WHO WE ARE

Directors

Michael Cohen is Director of the PhD Program in Public and Urban Policy, Professor of International Affairs and Founding Director of the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School University in New York. He is also Co-Director of the Observatory on Latin America and director of the Global Urban Futures project. He worked at the World Bank from 1972 to 1999 and was responsible for formulating much of the World Bank’s urban policy. He worked in 55 countries and was Chief of the Urban Development Division and the Water Supply and Sanitation Division. He has written widely on development policy issues, urban development, Africa, and Argentina, including two books, Argentina’s Economic Growth and Recovery, and an edited volume, The Global Economic Crisis in Latin America: Impacts and Responses. He was a member of the US National Academy of Sciences Panels on Infrastructure and Urban Demographic Dynamics. He has been actively engaged in international urban policy debates since the Habitat I Conference in 1976 and participated in the Habitat III Conference in Quito in 2016. He has advised the UN, IADB, ADB, AfDB, Ford, Rockefeller, and MacArthur foundations, and many national and local governments.

Margarita Gutman received her PhD in urban history and an architecture degree from
the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She is Professor Emeritus and Co-Director of the
Observatory on Latin America (OLA) at The New School, and Profesora Consulta
at the Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo (FADU-UBA). She was
a member of the Doctoral Commission (2013-2021) and Full Professor and holder of a
Chair (Cátedra) of History of Architecture and Cities (2004-2009), at FADU-UBA. She
was a Scholar in Residence at The Getty Research Institute and Visiting Scholar at the
Woodrow Wilson International Center, Fellow at the International Center for Advanced
Studies of New York University, and Senior Fellow at the Vera List Center for Art and
Politics, The New School. She is author, co-author or editor of 25 books, published between 1988 and 2021, on urban and architectural history in Latin America, urban planning, urban culture with a focus on plebeian imaginations of the future, and more recently on social vulnerabilities in the digital public space. Among other books she published: as author Buenos Aires: El Poder de la Anticipación. Imágenes Itinerantes del Futuro Metropolitano en torno al Centenario (2011); as co-author Bicentenario Argentino. Celebrar en las Calles, Ser Parte de la Historia (2016), Emerging Territories. Urban Vulnerability and Digital Public Space. Buenos Aires City (2020); and as editor Inclusión y Tensiones en la Cuenta Matanza Riachuelo. Dilemas de la integración socio espacial en Buenos Aires (2021).

Fellows

Juan Manuel González, Visiting Scholar at the Observatory on Latin America (OLA) 2018-2019. Dr. González holds a Ph.D in geography from The Pennsylvania State University, an M.Sc. in geography from The Pennsylvania State University, and a B.A. in economics from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. Dr. González has over 25 years of experience in development studies and practice, with special emphasis in Latin America. He was the director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Development Studies, CIDER at Universidad de los Andes for 10 years as well as a member of the Academic Council of the University. He has worked with Colombian state agencies (national, regional and local), international development agencies funding projects in Colombia (such as the World Bank, UNESCO, UNDP, IADB, UNICEF and USAID), and private initiatives in collaborations with investment banks and consulting firms and private sector associations. As a visiting scholar, Dr. González will be working in three fronts: 1) completing research related to his book project on Rules, institutional arrangements and institutional analysis, and writing a first draft of the book; 2) participating in activities of OLA´s Design and Development Program; and 3) participating in the planning of future research initiatives at OLA, particularly those related to Colombia.

David López-García is an urban policy specialist and a university lecturer. He holds a PhD in Public and Urban Policy from The New School and a Masters in Comparative Public Policy from FLACSO-Mexico. In addition to being an OLA Fellow, he is Adjunct Faculty at the Urban Studies Department in Queens College-CUNY where he teaches urban politics and urban research methods. David’s research explores policy interactions in the production of urban inequalities, urban political economy, the distributional effects of urban policies, the role of knowledge and expertise in contemporary urban governmentality, and institutional arrangements for urban governance. His current research project explores policy interactions in the production of inequalities of accessibility to jobs in La Paz, Bolivia, and the shift of urban structure in Latin American cities. He has conducted fieldwork in Mexico, Bolivia, and China. His academic work has been published by the University of Guadalajara Press, El Colegio de México Press, the Mexican Urban Research Network, the Journal of Public Deliberation, and the journal Estudios Demográfios y Urbanos. He has been a consultant for the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Latin American Development Bank (CAF), and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

