Global Citizenship Program

 Sheetal Shah, Ph.D.

 Interim Head of Global Citizenship Program

 Specialization: Counseling

Bio: Sheetal (Agarwal) Shah has been a Consulting Psychologist and Counselor in practice since 1999. She specializes in the field of counseling for chronic illnesses viz. epilepsy and HIV/AIDS.  She was responsible for designing, setting up, and managing a help line for telephonic counseling in India (the 1st of its kind in Asia for Population Services International, Washington), specializing in issues related to HIV/ AIDS and sexuality. She has also been affiliated with various academic institutions for training and supervising counselors at the post graduate level.  Having completed her M.A. (Psy.) in U.K. (University of Sussex) and M.Phil. and Ph.D. in India (S.N.D.T. University) she is well sensitized towards the cultural issues that influence the clientcounselor dynamics. 

She is currently Interim Head of Global Citizenship Program and Head of Department of Behavioral & Social Sciences at Webster, and is working on a research project for Webster Leiden  Campus called the BIJLMER PROJECT. The project’s main objective is to address the psychosocial needs of trafficked women and men in the Netherlands.

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 Sara Lusini, Ph.D.

 Specialization: Linguistics

 Bio: Dr. Sara Lusini holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Linguistics from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice (Italy), and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Leiden University. Her research interests include syntactic theory, linguistic typology, experimental phonetics, sociolinguistics, dialects and cultural identity, and the relationship between language, culture, and communication. 

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Jelle de Boer, Ph.D.

Specialization: Philosophy

Bio: Jelle de Boer is a lecturer at Delft University of Technology. He has studied geology, economics (M.A.), and philosophy (Ph.D.). His research in recent years has focused on questions concerning human cooperation and well-being. He is editor-in-chief of Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte, a Dutch journal of philosophy. He has published in journals such as Economics and Philosophy, Biology and Philosophy, and Philosophical Psychology. He co-edited the book Well-Being in Contemporary Society, Springer, 2014.

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Allison Kirk, Ph.D.

Specialization: Academic Writing, Theoretical and Historical Linguistics

Bio: Dr. Allison Kirk is a Canadian historical linguist, language editor, and  teacher She obtained her Ph.D. in theoretical linguistics from Leiden University in 2012, where she focused on word order and information structure in the Koine Greek of the New Testament. She completed her M.A. at Concordia University, Montreal, with the dissertation, A syntactic account of split DPs in Herodotus, and her B.A. in Linguistics and classical languages (with honors) at the University of Alberta.

In addition to teaching WRIT 1010 and co-ordinating the Writing Center at Webster, Dr. Kirk teaches in the Department of Languages, Literature and Communication (English) at Utrecht University. Her research interests are the structure of relative clauses (and other subordinate clauses) and the origins of syntactic embedding.

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Vanessa Lann, M.A.

Specialization: Music Composition

Bio: Vanessa Lann studied Musicology, Piano Performance, and Composition at Harvard University, in addition to Physics and Film Theory.  She later received her Master's Degree in Music Composition from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. She is an internationally-recognized, prize-winning composer, and many of her works are known for the complex mathematical principles which govern their structures. Her music has been performed in concert halls throughout the world, including Lincoln Center (New York) and The Concertgebouw (Amsterdam).  She has been commissioned to create works for such distinguished ensembles as the Radio Chamber Orchestra of The Netherlands and the Orchestra De Volharding, as well as for soloists including Tomoko Mukaiyama, Guy Livingston, Ivo Janssen, Harry Sparnaay, Annelie de Man, and Eleonore Pameijer. She was the subject of a Dutch television documentary in 1997, which focused on her music and on the compact disc recording of her work for the large ensemble, Dancing to an Orange Drummer. Six other CDs feature Lann's music, which are published by Donemus, Amsterdam. 

Internet:  www.lann.dds.nl

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Carlos Roos, M.A.

Specialization: Philosophy

Bio: Carlos Roos is a scholar in the fields of art theory and communication studies, as well as a practicing artist with international experience in studio and stage projects. He holds a B.A. in Art from Universidad Central de  Venezuela  (VE)  and  an  M.A.  in  Philosophy  of  Art  from  Leiden  University  (NL). His current  doctoral research (Leiden University and UGent) revolves around critical theory, metaphysics, and aesthetics. Roos is the editorial assistant of Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication, and a member  of  the  following  scholarly  associations:  European  Communication  Research  and  Education Association (ECREA), European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS).

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Marijn van't Veer, Ph.D.

 Specialization: Phonology and Dutch

 Bio: After studying Spanish at the University of Amsterdam for one year, the instructor continued his Bachelor's degree in Linguistics, for which he received his MA in 2008 and his PhD in 2015, both from Leiden University. He has taught at Leiden University and the University of Amsterdam. In addition, he works as a private language instructor, as a museum instructor and as a photographer.