Meet the Staff

Dr. David L. Di Maria serves as UMBC’s inaugural Vice Provost for Global Engagement, providing strategic leadership for the university’s comprehensive internationalization efforts. In this capacity, he directs the Center for Global Engagement (CGE) and collaborates with campus and community partners to expand UMBC’s global footprint, ensuring that the resulting opportunities are accessible to all.

Since joining UMBC in 2017, Dr. Di Maria has been instrumental in embedding global perspectives across the institution. He has led highly collaborative initiatives, including engaging over 400 campus stakeholders in strategic planning for internationalization. Under his leadership, UMBC  expanded career support services for international students, developed an international fellowship program for staff, and launched a cohort-based Global Learning Lab to help faculty internationalize their curricula. He has also collaborated on initiatives expanding UMBC’s capacity to support international research, international travel security and international business operations.

These sustained efforts have earned UMBC significant recognition, including the AIEA Award for Innovative Excellence in Internationalization, the APLU Gold Award for Leadership and Pervasiveness in Internationalization, and the NASPA Best Practices in International Higher Education Award for Intercultural Awareness & Programming.

A dedicated scholar-practitioner, Dr. Di Maria has authored and edited more than 50 publications—including six books—addressing critical issues in international education. His thought leadership has been widely recognized: The PIE News named him one of North America’s 50 leading voices in the field, the Society of Transnational Academic Researchers honored him as a STAR Luminary and NAFSA presented him with the Annual Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of International Enrollment Management and the Region VI George E. Hertrich Award for International Education Advocacy.

Dr. Di Maria is also engaged in the broader higher education community. He has conducted external reviews of internationalization efforts at more than a dozen universities and two public university systems. He has served on numerous corporate advisory boards, non-profit boards, and academic editorial boards. He has also held prominent leadership roles within major professional associations, including ACE, AIEA, AIRC, APLU, and NAFSA. In 2021, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce appointed him to the Maryland-Washington, D.C. District Export Council to represent the education and training services industry.

Dr. Di Maria earned his doctorate from the University of Minnesota, where his studies focused on internationalization from a P-16 perspective. Featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education and The New York Times, his dissertation research examined how student affairs staff view campus services for international students. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, as well as an undergraduate certificate from the University of Tartu in Estonia.

Rachel joined the Center for Global Engagement at UMBC in 2022. She is thrilled to develop procedures that help all teams at CGE run smoothly together. Previously, she worked as a Program Coordinator for study abroad and an Admissions Counselor for international internships. She has also worked internationally as a digital marketing intern in Barcelona, Spain, and a Native English Teacher in Yeonggwang, South Korea.

Adam joined UMBC in 2018 and serves as the inaugural Director of International Partnerships & Recruitment. In this role, Adam is UMBC’s primary contact for international partnerships and manages UMBC’s International Recruitment team. These international partnerships seek to promote and advance the international dimensions of teaching, learning, research, and service at UMBC.

Sarah serves as the International Student Support Manager working closely with UMBC’s Global Ambassadors and other campus partners to provide support to prospective and current international students. Originally from Illinois, Sarah lived in Tennessee and Hong Kong before settling in Maryland.

Samantha studied abroad in Florence, Italy and participated in an experiential teaching/learning program in Barranquilla, Colombia and Popayan, Colombia. Currently, she is completing a hybrid Master’s program in Cultural Studies in Lima, Peru. Bilingual in English and Spanish.

Alicyn Curtis is the Education Abroad Advisor at UMBC. She graduated from UMBC with a degree in Modern Languages and Linguistics: Korean focus. She taught English in South Korea to young students from 2017 to 2020 before returning to the U.S. She speaks English and Korean. She enjoys painting, playing with her dog, and keeping up with the newest fashion trends.