Alberto Minujín, an Argentine Mathematician with postgraduate studies in Applied Statistics and Demography. He was Senior Programme Officer, Policy Analysis, at the Global Policy Section in the Division of Policy and Planning of UNICEF Head Quarters (New York), working on social policy, poverty and human rights issues. He has published numerous articles, papers and books, including The Middle Class Seduced and Abandoned, Globalization and Human Rights and The New Poor: Proposal for Inclusive Societies. Minujín is Observatory on Latin America Fellow and Director of Equity for Children.

Laís de Oliveira Ramalho is a PhD candidate at the International Relations Institute of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (IRI, PUC-Rio), a Visiting Research Scholar at The New School and a Visiting Fellow at the OLA with a scholarship awarded by the Brazilian Coordination for Higher Education Staff Development (CAPES). Laís’s main interest is discussing how data-driven development programs affect people by exposing technical-political and rational-emotional dichotomies. In her PhD research, she explores the data politics in the SDGs and analyze the intricacies of a global agenda at the local level focusing on the urban context of Rio de Janeiro. Laís has occupied the position of Administrative Manager of PUC-Rio’s Digital Humanities Lab for two years and has worked as a Project Assistant at the think tank Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI) for two years as well. Laís holds a BA in International Relations from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and a MA in International Relations from PUC-Rio, where she also integrates DATAS (Research Network on Data, Techno-control, Authority and Subjectivity).

Current Staff

Maria Carrizosa is Assistant Director of the Observatory on Latin America at The New School University in New York and an adjunct professor in urban studies, urban development, housing, and international affairs at The City College of the City University of New York and at The New School. With a joint background in architecture and philosophy, Carrizosa holds a PhD in Public and Urban Policy, an MS in International Affairs, and an MA in Geography. Author and coeditor of: Urban Policy in Latin America: Towards the Sustainable Development Goals? (Routledge, 2020), and Facing Risk: New Urban Resilience Practices in Latin America (CAF, 2019). She has professional experience with international organizations (FES, UNDP, OCHA, IFC, CAF, World Bank, AECID), the Colombian national government (CPNAA), and NGOs (SDI, CYTED) in the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Uganda, and Kazakhstan. Her research on urban informality bridges feminist economics and spatial/visual studies.

Natalia Dzerezun is Program Associate of the OLA in Buenos Aires. She is a Psychologist from the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She has unfolded her career in the private sector, both in Argentina and Brazil, mainly in project management related to human behavior and coordination of work teams. She currently participates in projects developed by the OLA/The New School as a member of the International Programs Directorate of the University of Buenos Aires (FADU, UBA). She is an active member of the interdisciplinary research team UBACyT 2018-2021.

Martín Gromez is the Media Coordinator of the OLA in Buenos Aires. He is an Architect from the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires (FADU, UBA). He was the FADU, UBA Representative on the Advisory Council of Heritage Affairs of the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (1999-2011). Since 1998 he has been in charge of Media Coordination for OLA/The New School projects developed in Buenos Aires at the Office of International Programs at FADU, UBA. Within the artistic field, he is a distinguished musician, performer and multimedia producer for which he received a Fellowship from the Goëthe Institute.

Caroline Risacher is Program Associate of the OLA in New York. She is currently pursuing her Master’s studies in Anthropology at The New School of Social Research, in New York. She has a Master’s degree in Political Science and International affairs from Sciences-Po Strasbourg in France. Previously, she worked as a writer, journalist, and editor in Bolivia. She also has experience working in non-profits and in administrative and project management in the United Kingdom, Canada, France and the United States.

