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Team
View biographical highlights of the staff and students of Pan American Initiatives.
Sarah Al-Abdullah
Special Projects Coordinator
Sarah joined Pan American Initiatives in August 2004 as operations specialist. Since that time, her role has grown to serving as the office’s events specialist. Her skills include situational analysis writing, web design and development, brochure development, and graphic design, which enable her in to participate in many office projects, such as the Web site, proposals and events.
While living in Kuwait, Sarah served as a Kuwaiti embassy evacuations volunteer, a Christmas bazaar volunteer for the American Women’s League of Kuwait and hosted U.S. Army soldiers at her home for the holidays.
She earned a bachelor's degree in strategic media and public relations from ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2005.
Sarah is a native of Chesterfield, Missouri, but has also lived in St. Louis as well as Spain and Kuwait.
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Rachel Asmus
Office Specialist
Rachel joined Pan American Initiatives in January 2007 as an office specialist. She assists in office operations and general day-to-day activities. Rachel works directly with the executive coordinator and provides support for office events, visits and special projects.
Rachel participated in the National Educational Travel Association’s program through seven cities in Spain, various countries in the Southern Caribbean and numerous parts of Mexico. She also was a chosen delegate for Missouri at the Congressional Student Leadership conference in Washington, D.C., where students from around the world came to represent their countries and hold forums and mock trials concerning global politics and international law.
Rachel is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree from ASU with a double major in Spanish and global studies. She is also in a pre-law program of study and hopes to pursue her jurist doctorate abroad.
Rachel was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.
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Tiffany Chiang
Research Associate
Tiffany joined Pan American Initiatives in March 2006 as a research associate. She is currently working to support the stakeholder and development process for the North American Center for Transborder Studies at ASU.
Tiffany came to ASU under the Leadership Scholarship Program founded by Dr. Christine Wilkinson, the senior vice president and secretary of the university. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in history from the Barrett Honors College and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Also, Tiffany serves as the vice president of the Barrett Honors College Council and as co-president of the Honors Mentoring Program.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Tiffany lived in both Texas and Michigan before moving to Arizona, where she has resided for 17 years.
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Matthew Alan Lord
Research Associate
Matt joined Pan American Initiatives in October of 2005 as a research associate. He researches and writes proposals for the office on a variety of major topics.
In addition to his position at Pan American Initiatives, Matt serves as an interdisciplinary studies representative on the Graduate and Professional Student Association Assembly and is a former vice-president of external affairs for the association. He also served on the Arizona Board of Regent’s Student Stakeholder Group, looking at methods to redesign Arizona’s university system.
Matt holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Missouri. He also earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from ASU. He is currently conducting a case study of Laveen, Arizona, which focuses on how the community is dealing with urban growth.
Matt was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where he lived before relocating to Arizona.
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Julie Lovegrove
Graphic Designer
Julie joined Pan American Initiatives in June 2006 as a graphic designer. She handles all of the office's graphic design needs, including proposals, the Web site, newsletters and many other office publications.
Previous to joining the office, Julie worked as an account manager and designer at Traveler's Property Casualty and as a student worker in the ASU Undergraduate Admissions Office.
She is currently pursuing a major in graphic design with a minor in business. She anticipates graduating in May 2008, when she hopes to start her own graphic design firm, concentrating in print design, branding and Web layout.
Previous to Arizona, Julie has also resided in Virginia, close to Washington, D.C.
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Claudia Navarro
Associate Director
Claudia recently rejoined Pan American Initiatives in September 2006 as associate director. She coordinates strategic projects and initiatives for the office and manages the daily functions of the office and the staff. Claudia also handles the office relationships with key partner institutions such as Tec de Monterrey and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM), CONACYT (Mexican equivalent of the National Science Foundation), the Arizona-Mexico Commission and serves as a point of contact for ASU faculty and international institutions.
Previously, in November 2002, Claudia had become the first graduate student to join the office, focusing on the research and analysis of priorities for Pan American Initiatives, before temporarily leaving the office.
Claudia was an Organization of American States (OAS) Fellow and received her master's degree in environmental planning from the ASU College of Architecture and Environmental Design in May 2004. She earned the ASU School of Planning and Landscape Architecture graduate award for service and outstanding graduate achievement. She also holds a professional degree in architecture from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
A native of Chile, Claudia is fluent in both Spanish and English.
