Administrators, Staff, and Faculty

Office: 237 HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-3378

E-mail: nellie_ashby@byu.edu

Office: 204E HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-6677
Fax: (801) 422-1487
E-mail: 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

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'iché.

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

E-mail: 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
E-mail: 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
E-mail: 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
E-mail: 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
E-mail: 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
E-mail: 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
E-mail: 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.

Office: 204B HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-4302
Fax: (801) 422-7075
E-mail: landes_holbrook@byu.edu

Latin American cultures and language

MPA, 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: 205 HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-3359
Fax: (801) 422-0382
E-mail: eric_huntsman@byu.edu

New Testament Studies, particularly Johannine Writings, Pauline Epistles, and Luke-Acts, and the Ministry and Atonement of Christ in the New Testament Gospels; Koine and New Testament Greek; Greek and Roman history and Classical literature; Early Christianity and the Roman World; Women in Classical Antiquity

PhD, ancient history, University of Pennsylvania, 1997
MA, ancient history, University of Pennsylvania, 1992
BA, Classical Greek and Latin, BYU 1990

Huntsman joined the Religious Education faculty at BYU in 2003. In Classics he specialized in Roman imperial history and did work on imperial women, particularly Livia Drusilla, the emperor Augustus' wife. His recent publications include three chapters inThe Life and Teachings of the New Testament Apostles: From the Day of Pentecost to the Apocalypse(2010), “The Six Antitheses: Attaining the Purpose of the Law,” in The Sermon on the Mount in Latter-day Scripture 2010), “Livia Before Octavian,”Ancient Society 39 (2009), “And the Word Was Made Flesh: An LDS Exegesis of the Blood and Water Imagery in John,”Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 1 (2009). In early 2011, he published a book-length study of the Passion Narratives entitled God So Loved the World: The Final Days of the Savior’s Life, which will be followed by a Christmas companion volume entitled Good Tidings of Great Joy: An Advent Celebration of the Savior’s Birth to be released in the fall of that year. Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he was raised in upstate New York, western Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. He married N. Elaine Scott and they are the parents of two children, Rachel and Samuel. Huntsman served in the Thailand Bangkok Mission (1985–86) and is currently a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Office: 209 HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-4699
Fax: (801) 422-8748
E-mail: eric_hyer@byu.edu

China’s foreign relations

PhD, Columbia University, 1990
MPhil, political science, Columbia University, 1983
East Asian Institute Certificate, Columbia University, 1982
MA, political science, Columbia University, 1981
BA, Chinese, Brigham Young University, 1979
Certificate, Waseda University, International Division, Tokyo, Japan, 1977
Certificate, National Taiwan Normal University Mandarin Center, Taipei, Taiwan, 1972

Hyer has traveled extensively within China, Tibet, and twice traversed the Karakorum Highway between western China and Pakistan. Hyer’s research focuses on China’s foreign relations—especially relations with its neighbors. His field research has taken him to Russia, Vietnam, Mongolia, and along China’s border with Central Asia. He is the author of articles about China’s arms sales, territorial disputes, and nationalities issues and is in the process of completing a book on China’s boundary disputes and settlements. Hyer was a visiting scholar at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing (1995–96).

Office: 273D HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-7517

E-mail: wendy_knell@byu.edu

Government
Records and information management

MLS, archives, records, and information management, University of Maryland, 2009
BA, English with an emphasis in editing, Brigham Young University, 2006

Knell joined the Kennedy Center as an academic advisor and internship coordinator in 2013. Before coming to the Kennedy Center, she was employed as an appraisal archivist for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), where she consulted with numerous federal agencies to analyze their business processes and select record series for permanent retention in NARA's holdings. She also worked for the University of Maryland as an academic advisor to undergraduate students.

Office: 237A
Telephone: (801) 422-3377
Fax: (801) 422-8748
E-mail: kirk_larsen@byu.edu

Asian history and literature

PhD, history, Harvard University, 2000
AM, regional studies East Asia, Harvard University, 1994
BA, Asian studies, BYU, 1992

Larsen joined BYU’s faculty in 2008 and previously taught at the University of Texas—Austin and the George Washington University, where he served as director of the International Affairs Program and the Sigur Center for Asian Studies. His publications include Tradition, Treaties, and Trade: Qing Imperialism and Chosôn Korea, 1850–1910 (2008), and he has published, presented, and commented on a variety of contemporary issues, including North Korea, nationalism and elections in South Korea, and Sino-Korean relations, as well as having made appearances on ABC, MSNBC, VOA, the Canadian Broadcast System, and Al Jazeera. Larsen’s language skills include speaking, reading, writing, and translating Korean; speaking and reading modern Chinese; and reading classical Chinese.