CURRENT RESEARCH ASSISTANTS 

Belen Fodde is a PhD student in the Public and Urban Policy program at the Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment, The New School. Belen holds a Msc in Urban Policy, Analysis and Management from The New School (2019) and was a Fulbright Scholar from Argentina (2017-2019). She has worked at the Argentinean National Government and at the Buenos Aires City Government in areas related with public works and public space. As a graduate student at The New School, Belen has worked with the NYC Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and Environmental Protection, as well as with Slums Dwellers International (SDI) in Cape Town, South Africa. She works as a Teaching Assistant in courses such as Policy Analysis, Urban Policy Lab, Quantitative Methods, and Climate, Cities and Migration. She is a Program Associate at the Observatory on Latin America, The New School, where she has worked on projects on Villa 20, Villa 1-11-14 and Villa 15, in Buenos Aires. Her research focuses on informality, governance, community engagement and food security in Latin America.

Javier Nesprias is Research Assistant of the OLA in Buenos Aires. He is an architect from the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires (FADU, UBA). He has Master in history and criticism of architecture, design and urbanism from the same institution. Currently, he is Jefe de Trabajos Prácticos of History of Architecture (FADU, UBA) and is a researcher at the Instituto de Arte Americano e Investigaciones Estéticas “Mario J. Buschiazzo”. Between 2008 and 2011, he was a staff member of the Dirección de Programas Internacionales at FADU, UBA, where he participated in projects developed by OLA/The New School in Buenos Aires. Since 2015 he has been working with Margarita Gutman and Ximena Puppo, on a research on extradisciplinary urban anticipations in the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires between the years 2000 and 2015.

Ximena Puppo is Program Associate of the OLA in Buenos Aires. She is an Architect, from the School of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism of the University of Buenos Aires (FADU, UBA). Currently, she is teacher of Theory of architecture (FADU, UBA) and is a researcher at the Instituto de Arte Americano e Investigaciones Estéticas “Mario J. Buschiazzo”. Since 2015 she has been working with Margarita Gutman and Javier Nesprias, on a research on extradisciplinary urban anticipations in the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires between the years 2000 and 2015. Between 2017 and 2019, she was a staff member of the Dirección de Programas Internacionales at FADU, UBA, where she participated in projects developed by OLA/The New School in Buenos Aires.

Contributing New School Faculty

Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Professor of International Affairs of the Graduate Program in International Affairs of The New School. She was the director of the Human Development Report of UNDP for ten years. She is a member of the United Nations Committee on Development Policy, and one of the leading specialist in the field of human development. She has published many books and articles and has worked throughout the world, and recently published a book on genetically modified crops with case studies on Argentina and Brazil.

Mark Lipton, Professor of Management and Chair of Graduate Management Programs at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy. He is also creator and Director of The Tenenbaum Leadership Initiative, a highly-focused executive development program targeted specifically to founders of non-profit organizations and the CEOs who directly succeed them.

Peter Lucas, an American specialist on human rights and media with long history working in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. His research and teaching interests include international studies in human rights, human rights and photography, the poetics of witnessing, peace education, human rights education, and documentary practice.

Brian McGrath, Research Chair in Urban Design at the School of Constructed Environments, Parsons The New School for Design. Founder and Principal of Urban-Interface, LLC, an urban design consultancy fusing expertise in architecture, ecology and social media. McGrath is also a principle researcher in the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, a National Science Foundation’s Long Term Ecological Research, where he leads the Urban Design Working Group.

William Morrish, Professor of Urban Ecologies at the School of Design Strategies, Parsons The New School for Design. Morrish was previously Dean at Parsons School of Constructed Environments. He also held the Elwood R. Quesada Chair in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning at the University of Virginia, where he taught and led research in the areas of sustainable urban infrastructure, new housing models, and global urbanization and climate change.

Mary R. Watson, Executive Dean, Schools of Public Engagement, and Associate Professor of Management at Milano, and former Chair of the graduate programs in Organizational Change and Nonprofit Management. In 2009 she received The New School’s Distinguished University Teaching Award. Watson earned her PhD in organization studies from Vanderbilt University.

