Staff Spotlight: Lisa Calevi

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Institutional Relations Manager
Lisa Calevi is GEO’s Institutional Relations Manager. She received her B.A. from the University of Michigan, an M.A. from the Syracuse University Florence Fellowship Program in Italy, and completed doctoral coursework in art history at the University of Oregon. For 14 years, Lisa lived in Italy — first as a graduate student, and later as an instructor and program coordinator for several U.S. study abroad programs based in Italy, including Road Scholar.

Lisa Calevi from GEO

What is your favorite travel memory?

Istanbul: fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice on every corner, Byzantine mosaics galore, a Turkish bath without equal, and crossing the Bosphorus from Europe to Asia in under an hour! What's not to like?

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

Rapa Nui (Easter Island), because it would be unlike any travel or educational experience I've ever had! The program combines a seminar-style intensive course and grand “field trip” to witness Easter Island’s most remarkable archaeology. The course is led by one of the world's foremost Rapa Nui experts, Terry Hunt, University of Oregon professor and dean of the Clark Honors College.

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

I was especially proud to be a member of the GEO marketing and communications team that pooled its collective talents to produce a promotional video featuring the University of Oregon's mascot, the Oregon Duck, studying abroad in London. The video has been nationally recognized at NAFSA and through the Institute of International Education as an example of an innovative approach to marketing study abroad.

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

GEO is fully committed to giving students the most authentic and comprehensive experience possible while they are abroad on one of our programs. This includes designing programming in locations off the beaten path, developing courses that enable students to move forward with their degree path, and providing a variety of professional development opportunities for students to take advantage of while they are abroad on a GEO program.