Ryan Sheldon is proud to support all ELI students as they continue to work towards reaching their own personal, academic and professional goals. He began his career in ESOL in 2009 teaching young learners in South Korea and later Ecuador. Upon returning to the U.S., his studies brought him to Washington D.C. where he earned a CELTA and later would move up to Baltimore to pursue his M.A. in TESOL at UMBC. While studying, Ryan worked as an instructor and graduate assistant at the ELI where he discovered his passion for program development. First, he served as an Assistant Director at the ELI. Then, he worked at Notre Dame of Maryland University where his work focused on testing and evaluation, curriculum development, marketing, student services and advising, and faculty support before coming back to the UMBC ELI. Ryan also holds a degree in Electronic Media from Xavier University in Cincinnati and spent several years working in television news and cable media.

Sarita Foutz is originally from Oaxaca, Mexico. She has a degree in accounting and a professional license in public accounting from the University of Benito Juarez of Oaxaca, Mexico, and an M.A. from UMBC in instructional systems development. Before pursuing her M.A., Sarita began her studies at the ELI! Sarita has worked at the ELI for nearly 10 years.

Madison Pickard is a Graduate Assistant working as a Special Programs Coordinator at ELI and studying Intercultural Communications. She has lived in various countries as an English teacher including Ecuador, Australia, and most recently, Thailand. She understands the difficulty and the joy of living in different countries and is here to help and chat with any students that want to share their experiences. She speaks Spanish, Thai, and some ASL.

Chris McKinnon began his career teaching English in Katowice, Poland where he spent six years teaching business English to adults. In 2007 he received a CELTA from the Lewis School of languages in Barcelona, Spain and began teaching young learners. After teaching children for another year in Spain, Chris returned to Eastern Europe to Prague, Czech Republic where he spent two more years teaching adults. Chris has a BA in Modern Languages and Linguistics and an MA TESOL. Chris speaks both Polish and English and has a great love for Polish culture.

John Lundquist began teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at the CCBC Center for Adult and Family Literacy in 2002. He has been an instructor at the UMBC English Language Institute since 2013. He received a Bachelor’s degree in History from Towson University in 1988. Prior to teaching, John was a student organizer, aide to a Baltimore City Council member, and a community organizer. John lives in the Patterson Park area of Baltimore City with his wife and two daughters.

Kati Milter holds a B.Ed. with an ESOL specialization and an M.A. in English from ELTE, Budapest, Hungary. Kati has more than 10 years’ experience teaching English as a second language in her native country, and taught English literature and history at Janus Pannonius University in Pecs, Hungary before moving to the U.S. in 2000. Kati earned an M.A. in Telecommunications and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from Ohio University, where she also taught undergraduate courses in advertising and communications. Specializations within her doctoral studies included adult education, applied technology, distance education, and blended learning. Kati resides in Catonsville with her husband, who teaches at Johns Hopkins University, and her two bilingual daughters.

Sarah serves as UMBC’s Principal Designated School Official (PDSO). She oversees all aspects of the Center for Global Engagement’s Office of International Students and Scholars, including development, management, and continuous improvement of a portfolio of programs supporting co/curricular success, immigration compliance, retention, and wellbeing of international students and scholars.

Sarah is originally from Charleston, SC, but has lived in Paris, London, Suzhou, and Buffalo, NY. She has worked in international higher education since 2020.

Diane serves as a Responsible Officer (RO) for UMBC’s J-1 Exchange Visitor Program and coordinates H-1B petitions for specialty occupation workers. She obtained her Master of Arts in Intercultural Communication from UMBC. Diane was born in Beirut, Lebanon; lived in Paris, France, for more than 20 years; and moved to the U.S. in 2006. Diane is fluent in English, French, and Arabic.

Farhan serves as a Designated School Official (DSO) at UMBC. He has a shared role as the International Student Career Advisor at the Career Center. He also assists international F1 students with the process of studying in the U.S and helps answer immigration questions and concerns. He previously worked abroad on refugee resettlement and Global Human Rights issues.

TBD.