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Duilia de Mello Vice Provost for Global Strategiesdemello@cua.eduDr. de Mello received her Bachelor of Astronomy from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1985 and her Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1995. She joined Catholic University in 2003 and is now Professor of Physics. For the first five years she was a research associate at the University's Institute of Astrophysics and Computational Sciences based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Previously, she was assistant professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden for three years. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, and a postdoctoral fellow at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile and National Observatory in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Dr. de Mello is the recipient of the Professional of the Year Award of the Brazil Diaspora in 2013. She was named one of the most influential Brazilians by the Epoca magazine in 2014. She is deeply committed to communicating and popularizing science and to inspire young women to consider careers in STEM fields.
Maricy Schmitz International Relations Officerschmitzm@cua.eduMaricy joined the Office of Global Strategies in March 2023. Before coming to The Catholic of America, she was the Deputy Education Attachée at the Embassy of Brazil. A native of Curitiba, Brazil, Maricy was a Visiting Scholar at Antioch College, and served as Director of Exchange and Study Abroad Programs at Wright State University. Maricy is a board member of the District of Columbia and Virginia Chapters of Partners of the Americas, and a grant award recipient of the Education and Culture Program sponsored by Partners of the Americas and the U.S. Department of State. She was a Trainer Corps Ambassador for NAFSA Trainer Corps and is a member of Partners of the Americas and Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars. Maricy is a civil engineer and a specialist in international education.
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Education Abroad Staff
The Office of Education Abroad (CUAbroad) develops and administers international educational opportunities overseas for Catholic University and non-Catholic University students in coordination with academic and administrative units as well as other institutions in the U.S. and abroad.-
Robert Dowden Director of International Programs
Robert Dowden came to The Catholic University of America to serve as an education abroad advisor in the Office of Global Strategies in July 2014 and became the Director in Summer of 2021. He provides program management and acts as the primary advisor to students in matters regarding education abroad. Robert is originally from Connecticut, having also lived in North Carolina and Ohio. He participated in a spring break study abroad program in France and a summer abroad program in Costa Rica while attending Gardner-Webb University as an undergraduate majoring in English Composition. Robert also lived and worked in Bogotá, Colombia as an ESL teacher before eventually pursuing a master's degree in Higher Education Administration at Kent State University.
Laurence Stewart Education Abroad AdvisorLaurence “Larry” Stewart joined the education abroad team in the summer of 2022. He was brought on to help manage and advise the University’s programs in Rome and with affiliated partners. Larry originally hails from Los Angeles, CA, where he grew up and attended his undergraduate studies at California State University Long Beach in American Studies. Larry’s professional background is varied as he worked in aviation, healthcare, and autonomous vehicles, just to name a few but most notably he worked as an ESL teacher in South Korea, Vienna, Austria (Fulbright) and locally at the International Language Institute in Washington, DC. Larry has lived in various places throughout the United States – New Jersey, Colorado, and most recently Phoenix, Arizona.
Intensive English Program Staff
The Intensive English Program (IEP) is an ESL academic program for undergraduate and graduate students who need to increase their English language proficiency before or after admission to a degree-granting program at The Catholic University of America.-
Sister Margaret Andrew Baker, O.P., Ph.D. Director, Intensive English Program bakermar@cua.eduA veteran educator, Sister Margaret Andrew Baker began teaching in The Catholic University of America’s Intensive English Program in 2019. While Sister is relatively new to the program, she has an extensive background in education having first taught undergraduate English in 1990 at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tennessee. Additionally Sister has over 20 years of experience teaching both English and theology within secondary schools and undergraduate college programs. Sister truly enjoys working with international students as well as with students who need English instruction so that they are able to reach a level of proficiency in which they are able to continue their undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral studies. Knowing that language and composition are important tools that help people to love and respect one another, she guides students to learn the academic and communicative purpose of language and composition so that they may express themselves and understand others with clarity and ease. She is happy to be a part of CUA's Intensive English Program as she enjoys the challenges of teaching students to write formal essays and short research papers using the English Language.
A convert to Catholicism, Sister has been a member of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia Congregation since 1985. Sister received her undergraduate degree in English at Sewanee - The University of the South. Since becoming a consecrated religious, she received a Master's degree in education from Belmont University, an M.A. in Religious Studies from St.Charles Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Alabama. She enjoys reading poetry, especially Dante's Divine Comedy and the essays of Walker Percy.