Tracyann Williams, Director of Academic Advising at The New School for Public Engagement. Ph.D. in English from The Graduate Center/CUNY. She has been teaching at The New School since 1998, offering courses in literature, gender studies, and African American Studies. She has received numerous awards and recognitions including the Distinguished University Teaching Award from The New School in 2004 and a Helena Rubenstein Foundation Fellowship. Her current research focuses on mixed race women in modern fictions.

FORMER FELLOWS 

Alain Basail Rodríguez, Doctor in Sociology from the University of the Basque Country and from the University of Havana (2002). Master in Sociology from the University of Havana and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2000). Academic Internship in Historical Sociology, Chair of Latin American Social History, Faculty of Social Sciences and Gino Germani Research Institute, University of Buenos Aires (1996). Degree in Sociology, University of Havana (1995). He was Assistant Professor of the Department of Sociology at the University of Havana (1995-2003) and, since 2004, he has been Full-time Professor-Researcher “C” at the Center for Higher Studies of Mexico and Central America (CESMECA), at the Chiapas University of Sciences and Arts (UNICACH), institute of which he was its director between 2011 and 2015. Member of the National System of Researchers (SNI-CONACyT) since 2006, currently level II, and with Recognition of Desirable Profile (PRODEP- SEP) since 2004. He has devoted himself to historical sociology, studies of culture, social change and borders. Member of the Academic Body Critical Studies in Communication, Politics and Culture. Director of the magazine LiminaR. Social and humanistic studies. Member of the Steering Committee of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO), representing Mexico (2015-2018; 2019-2021).

Luis Alberto Ortiz Sandoval, Visiting Scholar at the Observatory on Latin America (OLA) 2018-2019. Professor Ortiz holds a Ph.D in sociology from the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in France and a Master’s degree in social sciences from FLACSO in Mexico. His research focuses on processes of social inequality in Paraguay. Specifically, he concentrates on education, social welfare, and labor inequalities. He is currently completing research on education inequality in the metropolitan territory of Asunción (the capital of Paraguay) that will be published this year. As a visiting scholar, Dr. Ortiz will research Paraguayan inequalities, especially in education and labor. He plans to develop a theoretical framework and processes statistical information for an article he aims to publish in high impact academic journals.

Past Staff

María Juliana Ruiz was Program Associate of the OLA in New York. She is a Political scientist from the Icesi University with a specialization in Social Management from the Javeriana University (Cali, Colombia). She has nine years of experience in corporate affairs and strategic management of institutional relations for the public and private sectors. Knowledge acquired in international cooperation, investment attraction, project management and city promotion. Currently, she is pursuing her Master’s studies in International Affairs at The New School, New York. María Juliana was a Program Associate of the OLA in New York, from January 2020 to February 2022.

Lucas Tatarsky was Intern of the OLA in New York. Graduate student in International Affairs with a concentration in Cities and Social Justice at The New School. He has a particular interest in learning how to best implement and support local urban community development initiatives to combat economic, social inequality, and displacement. He has worked in various educational capacities over the past 8 years in communities in Colombia, Panama, and Peru, as well as his hometown, New York City. Lucas was Intern of the OLA in New York from July 2020 to June 2021.

Natalia Vega Varela was Program Associate of the OLA in New York. Her academic background includes a bachelor’s degree in International Relations at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City with a focus in global political economy. In Mexico, she worked as research and project assistant at The Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI) and as a consultant for international business consulting firms. She focused on Mexico’s Foreign policy and its relation with US and Canada, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and Cuba’s relation with Mexico and Latin America. She has also collaborated with different NGOs that work for women’s rights in Mexico, India and the US. She holds a master’s degree in International Affairs with a concentration in development at The New School. Natalia was a Program Associate of the OLA in New York, from July 2019 to December 2020.

Ileana Versace was the Coordinator of the OLA in Buenos Aires. She is an Architect from the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires (FADU, UBA). She holds a PhD at FADU, UBA, and she is a Fellow at UBA. She is Assistant Professor of History of Architecture at FADU, UBA. She is a researcher at the Instituto de Arte Americano e Investigaciones Estéticas “Mario J. Buschiazzo” (IAA), FADU, UBA, where is the co-director of the Programa de Estudios Históricos de las Heterotopías. Ileana has been General Coordinator of the Office of International Programs, FADU, UBA between 2008 and March 2020.

