1992. After chairing the committee to create BYU's Ancient Near Eastern Studies program (ANES), he was selected to serve as the first ANES coordinator in fall 2005. He was a member of the international team of editors for the Dead Sea Scrolls (1994–2001), publishing many smaller fragments from Qumran Cave 4 (Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, 33). He was on the faculty at BYU's Jerusalem Center (1997–98 and 2000–01), and he serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies and on the program committee for the Rocky Mountain regional meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature. His current research and publication emphasizes divine election in the ancient Near East, as well as efforts to explicate scripture in light of ancient Near Eastern languages and culture.

Office:273-A HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-3548
Fax:(801) 422-0382
Email:noelani@byu.edu

academic advisement and career counseling

MEd, education policy and social foundations, Brigham Young University, 2008
BA, media arts studies, Brigham Young University, 2002

Porter was appointed director of the advisement center in November 2002, having been the student assistant since 1999 and then the assistant advisor to the former director. She has served on the Utah Advising and Orientation Association (UAOA) governing board for the past four years and was appointed vice president in 2006. An active member of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), Porter was the conference chair for the 2008 NACADA Region 10 Conference. Additionally, she chairs the Advisement Training committee for the Operational Advisement Council of the University.

Porter has completed graduate coursework in counseling psychology and educational leadership, and she completed her master's degree in education policy and social foundations with the David O. McKay School of Education at BYU.

Office:237 HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-3377
Fax:(801) 422-8748
Email:Jeff_Ringer@byu.edu

U.S. foreign policy
Asian politics

ABD, political science, University of Colorado, 1989
MA, international relations, Brigham Young University, 1986
BA, political science, Brigham Young University, 1984

Ringer was appointed director of the Kennedy Center in 2002 after serving the center as associate director since 1992. Prior to joining the center, he was a visiting instructor of political science at BYU. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Ringer continues to teach courses on U.S. Foreign Policy and Asian Politics. His primary research and writing interests are in the field of U.S.–Asian relations.

Office:204 HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-8241
Fax:(801) 422-0381
Email:Aaron_Rose@byu.edu

international education program development
cross-cultural training
international internships

MPA, University of Utah, 2006
BA, art with emphasis in art history, minors in history, Spanish, and Italian, Utah State University, 1998

Rose joined the center in September 2004 as international internships coordinator after having been coordinator of study abroad and exchanges and study abroad advisor at the University of Utah. He recently returned from accompanying a group of BYU student interns in Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa, and is looking forward to directing a study abroad program in Italy during fall 2009. As an international educator, Rose is active in NAFSA: Association of International Educators, and is committed to mentoring young professionals in the field. He visited Japan on a Fulbright award in 2007, directed a service-learning program in Granada, Nicaragua (2002), studied abroad in Rome, Italy (1997), and served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in southern Chile (1993–95). Rose is currently seeking new internship sponsors across the globe for BYU students.

Office:210 HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-2652
Fax:(801) 422-0382
Email:Lee_Simons@byu.edu

print and web media
alumni and external relations
event promotion

MPA, Marriott School, Brigham Young University, 2003
BA, English, Brigham Young University, 1994

Simons transferred to the Kennedy Center from the Marriott School, where she was marketing communications coordinator in the Alumni and Public Relations office and editor of their alumni publication, Exchange (now Marriott) magazine. Before coming to Brigham Young University in 1998, she worked in the marketing department at the corporate headquarters of Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc.

She served in the North Carolina Charlotte Mission in 1992–1993. Simons loves family (and is an avid family historian), reading, gardening, and watercolor.

Office:204D HRCB
Telephone:(801) 422-4799
Fax:(801) 422-7075
Email:byu.fieldstudy@gmail.com

international area studies
cross-cultural training
geographic specialization—India

BA,international area studies, Brigham Young University, 2004

Tolman has an array of international experience. She was an administrative assistant to Dave Shuler before assuming his position as program coordinator in December 2007. As an undergraduate and as an alumna, she conducted field studies in India and worked as the program facilitator (2003–06). Her expertise extends beyond international studies; in 2002, she wrote, choreographed, and directed the BYU Unforum.