"Professor Arntson's team building exercises and classes about group dynamics were invaluable. They gave our team the same vocabulary and tools to mediate conflicts and make decisions while abroad and helped us understand each other's motivations."
- Catherine Wu
"I will always treasure my home-stay experience. I became very close with my siblings and loved having a large family. I learned that wherever you are, a family is a family and life is lived day to day."
- Ellen Abrams
"My home-stay was one of the best aspects of my summer. I could not wait to get home after work. My sisters taught me so much about Ugandan culture as well as life in general. We have grown up on different sides of the world but we may as well as lived next door."
- Chelsea Christman
"I learned how compassionate people can be who have just met you and the wonderful hospitality and family culture that exists in India."
- Asha Toulmin
"Our NGO let us work independently, but took co-ownership of our project, which was comforting as we were creating a proposal for them and we required input and feedback to know that our work had a purpose."
- Elizabeth Montgomery
"Being at our NGO was the single best part of the trip. I loved the community, and I loved the people there. It is an amazing NGO that does amazing things. The challenges we faced taught us to overcome obstacles."
- Alex Grubman
"The FSD site team was incredible. I've never worked with such capable, caring, fun people. They made me feel so at home and safe and also really supported us with our NGO."
- Asha Toulmin
"The FSD site team was fantastic. They helped us with everything we needed from managing tough NGO relationships to making sure our project plans were really attempting to achieve sustainable development."
- Claire Olszewski
"I could not have imagined a better set of teammates. They were all extremely committed and brought all they knew to the table."
- Chelsea Christman
"I am very impressed by the commitment and intelligence of the fellow students in GESI. I definitely learned much from them."
- XinKai Cheng
"The diversity of our group made us effective -- while others preferred to work on logistical, behind-the-scenes stuff; some were outspoken, others were more contemplative; some were better planners, some were better at actuating ideas on paper."
- Abby Hannifan
"To succeed in this program you have to be willing to set aside your expectations. This applies both to the outcomes of your project, as well as the expectations of what daily life will consist of."
- Elizabeth Montgomery
"This program gave new meaning to hands on learning. The background at the institute on development was great, and a week later you were on site attempting to implement what you had learned, and in the process learning far more than you could imagine."
- Rachel Suffrin
"It is unique that GESI students do not have a predetermined project before arriving in country. Although this can lead to certain challenges, I was grateful for this approach."
- Ellen Abrams
"The most unique thing was the amount of exposure we got to the community. I felt like I was a part of it and not just observing it."
- Bryan Stenson
"This experience was absolutely applicable to my personal, professional, academic goals, especially when it comes to approaching development with a realistic perception of how it works on the ground."
- Elizabeth Montgomery
"The experience has given me a new perspective on everything from washing the dishes to how to address world hunger... I will be returning to the lessons I learned on this trip decades from now."
- Alexis Suskin-Sperry
"GESI has helped me mature as a team member and a prospective development worker."
- C.A.

Staff

GESI staff is responsible for the holistic GESI experience including program recruitment, program implementation and alumni involvement. GESI staff selects program participants, assign students to their host countries and teams, make travel arrangements and organize the pre-departure training and final summit. GESI staff work closely with their in-country partner FSD to select host NGOs and to ensure safety and health protocol are maintained.

Brian Hanson, Program Director Brian Hanson Stock Photo
Brian Hanson is the Associate Director of the Roberta Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies and Lecturer in Political Science, Northwestern University. His research and teaching interests are in fields of international relations and comparative political economy. He teaches courses on international political economy, globalization, and the changing role of the state in world politics. His current research project is on the politics of trade liberalization in Europe.

Hanson is the faculty advisor to nine undergraduate groups at Northwestern that are focused on world affairs. Related activities outside of academia include, serving as a director and vice chair for programming of the Stanley Foundation, which promotes multilateral approaches to international problems. Hanson is also active in international philanthropy as a board of the Chicago Global Donors Network and chair of its Program Committee, as an advisor to the Holthues Trust, which supports international development, human rights, and environmental projects, and as director of the TNH Foundation, which supports social justice and environmental projects. In addition, Hanson serves on the Board of GlobeMed, a national organization that seeks to build a new generation of leaders in global health by involving undergraduates in health projects in the developing world.

Previously, Hanson has served as the foreign policy advisor to U.S. Senator Alan Dixon, government affair representative for John Deere & Company, and research analyst for the US Information Agency.

Nicole Patel, Assistant Director
Nicole Patel joined the GESI program in June 2009 after three years of international development work in India. She served as a Livelihood Program Officer at the American India Foundation where she managed Rickshaw Sangh, a microcredit initiative enabling cycle rickshaw pullers to avail asset finance while forging a group identity through collectivization and credit plus programs. Prior, Nicole worked in the colorful Kachchh District of Western India, co-managing and increasing women’s participation in a community-owned rural tourism project pilot supported by the United Nations Development Program and the Government of India.

Nicole spent a year studying abroad in Chile and conducted field research on participatory development in South Africa. She has taught English to indigenous populations of Peru and worked with diverse refugee communities residing in Chicago. She is a recipient of the William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service in India and obtained her bachelors from Northwestern in 2006 having studied Political Science and Latin American Caribbean Studies. She speaks Spanish, Gujarati and Hindi.

Bethany Croasmun, Program Manager
Bethany Bethany Croasmun is originally from Glenview, IL. She graduated from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service with a BSFS in Latin American Studies and International Development. While at Georgetown, she interned for the Washington Office on Latin America, a policy non-profit advocating for social and political change in Latin America.

Bethany also conducted research for the English department, facilitated performing arts student groups, and was a John Carroll Fellow. She has lived and studied in Quito, Ecuador and Mexico City, Mexico and managed student service teams in Bangalore, India. She recently moved back to the Chicago area to join the GESI team.

Gabriel Brotman, Intern
Originally from Lexington, MA, Gabe Brotman is a second-year Communication Studies, American Studies, and International studies major at Northwestern University. Prior to enrollment, Gabe helped oversee development for education sustainability programs in Ho, Ghana with Pagus:Africa, a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization. He has studied twice in Jerusalem, Israel, and has interned in Washington, Denver, and New York City for government relations firms and and media companies. He is a Communications Century Scholar in NU’s School of Communication and assists with faculty research on American news media.