Staff

As a Study Abroad Advisor, Jessa Boche advises student applicants/participants through the study abroad process and manages a portfolio of study abroad programs, mainly in the UK and Australia. Jessa also supervises the Peer Advisors that staff IAP's Study Abroad Resource Center. Jessa’s background includes experience in a variety of areas within student affairs, including residence life and student activities. As a graduate student at the University of Northern Iowa, Jessa completed an internship at the University of Liverpool in Liverpool, England. Her next ideal travel destination changes almost daily - but lately Australia is at the top of the list.

Erica Haas-Gallo joined International Academic Programs in June 2010. She has worked in International Education at the University of Minnesota and University of Illinois at Chicago. Erica earned a Bachelor of Arts in1994 from the University of Minnesota in Anthropology and American Indian Studies and a Master of Arts in 1998 from Texas A&M in Anthropology. She participated in an exchange to the University of the South Pacific in Fiji while a U of MN student. Erica also attended an archaeological field school in Belize upon graduation of U of MN. Erica works with students studying in German-speaking countries and those pursing hands-on experiences form Global Health to Zoology. If given the opportunity to travel anywhere, Erica would be torn between New Zealand, Peru and Kenya.

As an undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Kate spent a semester studying abroad in St. Gallen, Switzerland. After graduation, she spent 6 months in Zambia working with rural communities on health and education related activities, following which she joined the Peace Corps as an Education volunteer in South Africa. Kate has spent time camping in the Botswana Okavango Delta, visiting spice farms of Zanzibar, traipsing through the snow in Interlaken, Switzerland and has enjoyed a thrilling hike on the Inka trail in Peru. Kate has a MA in Education and enjoys seeing the world through the eyes of her two-year old son. Her ideal next travel destinations are Thailand, Cambodia, India and Nepal.

As a Study Abroad Advisor, Erin Polnaszek manages a portfolio of study abroad programs in Latin America and China. Erin also coordinates the annual Study Abroad Fair and works with scholarship resources in the office. Erin received her BA in English Literature with a Spanish minor and studied abroad in Cuernavaca, Mexico while an undergraduate. She later received her MA in English with a focus on Postcolonial Literature. Erin came to UW Madison after working in the study abroad office at the University of South Carolina.

As a study abroad advisor, Lauren Worth manages a portfolio of programs in Asia and East Central Europe and works with International Internship Programs on worldwide internship opportunities. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Colorado State University and a M.S. in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Miami University (OH). During her time at Miami she completed a summer study tour to Eastern Europe. She spent 2 years teaching English in Fukushima-ken, Japan. If she could go anywhere in the world it would be Turkey, South Korea, or Antarctica.