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Jose Quiroga
ASU Liaison for Tecnológico de Monterrey
Jose originally joined Pan American Initiatives in August 2003 as a research associate, gathering information on various Latin American institutions and preparing reports on socioeconomic indicators and policies. As a native of Hermosillo, Sonora, he became specialized in projects related to Mexico, specifically related to Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). His current position has been designated by the presidents of ASU and ITESM in order to facilitate the managing of several academic and research projects between both institutions. Jose will be based in Monterrey until the completion of his graduate studies.
He has been the recipient of several scholarships for academic achievement, such as the Motorola Scholarship and the Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Community/Maricopa Engineering Transition Scholars (CIRC/METS) scholarship funded by the National Science Foundation.
Jose received his bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from ASU in May 2005. He is currently pursuing his master's degree in electrical engineering at ITESM in Monterrey, Mexico, from where he is serving as the ASU Liaison for Tec de Monterrey.
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Jan Simacek
Information Technology Specialist
Jan joined Pan American Initiatives in spring 2005 with the responsibility of developing web applications and web content for Pan American Initiative’s projects. He developed the AzGATES web application and is responsible for the maintenance web and technical applications created and used in the office.
Jan has been working as a contractor in web development, specializing in web application and database development, for the past five years. He has also been a leading ASU developer for other various department web projects.
Graduating with his bachelor's degree in computer science in December 2005, Jan will continue to pursue his education at ASU by working towards his master’s degree.
Born in the Czech Republic, Jan spent his first eight years there, followed by five years in Australia and leading now to his home in Phoenix.
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Gregory Taylor
Editor and Project Specialist
Greg joined Pan American Initiatives in November 2005 to edit all items created in the office for public and private consumption, including initiatives, proposals, memos, press releases and newsletter articles.
He has held positions at both the Center for the Future of Arizona and WestEd, where he researched and wrote proposals on a variety of education policy issues. He also served as the editor for the Stanford American Studies Newsletter in 2004-05. In addition to his position at Pan American Initiatives, Greg currently serves as campaign manager for David Schapira's campaign for the state legislature from district 17.
Greg earned his bachelor's degree in American studies with honors from Stanford University in June of 2005. At Stanford, he completed an honors thesis titled “Masquerading Politics as Policy: A History of Arizona's AIMS Test” and published an article in the Mark Twain Annual on Twain’s use of African American Vernacular English in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Greg currently attends ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication pursuing a master's degree.
Born in Waterville, Ohio, Greg has also lived in the Chicago area before moving to Arizona. He has resided in Arizona for over a decade.
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Marco Ugarte Irizarri
Project Specialist
Marco joined Pan American Initiatives in January 2007 as project specialist. He currently helps coordinate the ASU-CONACYT Fellowship Program. He maintains communications with ASU-CONACYT fellows and potential candidates as well as maintains the Web site and other materials used to market the program in the U.S. and Mexico.
Prior to joining the office, Marco worked with the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), where he developed a strategic partnership between the ITESM and APICS United States (The Association for Operations Management).
Marco holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering and a master’s degree in quality and productivity systems from ITESM. Certified by APICS and the American Society for Quality (ASQ), he is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in industrial engineering at ASU and is an ASU-CONACYT fellow.
A native of Mexico City, Marco is fluent in both Spanish and English.
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Shannon Wulf
Associate Director
Shannon joined Pan American Initiatives in April 2004 to help build upon the university's global engagement efforts. As associate director, she works to develop strategic academic, governmental and business partners throughout the Americas. She also helps to manage the daily operations of the office and is responsible for the evaluation and recommendation of new priority initiatives.
Prior to arriving at ASU, Shannon was the project manager for Mexican and Latin American policy for Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and former Governor Jane Dee Hull, during which time she managed the historic visit by Mexico's President Vicente Fox to Arizona and represented the state at the Border Governors’ Conference. She also evaluated and recommended current and proposed policy actions in areas such as immigration reform, cross-border commerce, and infrastructure for local, national and international policy.
Shannon also has experience in the non-profit sector, serving as the project manager for member services for the Arizona-Mexico Commission, a public-private collaboration aimed at improving the region. In this role, she recruited new members, exceeding the annual membership revenue goal, and administered services to over 500 individuals and organizations.
She also managed the CANAMEX Corridor Project for the state of Arizona, coordinating the multinational CANAMEX Corridor Coalition and the Governor’s CANAMEX Task Force with the goal of developing a trinational trade, transportation and tourism corridor from Mexico City to Alberta, Canada.
Shannon graduated Magna Cum Laude from ASU with a bachelor's degree in journalism and minors in Spanish and communication.
Born in Nebraska, she was raised in Arizona and is proficient in Spanish as well as English.
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