CGE - Key Persons


Dr. Annie Gibson

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Director of Study Abroad at the Center for Global Education
Annie Gibson is the Director of Study Abroad at the Center for Global Education. She leads Tulane's efforts to promote intercultural learning campus-wide and, together in partnership with colleagues at CGE and returned study abroad and international students, she collaborates across campus on intercultural initiatives, including the Tulane IDI Qualified Administrators Group. Annie ensures that the entire study abroad process---from recruitment and advising through students' experiences in the field and upon return to Tulane---align with best practices in international education and the OSA's learning goals for study abroad.

Dr. Casey Love

Job Titles:
  • Associate Dean of Global Education
  • Associate Dean of Global Education Director of the Center for Global Education
  • Director of the NTC Center for Global Education
  • Founder and Board Member of a 501c3
Casey is Associate Dean and Director of the NTC Center for Global Education at Tulane University. She also serves as Co-Director of the Altman Program in International Studies and Business at Tulane and is a Senior Professor of Practice in the Department of Political Science. She teaches courses on US immigration policy, Mexican politics, U.S.-Latin American relations, comparative politics, and globalization. She is a proud alumnae and holder of three degrees from Tulane: a doctorate in political science (2005), a master's degree in Latin American studies (2000), and a bachelor's degree in political science and Latin American studies (1997). Her commitment teaching and service have been recognized through multiple awards including the Mortar Board Excellence in Teaching Award (2018), School of Liberal Arts Outstanding Service Award (2016), the Center for Public Service's Barbara E. Moely Service-Learning Teaching Award (2013), and the Stone Center's Simon Rodriguez Award for Best Undergraduate Teacher (2012). In addition to her academic pursuits, Casey is a founder and board member of a 501c3-designated all female-identified Mardi Gras performance troupe.

Dr. Elizabeth Rafferty

Job Titles:
  • Instructor
Biography Dr. Rafferty's academic experience ranges from creation and directorship of an English as a Second Language (ESL) department that supported 11 public school districts in Pennsylvania. To serving as the Director of the Adult Education department which existed solely on through grants that Dr. Rafferty wrote/administered. She held directorship for these departments concurrently for 17 years. Presently, she is a full-time professor in Tulane's English for Academic and Professional Purposes (EAPP) department located within Tulane's Center for Global Education (CGE). Within these varied experiences she acted as grant writer, budget director, curriculum director and primary staff supervisor for a large team of educators that worked both in the public school system and within the broader scope of adult education. Her current position in EAPP at Tulane University includes instructing composition, methodology, program planning, courses taught to a spectrum of students ranging from freshmen through graduate and Law students. Her strong commitment to her students includes continual professional education, the creation of two International Student Writing Awards and her current publications ("Where Art and Science Meet...Writing. An International Students Guide to Writing", and "Scholars of the Storm(s)") and two International Student Champion Awards in 2023. Dr. Rafferty's academic experience ranges from creation and directorship of an English as a Second Language (ESL) department that supported 11 public school districts in Pennsylvania. To serving as the Director of the Adult Education department which existed solely on through grants that Dr. Rafferty wrote/administered. She held directorship for these departments concurrently for 17 years. Presently, she is a full-time professor in Tulane's English for Academic and Professional Purposes (EAPP) department located within Tulane's Center for Global Education (CGE). Within these varied experiences she acted as grant writer, budget director, curriculum director and primary staff supervisor for a large team of educators that worked both in the public school system and within the broader scope of adult education. Her current position in EAPP at Tulane University includes instructing composition, methodology, program planning, courses taught to a spectrum of students ranging from freshmen through graduate and Law students. Her strong commitment to her students includes continual professional education, the creation of two International Student Writing Awards and her current publications ("Where Art and Science Meet...Writing. An International Students Guide to Writing", and "Scholars of the Storm(s)") and two International Student Champion Awards in 2023. Dr. Rafferty's academic experience ranges from creation and directorship of an English as a Second Language (ESL) department that supported 11 public school districts in Pennsylvania. To serving as the Director of the Adult Education department which existed solely on through grants that Dr. Rafferty wrote/administered. She held directorship for these departments concurrently for 17 years. Presently, she is a full-time professor in Tulane's English for Academic and Professional Purposes (EAPP) department located within Tulane's Center for Global Education (CGE). Within these varied experiences she acted as grant writer, budget director, curriculum director and primary staff supervisor for a large team of educators that worked both in the public school system and within the broader scope of adult education. Her current position in EAPP at Tulane University includes instructing composition, methodology, program planning, courses taught to a spectrum of students ranging from freshmen through graduate and Law students. Her strong commitment to her students includes continual professional education, the creation of two International Student Writing Awards and her current publications ("Where Art and Science Meet...Writing. An International Students Guide to Writing", and "Scholars of the Storm(s)") and two International Student Champion Awards in 2023.