Julia Nesprias was Comunity Manager of the PNK Fellowship, and Program Associate of the OLA in Buenos Aires. She is Graduate of Sociology at the School of Social Sciences, University of Buenos Aires (FSOC, UBA). She is currently working towards her Master degree in Social Science Research, FSOC, UBA. She is a former member of the Equipo de Asistencia Sociológica a las Querellas (EASQ) that works in the trials for human rgihts violation in the last argentine dictatorship. Julia has been Program Associate of the OLA between 2012 and March 2020.

Clara Marina von Loebenstein was Program Associate of the OLA in New York. She holds a master’s degree in International Affairs at Milano, at the New School. She received a bachelor’s degree in Internationals Studies with a focus in political science, Latin America, and Portuguese from Middlebury College in 2012. Her thesis focused on the actors and motivators behind the Shining Path in Peru. In terms of professional experience, she has worked in the legal field in New York at various law firms including Fragomen, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy in São Paulo, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and also at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Clara was a Program Associate of the OLA in New York, from January 2017 to June 2019.

Georgina Vazquez De Los Reyes, is a Master in International Affairs at Milano School of International Affairs and Urban Policy at The New School. She holds a BA in International Relations from the National Autonomous Univeristy of Mexiico (UNAM, 2011) where she also taught courses on Theory and Methodology of Social Science. She also holds a Specialization in International Migrations from the College of the Northern Border (COLEF, 2014). As part of her professional experience, she was the Project Design and Development Coordinator of IOM Mexico (International Organization for Migration), where she developed projects aimed to migrant populations in Mexico, from the northern to the southern border. She was also part of the Mexican Consular Network in the US Midwest Area (covering Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Southern Illinois) as a Protection Officer where she was in charge of attending penal and migration issues for the Mexican population. She specializes in migration management and migration policy in the International Organizations agenda. Georgina was a Program Associate of the OLA in New York, from August 2015 to May 2017.

Cristina M Handal González is an architect and urbanist with local and global experience in residential, commercial and non-profit spatial design and development. Her favorite projects involve collaborating with people to define and co-design long-lasting strategies for urban infrastructure and education. A graduate of Barnard College and the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation at Columbia University, her passion for integrating design practices within community processes developed by pursuing the urban ecologies masters program at Parsons School of Design, where she received a social innovation award and concentrated on cooperative models. Cristina is currently a PhD candidate of Public and Urban Policy at The New School and especially loves spending her time teaching urban design, architecture and design & management courses at Parsons. Cristina was a Program Associate of the OLA in New York, from August 2014 to May 2016.

Martha Susana Jaimes, is currently a PhD candidate at the Public and Urban Policy program at the New School, she is an Economist and MA in Economics from Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. She was recently working with the Bogota Economic Development Secretariat, leading the analyses on the main economic variables that affect urban productivity, and the socioeconomic impact of urban policies. She also participated in different research projects related to higher education impact on labor market dynamics, and higher education drop out and graduation rates for the Colombian Ministry of Education. Her research experience include a project for Cities Alliance related to informal settlements in Cartagena and Bucaramanga. She has taught differente economics courses, including History of Economic Thought and History of Economic Theory in different universities in Bogota. Sara was a Program Associate of the OLA in New York, from August 2014 to May 2016.

Izaskun Martínez Castillo is an Architect from the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires (FADU, UBA). She is currently working towards her post-graduate degree in Heritage Cultural Management, FADU, UBA.Since 2013 she is part of the team at the Office of International Programs, FADU, UBA. She is currently a Graduate Assistant of History of Architecture at FADU, UBA.. Izaskun was a Program Associate of the OLA in Buenos Aires from July 2014 to december 2016.