Office: 237 HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-3377
Fax: (801) 422-0382
E-mail: 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

Leonard is an 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
E-mail: 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: 208 HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-4617
Fax: (801) 422-0221
E-mail: nick_mason@byu.edu

British literature and culture, especially the 18th, 19th, and 21st centuries

PhD, English, SUNY Stony Brook, 1999
MA, English, BYU, 1995
BA, English, BYU 1993

Mason is a Utah native and has spent most of his life in the state, including high school in Salt Lake City, college at BYU, and now a career as a faculty member at BYU. Along the way, however, he has spent six years in the Eastern US (two years as a missionary in Virginia, four years as a doctoral student in New York) and over a year studying, teaching, and researching in Great Britain. He specializes in British literature of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (or the Romantic period), and regularly teaches such authors as Wordsworth, Keats, Byron, Scott, and Austen. His publications on British literary and cultural history have covered such diverse topics as political satire, the history of literary magazines, the rise of advertising, transatlantic relations, and working-class drunkenness. He has served as associate chair and graduate coordinator in the English Department, the director of London study abroad programs in 2007 and 2012, and an executive board member and conference organizer for the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism. Professor Mason and his wife, Stacie, live in northeast Provo and are the parents of two girls and two boys.

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

Processing student registration
Scholarships
Grades submissions

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: 273A HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-4957

E-mail: anna_peterson@byu.edu

Nonprofit organizations
International development

MPA, nonprofit management and international development, Brigham Young University, 2009
BA, comparative literature, Brigham Young University, 2005

Ortiz joined the Kennedy Center as an academic advisor and domestic internship coordinator in 2011and became the supervisor in 2013. Her experience with numerous nonprofit organizations as a volunteer, employee, and consultant has involved her with projects across five continents. She has a particular interest in community development, education, entrepreneurship, and micro-franchise/micro-savings programs. Ortiz served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Barcelona, Spain (2001–03).

Office: 204F HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-3309
Fax: (801) 422-0381
E-mail: 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.

Office: 237 HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-3377
Fax: (801) 422-8748
E-mail: 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
E-mail: 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
E-mail: 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 in 1999 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: 215 HRCB and 784 SWKT
Telephone: (801) 422-1866, (801) 422-1352
Fax: (801) 422-0580
E-mail: ken_stiles@byu.edu

International law and institutions
International political economy
International relations theory

PhD, political science, John Hopkins University, 1987
MA, political science, Brigham Young University, 1983
BA, international relations, Brigham Young University, 1982

Stiles has been teaching at BYU since 2003 after teaching for several years at Loyola in Chicago and Bowling Green State University in Ohio. His recent work includes International Norms and Cycles of Change (Oxford 2008), Cooperating without America (Routledge 2009, with Stefan Brem), and the International Organization component of the International Studies Encyclopedia (Blackwell 2010, with Melissa Labonte). His current work is on international law compliance and international social orders. He is married to Rebecca and has five children and six grandchildren.

Office: 204F HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-8535
Fax: (801) 422-0651
E-mail: sherstin_creamer@byu.edu

Cross-cultural training, international program development
Marketing (traditional, Internet, and social media)
Career preparation
Regional area of interest: Asia

MS, professional communication, Southern Utah University, 2008
BS, communications, Southern Utah University, 2006

Sutherland worked as the international experiences coordinator for the Marriott School of Management for five years before joining the Kennedy Center team in 2012. In addition to other international experience, she has led three study abroad programs to Asia, conducting business in more than ten Asian countries. She also has extensive knowledge in marketing and event management. Prior to coming to BYU, Sutherland worked with i-to-i Ireland as the public relations/marketing coordinator, and she spent a year working as the event coordinator for Southern Utah University. She has taught courses at BYU in the culture of international business and strongly believes all business is international business.

Office: 203 HRCB
Telephone: (801) 422-2494

E-mail: toronto@byu.edu

Middle East
Women's issues
Religion

MA, PhD, Islamic studies, Harvard University, 1980
BA, English, minors in history and Italian, Brigham Young University, 1975

Toronto teaches courses in religion, humanities, language, and research methodology. He has lived in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan) for ten years teaching in international schools, studying Arabic language and literature, and conducting research on issues of Islamic education, legal status of religious minorities, and LDS missiology. For three years he served as director of the Center for Cultural and Educational Affairs in Amman, Jordan, which is operated by the Church.