Staff Spotlight: Maria Nelida de Juano (Beba)

Title::
Site Director
Maria Nelida (students call her Beba) is a Literature teacher at Universidad Nacional de Rosario and also the Rosario site Director. She understands the valuable experience a study abroad offers to students because many years ago, she studied and lived in Portland for a year.
This program is hosted by UNR, and she has been running it for over 15 years very successfully!

Maria Nelida de Juano Site Director for GEO

What is your favorite travel memory?

To walk on the UO campus and hear students who were in the Rosario Program call my name to say hello to me. Also to receive return students who come back to Rosario to see old friends and visit us.

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

Working on international education reinforces our ideas about building a better world for the future. Understanding each other's culture is always the first step!

Books cannot replace the emotions created by the fact of living and getting to know other´s culture.

And also we gain a new perspective of our own culture .

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

I would choose Oviedo, in Spain, because I have studied Spanish literature a lot, and I am thankful to Spanish culture for the beautiful language Spain has spread in different Latin American countries, including my country, Argentina.

Different nuances and characteristics developed in our languages along the centuries which makes the fact of learning them even more attractive.

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

All of the members in our Rosario Staff are very much involved in our job. We all understand we are dealing with a very precious "substance" which is a young person´s spirit, in a special time which is when they are developing into a honorable citizen and person.

Faculty and student coordinators, in addition to myself, are always close to the students to answer their questions and help them in what they need. Home stays are also a big success here, I specially select them!

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

To be deeply engaged in our work. To think about the students and their needs first of all, always!