Desiree LaVecchia holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Design and Urban Ecologies from Parsons, the New School for Design. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Government & International Affairs and Anthropology from the University of South Florida. Desiree has lived and worked in a number of countries including Lebanon, where she worked with the League of Independent Activists on an alternative transportation proposal for the city of Beirut. Additionally, she has two independent projects: For the Sake of Deconstruction, aimed at inspiring dialogue about Marxist Geography and Economics through a series of in-depth diagrams of prominent academic publications, and the Veiled Tide, a multimedia project that explores the physical decline of industrial cities through photography and intensive research related to specific industrial sites in NYC and beyond. Desiree was Coordinator of the OLA in New York from July 2013 to september 2015.

Mónica Hernandez is BS in Economics at the University of El Salvador. She also studied statistics and political science at the graduate level at the J.S.C. Central American University in the same country. She has participated in different projects as a researcher on topics related to E-government (UN DESA), social policy in Central America (FLACSO-UNESCO), poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (CLACSO-CROP), among others. She has also worked on knowledge management and as a consultant for productive development projects for NGOs in El Salvador. Currently, Monica is PhD in economics at The New School for Social Research in New York City, where she also obtained her Masters degree in Economics. Monica was a Program Associate of the OLA in New York. Monica completed her, from August 2014 to May 2015.

Mandy Entrikin is a graduate of the Julien J. Studley Graduate Program of International Affairs from The New School. She earned her BA in International Development Studies with a Minor in Business from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Mandy has lived and worked in a number of countries including Argentina, where, in conjunction with the Graduate Program’s International Field Placement, she worked with the national water company to monitor and analyze the ongoing environmental clean-up process in Buenos Aires’ highly contaminated Cuenca Matanza Riachuelo. Prior to joining OLA, she worked in Kenya with UN-Habitat where she focused her research on governance and urban issues related to water and waste management. Mandy was Coordinator of the OLA in New York from August 2011 to July 2013.

Lucila Pugni Reta is an Architect from the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires (FADU, UBA). Between 2010 and 2013, she was a staff member of the Direction of International Programs at FADU, UBA, where he participated in projects developed by OLA/The New School in Buenos Aires. She is currently a Graduate Assistant of Architectural Design at FADU, UBA. Besides, she is in the development of a fellowship ‘Beca Estímulo’ which UBA granted to her for 2012-2013 period, to research into the history of architecture. Lucila was an Assistant Coordinator of the OLA in Buenos Aires, from July 2010 to June 2013.

Sara Bissen is a student at the Graduate Program of International Affairs at The New School. She earned her BS in Advertising and Marketing Communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Sara has worked in marketing communications to promote the initiatives of various museums, galleries and publications throughout the art world in New York City. From 2006 – 2008 Sara was an Advertising Executive for North and South America at The Art Newspaper. In 2008 Sara joined Peace Corps Guatemala where she served as an Agriculture Marketing Volunteer. In Guatemala from 2008 – 2011, Sara lived in a Kaqchikel Maya community and worked with an Association of women that focused on income generation and emerging market opportunities of value added agriculture. Sara extended for a third year with this Association to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader where she focused on project evaluation and design of the Sustainable Agriculture program in Guatemala. Sara was a Program Associate of the OLA in New York, from April 2012 to March 2013.

Shetal Shah, in 2011, was Research Intern at Aguas y Saneamientos Argentinos (AySA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she conducted research on the SEPA program. She is an active participant in climate change activities at the United Nations, NY and throughout the world. Most notably, she served as Co-Coordinator for the Structural Causes working group during the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, sponsored by the Government of Bolivia. Shetal holds a Masters in Instructional Technology and Media from Columbia University, NY and is pursuing her second Masters at The New School in Cities and Urbanization, Environment and Sustainability. She is also an award-winning performance poet, actor and filmmaker. Shetal was the Assistant Coordinator of the OLA in New York, from April to December 2012.

Santiago E. Arias studied Political Science and Architecture, both at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), and earned a Fulbright Fellowship to study a MS in Urban Policy Analysis and Management at the New School specializing in urban development and public policy. He worked at the Department of Urban Planning of the City of Buenos Aires for four years, and also as a consultant on urban development for local governments and real estate developers. He is also a member of the Program of Cities and Urbanism and teaches urban planning at the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, UBA. He has authored articles about strategies for access to land and housing, sustainable mobility and urban governance, and has participated in numerous seminars related to his field of specialization. Santiago was Research Associate at OLA in New York, from March to December 2012.

