Steve Reifenberg

Program Director, DRCLAS Regional Office

Phone: 011-562-290-0301

E-mail: sreifenb@fas.harvard.edu

As the Regional Office Program Director of the Chile Office, Steve manages all activities and operations of the DRCLAS Office in Santiago, Chile. Prior to moving to Chile, he was DRCLAS's Executive Director from 1996 - 2002.

Steve Reifenberg is the former Program Director for Latin America of the Conflict Management Group (CMG), an international non-profit organization created from the Harvard Negotiation Project at the Harvard Law School. He served as the Director of the Edward S. Mason Program in Public Policy and Management, jointly administered by the Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Institute for International Development from 1990 to 1993. In the early 1980s, he lived and worked for two years at a small orphanage in Santiago, Chile. Steve is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government where he earned a Master in Public Policy. He also holds a Master in Print Journalism from Boston University and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame.

Marcela Rentería

Program Officer, DRCLAS Regional Office

Phone: 011-562-290-0309

E-mail: renteria@fas.harvard.edu

Marcela manages the financial administration of the DRCLAS Regional Office, strategic development/communications and faculty projects. Marcela has worked at the Regional Office since its opening in 2002; previously, she worked on the Center´s staff in Cambridge as a Conference and public events Coordinator, in outreach and publications, with a particular focus on marketing efforts. A native of Colombia, and with a background in advertising, Marcela worked in Bogotá for five years as a creative copywriter in international advertising agencies such as Leo Burnett and Saatchi and Saatchi. Marcela holds a Master´s degree in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University and a B.S. in Mass Communications, with an emphasis in Organizational Communication, from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá.

Languages: Spanish, English

"Pilo" Mella

Student Program Coordinator, DRCLAS Regional Office

Phone: 011-562-290-0305

E-mail: mella@fas.harvard.edu

Pilo is the Spanish Instructor and Student Programs Coordinator of the DRCLAS regional office in Santiago. For four years, she worked in Boston as a Spanish language instructor at Harvard University, Tufts University, the University of Massachusetts and Boston University. Pilo spent nine years in Israel, where she took courses in Hebrew and taught Spanish in a Public School in Tel Aviv. In Chile she worked as an English grammar teacher at the Universidad del Bao-Bao and at the Universidad San Sebastian, in Concepcion. A native of Chile, she holds a B.A. in Education from the Universidad de Chile.

Languages: Spanish, English

Alejandra Méndez

Students Internship Coordinator, DRCLAS Regional Office

Phone: 011-562-290-0304

E-mail: mendez2@fas.harvard.edu

Alejandra assists in the administration of the Regional Office in Chile, including managing the Summer Internship Program in Santiago for Harvard College students. A native of Chile, Alejandra also spent six years in Cambridge, where she took courses in journalism and marketing at the Harvard Extension School and taught Spanish in a public school for three years. She also worked as Recruiting Coordinator for Latin American students in the United States at Corp Group for two years, where she coordinated the process of recruiting and hiring students to work in Latin America. Previously, she worked as an English grammar teacher for high school students at Colegio San Benito in Chile. Alejandra holds a B.A. in Education and Literature from the Pontificia Universidad Cat??lica de Chile. She is also a certified simultaneous translator from EATRI in Santiago.

Languages: Spanish, English

María José Ferreyra

Student Programs Coordinator, Argentina

E-mail: ferreyra@fas.harvard.edu

María José Ferreyra works out of Buenos Aires, coordinating the DRCLAS Study Abroad and Summer Internship Programs in Argentina. She is a Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures and a graduate of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (1986). She served as Student Advisor to the Centro Binacional Argentino-Norteamericano (IICANA). In 1992, she lived in Boston and worked as a Professor of Spanish at UMass; she also worked in adult and child education in Brookline, MA. Between 1995 and 1996, she was Professor of Spanish at BU, Tufts, Brandeis University, and Simmons College. She was the Head of the International Department at the Northlands School in Buenos Aires. She has also taught Spanish as a Second Language for the International Baccalaureate program. Her interest in American culture and intercultural experiences began in 1980 when she lived and completed her high school studies in Rhinebeck, NY.