Dr. Isaac Muhando

Job Titles:
  • Instructor

Dr. John DePriest

Job Titles:
  • Instructor
Biography John DePriest, Ph.D. is an Instructor in the English for Academic and Professional Purposes Program through the Center for Global Education at Tulane University, where he has taught since 2016. His areas of focus include applied linguistics for ESL, phonetics of spoken English, language in the brain, spoken language performance, and language/music interactions. He is also the past president of Louisiana Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (LaTESOL). Dr. DePriest is also a musician and songwriter and an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Dr. Robert Connor

Job Titles:
  • Director of EAPP

Emma Brick-Hezeau

Job Titles:
  • Senior Program Manager

Ilana Aaquil

Job Titles:
  • Study Abroad Advisor

Joanie Vicknair

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Director of Operations
Along with her many other tasks, Joanie manages the budget, maintains the on-line study abroad application management system for the students, and works with students to get their study abroad grades processed when they return from abroad. Joanie is also the assistant to and works closely with the Interim Associate Dean of Global Education and Interim Director of CGE, Dr. Casey Love. Please contact Joanie with any questions regarding study abroad grades, records or payments, or any issues related to the on-line study abroad application system.

Maddie Hayes

Job Titles:
  • Academic Advisor
  • Study Abroad Advisor
Biography Maddie is a Tulane alumna ('18) who has spent a LOT of time abroad. She's studied abroad during her time at Tulane on the Mandel-Palagye Program for Middle East Peace and Rabat through IES Abroad. She obtained her MA in Arts & Cultural Management from King's College London, worked at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum as Curator & Programs Manager, and then lived in a convent while attending the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in Valledolmo, Sicily. She is a co-author of The Southern Food & Beverage Museum Cookbook: Recipes from the Modern South, which is a part of the LSU Press cookbook series, The Southern Table.

Megan Ritterbusch

Job Titles:
  • Staff Instructor
Biography Megan Ritterbusch earned her M.Ed. from the University of Missouri with an emphasis in Teaching English as a Second Language. She has more than seven years of experience teaching English as a second and foreign language in the U.S. and in Taiwan. In addition to teaching ESL language skills courses, she has developed curriculum for university-level intensive English program courses and community-based adult ESL programs. Her research and teaching interests include content-based instruction, second language acquisition theory and pedagogy, curriculum development, intercultural communication, and international and comparative education.

Mike Whisenant

Job Titles:
  • Study Abroad Advisor
Biography Mike Whisenant attended Washington College in Maryland where he studied Anthropology, Archaeology, and Ethnomusicology. During his junior year, he studied abroad in Denmark at Sagnlandet (Land of Legends) Lejre, an archaeological open-air museum west of Roskilde. While there, he interpreted prehistoric peoples to the public by living your average Mesolithic life in clothing he made himself. Post-graduation, Mike studied abroad again at University College Dublin in Ireland to complete a master's degree in Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture. His master's thesis was original research and experiments on the production of 18th century musket balls, and he deeply misses Ballygowan Sparkling Water. Mike is passionate about enabling and encouraging first-generation students, first-time travelers, and students with disabilities to study abroad. He believes that studying abroad has been historically prohibitive for these students, and that their contributions to the world stage are needed now more than ever. Whether it is financial concerns, navigating systems, or even fear of the unknown, he wants to help you find creative solutions to your complex challenges.

Sam Trofholz

Job Titles:
  • Academic Program Coordinator

Siena Farrar

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Director
  • Study Abroad Advisor