Valeria Luzardo is a graduate of the Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) of The New School. Luzardo graduated in Communication Sciences at the Catholic University of Uruguay, a country in which she served as a journalist. She was coordinator of the OLA from February 2007 and December 2010 and Communication Assistant at the Latin American Bureau in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New York. She is currently working in the area of social policy at the Latin American Center for Human Economy (CLAEH) in Montevideo, Uruguay. Valeria was a Project Manager at the OLA in Montevideo, from March 2008 to September 2012.

Erika Grinberg is a journalist graduated from the Argentine school of journalism TEA, in 2000. In 2003 she was awarded the fellowship Nuevos Periodistas of Clarín newspaper, where she worked in the general information section. Among others, she worked in the following Argentine newspapers: La Razón, Buenos Aires Económico (BAE) and Perfil, in the national politics and international news sections. During 2006 y 2007 she was special reporter for Newsweek Argentina. She is a student of political science at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and she got a certificate in Global Affairs at New York University. Erika was a Fellow of the OLA.

Cecilia Golombek is a graduate from the Graduate Program of International Affairs (GPIA) at The New School. She earned her BA from Tufts University with a major in History and a minor in Latin American Studies. After graduation she conducted an oral history project focusing on the 1976-1982 dictatorship in Argentina. Her most recent work experiences include sending FOIA requests for the Southern Cone Project of the National Security Archive and working at World Learning to coordinate the International Visitor Leadership Program of the US Department of State. Golombek was the Coordinator of the OLA, from September 2009 to June 2011.

Gabriela Sorda studies Architecture at the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires (FADU, UBA). Between 2009 and 2011, she was a staff member of the Direction of International Programs at FADU, UBA, where she participated in projects developed by OLA/The New School in Buenos Aires. She is currently a Researcher and Assistant Professor of the History of Architecture at FADU, UBA. She is also in charge of coordination tasks at the FADU, UBA Research Department. Sorda was the Assistant Coordinator of the OLA in Buenos Aires, from September 2009 to June 2011.

Cristina Gómez is a graduate of the Graduate Program of International Affairs (GPIA) at The New School. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) in Audiovisual Communication. After graduation she did a MA in Communication in the University mentioned and conducted an extensive research in Czech cinema studies. She has gained experience as a journalist working in the media sector. Gómez was a Program Associate of the OLA, from December 2009 to May 2011.

Alejandra Otero is a graduate of the Graduate Program of International Affairs (GPIA) at The New School. She earned her BA from Universidad Monteavila -Venezuela- in Social Communication. She has been writing as a freelancer for El Nacional, one of the main Venezuelan newspapers, since 2002. She earned experience hosting a radio show on Ateneo 100.7 and reporting for Contrabando magazine. Her most recent job in Venezuela was in Globovision, as the co-host of the daily TV show Alo Ciudadano. In New York, she studied Political Science for one year at Columbia University and performed an internship at The New York Times Syndicate. Otero was a Program Associate of the OLA, from December 2009 to December 2010.

Tanushree Dutta Isaacman is a graduate of the Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) at the New School with a concentration in development and environmental studies. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Society from Cornell University, where her culminating research project involved an attempt to better understand infant feeding practices amongst mothers across four Latin American and Caribbean countries. She, then, worked for two years in Cinco Pinos, Nicaragua as a community health specialist with the Peace Corps. Together with Nicaraguan NGOs and the Ministry of Health, she planned and implemented various health programs directed towards adolescents. Since returning to the U.S., she has worked as an English and Literacy teacher with immigrants at the Harlem YMCA. More recently, she worked as a research assistant at the World Policy Institute on environmental and microfinance projects. Dutta Isaacman was a Program Associate with the OLA, from July 2010 to December 2010.

