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Asha Henry

See Asha at the Traveling While Black Student Panel

Asha Henry, from Takoma Park Maryland, is a junior on Â鶹´«Ã½ Fencing studying Cognitive Science and Global Health. She attended the Global Health Studies Comparative Health in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Summer 2023. 

Michaiah Ligon

See Michaiah at the Traveling While Black Student Panel

My name is Michaiah Ligon and I am a third year student studying Psychology and LOC as well as the integrated marketing certificate. This past summer I traveled to Athens, Greece and it was my very first study abroad experience as well as my first time traveling to Europe. Since then, I've begun making plans to travel to other countries as I feel this trip created a love for international travel. Next, I want to visit Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, Turks and Caicos and possibly Peru. 

Autumn Rose

See Autumn at the Traveling While Black Student Panel

Autumn is a senior studying Communication Studies, and minoring in Spanish and Film & Media Studies. With an interest in language acquisition and culture, and wanting to expand her Â鶹´«Ã½ experience, she chose to study in the Spanish Language & Culture program in Barcelona, Spain in Summer 2023. Through taking classes at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and participating in community events in several cities, she was fortunate to gain knowledge from unfamiliar, yet inspiring and exciting experiences. She has grown personally and academically from this opportunity.

Having studied in Spain, and previously traveled to Italy and France, she hopes to be able to answer any questions and encourage other students to take advantage of global learning opportunities!

Jade Thomas

See Jade at the Traveling While Black Student Panel

Jade (she/her) is third-year in Medill majoring in Journalism with a double minor in Black Studies and French. She studied abroad in Montpellier, France during the 2023 fall quarter with the University of Minnesota. Her favorite parts of the experience were her host family, the friends she made, the kindness of the region.

Ava Thompson Greenwell, Ph.D.

Professor and Faculty-In-Residence

Dr. Thompson Greenwell will moderate the Traveling While Black Panel Discussion.

Ava Thompson Greenwell is a faculty member at Â鶹´«Ã½’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications where she specializes in teaching video journalism.  She has served as co-director of the South Africa Journalism Residency Program and as faculty mentor for the Posse Program.

The Chicago native is director/producer of “Mandela in Chicago,” a documentary film about the city’s anti-apartheid movement and executive producer of “Hearing Silences,” a film about the history of Black women faculty at Â鶹´«Ã½ that will debut on campus on February 25.  All are invited.

She is also author of Ladies Leading: The Black Women Who Control Television News and produced the Ladies Leading podcast to highlight the contributions of Black women in a variety of fields.

Dr. Greenwell, an academic life coach, has been a freelance correspondent for WGN-TV and Chicago Tonight, a PBS news program. Before Â鶹´«Ã½, she was as a news reporter at WFLA-TV in Tampa, FL; WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, MN; and WEHT-TV in Evansville, IN. 

During her time as an undergraduate at Â鶹´«Ã½, she studied abroad in Spain her junior year.  She recently returned from Buenos Aires, Argentina where she led a group of graduate students through an immersive reporting experience focused on solutions journalism.

Ryan Rounds

Assistant Director for Program Management and Outreach, Global Learning Office

Ryan will co-moderate the Study Abroad 101: Resources & Support for Black Students session

A Chicagoland native born in Chicago and raised in the south suburbs, Ryan joined the Global Learning Office in 2022 and she advises on and manages programs in France. Her interest in international education began in high school on a trip to Spain where she told a fellow classmate "You don't go to Spain to eat fries and ketchup."

Ryan received her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign. She realized that psychology, though interesting, was not her calling and went on to get her M.Ed. in International Higher Education from Loyola University Chicago. In both undergraduate and graduate school, Ryan had the opportunity to study abroad in long and short-term programs in Spain, Italy, and China. Prior to coming to Â鶹´«Ã½, Ryan has worked in retail, non-profit administration, distance learning design and facilitation, taught English abroad, and was most recently a Study Abroad Specialist at Western Michigan University. She has a particular interest in diversifying study abroad student participation. When she is not working, Ryan loves watching true crime documentaries, traveling, ethnic food, following her favorite YouTube content creators, thrifting, and hanging out with her frenchie, Hugo.