Latin America Staff in Chile and Mexico
Jeffrey Lee Stevenson
Associate Professor and Director of the C.V. Starr-Middlebury School in Latin America, Chile and Mexico
M.A., Ph.D., Linguistics, University of Washington
Jeff started his career in international education interning with Food for the Hungry in La Paz, Bolivia in 1989 where he collaborated in health education/prevention programs among the Aymara of the Bolivian Altiplano. In 1990 he moved to Santiago, Chile where he lived for five years. In Chile, he first worked with Youth with a Mission and then taught English at the Instituto Chileno-Norteamericano de Cultura. After finishing an M.A. in TESOL from Central Washington University in 1996, he taught English for three years in Tokyo, Japan at Asia University. In 1999, he returned to his native state of Washington where he completed an M.A. in Romance Language Linguistics and a PhD in Linguistics at the University of Washington. Before accepting his current position of Director of the Middlebury School in Latin America (Chile and Mexico), Jeff was a member of the faculty of Seattle Pacific University where he coordinated a study abroad/service learning trip to Santiago, Chile and taught Spanish and graduate-level courses in Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics. Of his love for Latin American cultures he states, “I went to Chile in 1990 with a 10-month plane ticket and stayed for five years.” He is passionate about helping students gain the second language and cross-cultural competence that will allow them to make significant contributions as global citizens.
Víctor Hugo Ramírez
Resident Coordinator and Writing Course Instructor of the C.V. Starr-Middlebury School in Latin America, Chile and Mexico
M.A., Education, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey.
Victor started his teaching career at the Puerto Vallarta branch of the University of Guadalajara’s Centro para Estudiantes Extranjeros in 1998. In 2003 he joined the Universidad Veracruzana’s teaching staff and also became coordinator of the U.S. Studies Program. He was also a member of several selection committees for study abroad and organized field trips for Universidad Veracruzana (UV) students visiting American universities. In 2010 Victor joined the UV’s Department for Academic Development of ELE (Spanish as a Foreign Language) and has been participating in different curriculum development projects such as the design of ECELE -the official certification exam of the Mexican government for Spanish as a Foreign Language. Victor graduated from the UV and has a double major in English and French. He also holds a B.A. in International Relations from El Colegio de México and an M.A. in Education with a thesis on Curriculum Design of ELE from the Tec de Monterrey.
Pamela Figueroa Silva
Project Coordinator of the C.V. Starr-Middlebury School in Latin America, Chile and Mexico
B.A. Graphic Design, Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Pamela studied Graphic Design at the Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, where she was also a T.A. Later she taught design software to designers, publishers and other related professionals for a certificate program at the Universidad Gabriela Mistral. She has 10 years of experience in the publishing sector as a designer, marketing chief and product manager. As project coordinator for the program, she researches and supervises housing and internship placements, organizes field trips, extracurricular and program-sponsored activities and coordinates program orientations.