Alejandro Schwindt is an architect from the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires (FADU, UBA). Between 2008 and 2010, he was a staff member of the Direction of International Programs at FADU, UBA, where he participated in projects developed by OLA/The New School in Buenos Aires. He is currently a Researcher and Assistant Professor of the History of Architecture at FADU, UBA. His professional activity is in the area of Project and Construction Management. Schwindt was a Program Associate of the OLA in Buenos Aires, from April 2008 to June 2010.

Chelsea Long is a graduate of the Graduate Program of International Affairs (GPIA) at The New School. She earned her Bachelor of Science from Nebraska Wesleyan University with majors in Political Science and Sociology-Anthropology and a minor in American Minority Studies. She has since gained experience working in the non-profit sector and participated in the 2008 GPIA International Fieldwork Program, where she interned at Fundación SES (Sustentabilidad Educación Solidaridad) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Chelsea was a Program Associate of the OLA, from September 2008 to September 2009.

Ximena Maroto is a graduate of the Graduate Program of International Affairs (GPIA) at The New School. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Universidad Iberoamericana -México- in International Relations with majors in International Politics. She gained experience working at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – México and in the non-profit sector. Ximena was a Program Associate of the OLA, from December 2008 to December 2009.

Lisa Guaqueta is a graduate from the Graduate Program of International Affairs (GPIA) at The New School. She earned her BA in Economics from Universidad Externado de Colombia. She worked as Manager of Education and Workforce, and Immigration Policy at the Greater Houston Partnership, and served as the International Affairs Adviser for the Office of the Mayor of Bogotá. At present time she woks as a Program Administrator for the Baker Institute’s Mexico Center and the Latin American Initiative. Lisa was Coordinator of the OLA in New York from October 2006 to February 2008.

Past Contributing New School Faculty

Louis Bickford, an American expert in human rights and transitional justice. He was a Program Director at the International Center for Transitional Justice. He has worked extensively in Chile and South Africa and particularly on the role of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. He has published widely on the politics of memory and human rights.

Robert Buckley, Senior Fellow of the Graduate Program in International Affairs of The New School (2011-2015), and Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York. Former Chief Economist of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Senior Housing Adviser of the World Bank. He is the author of several books on housing and housing finance, and has worked in over 40 developing countries.

Alec Gershberg, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy with experience at the World Bank on education policy in Latin America. He leads Milano students to Mexico City for a one week field course on educational policy each spring semester. He is lead author of the book Beyond ‘Bilingual’ Education: New Immigrants and Public School Policies in California.

Barry Herman, an American economist, former Senior Advisor of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations and coordinator of Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002. His latest book, jointly edited with Christian Barry and Lydia Tomitova, is Dealing Fairly with Developing Country Debt.

Christopher London, Assistant Professor of Practice in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of The New School. He received his PhD in Development Sociology from Cornell University. He lived and worked in Colombia for more than eight years, studying the rural sector an particularly coffee and food issues. He also directed an NGO focused on education in Nepal and Uganda. In 2009 2010 he was the executive director of the North American Congress on Latin America NACLA.

Gabriel Diaz Maggioli, Director of the MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and Chair of the English Language Studies at The New School (2011-2015). He came to New York from Montevideo where he most recently served as National Coordination for the Modern Foreign Languages Department of the National Teacher Education College. He has authored numerous articles, book chapters, and curriculum guides for teachers in Latin America and the United States.

Aida Rodriguez, Professor at the Milano School of Urban Policy and Management, with long experience in Latin America with Rockefeller Foundation. She co-authored “Latino Nonprofits: The Role of Intermediaries in Organizational Capacity Building,” in A Future for Everyone: Innovative Social Responsibility and Community Partnerships.

Carlos Teixeira, Associate Professor at the School of Design Strategies, Parsons The New School for Design. In his signature course, Enterprising Design Knowledge, Teixeira applies new methodologies and design tools to business development for nongovernmental organizations and major corporations in the United States, Brazil, and India. He is Co-Director of the open innovation platform DREAM:IN, which was recognized with a 2013 Game Changer Award from Metropolis magazine.

 

This program would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Julien J. Studley Foundation.