The authors would like to express their sincere appreciation to Prof. Matthew Eckel for his enthusiastic guidance and advice throughout this project.
AUTHORS Nicolás Albertoni is a Fulbright-Laspau Scholar. Author of two books: Instrucciones para inventar la rueda (Taurus, 2014) and Entre el barrio y el mundo ¿Mercosur o el modelo Chileno? (Taurus, 2011). Co-Founder of Teach for All Uruguay (Enseña Uruguay, member of Teach for America). Alumni of the Global Competitiveness Leadership Program GCL 2012, Georgetown University´s McDonough School of Business. Researcher and Professor at the Universidad Católica del Uruguay. He is now pursuing his Master's in Latin American Studies with a concentration in Political Economy.
Nicholas Alexandrou graduated with a Bachelors Degree for both International Studies and History in May 2013 from the University of Charlotte in North Carolina. During undergraduate, he traveled to Costa Rica for study abroad and engaged in volunteer activities in both Nicaragua and Honduras. Additionally, towards the end of his undergraduate program, Nick conducted surveys in Cusco, Peru during the summer time before the beginning of his senior semester. Now, he is pursuing his Master's in Latin American Studies with a concentration in political economy and plans to focus primarily on the Central American region.
Kathryn Cronquist graduated from Boston College in 2011 with a major in Art History and a minor in International Studies. Studying abroad in Ecuador initially drew her attention to the region. Upon graduation, she taught Biology with Teach for America in South Carolina. In order to combine her passions for Latin America and education, she is now pursuing a Master's in Latin American Studies at Georgetown University concentrating in Development. Her specific area of interest is education policy and research, which has led to her current job as a Program Officer with Global Education at FHI 360.
Luisa Fernanda Escobar has seven years of experience in advocacy, public policy and governmental matters. She worked in Bogotá’s Office of the Mayor and was in charge of the political engagement between the Office of the Mayor and the City Council. Additionally, she worked as Special Assistant to the Deputy for Citizen Participation and Social Organizations where she implemented programs to promote participation of social organizations (youths, afro-Colombians, indigenous peoples, LGBTI, women, disabled persons and neighborhood associations). In the United States, Ms. Escobar was a volunteer advocate for Manhattan Legal Services where she presented petitions on behalf of persons with disabilities in front of governmental agencies relating to their rights to housing and disability benefits. Most recently, she was a co-founder of the International Center for Human Rights Advocacy which was an non-profit organization dedicated to working with vulnerable populations, particularly she was advocating for an indigenous community in Colombia regarding the presentation of a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about territory rights and other human right’s violations. She is now pursuing her Master's in Latin American Studies with concentration in development and plans to keep working with vulnerable populations in the region.