Alicia de la Peña Portero

Born and raised in Madrid, Alicia de la Peña has always been interested in other cultures and language. Beginning at age ten, she was involved in her school program abroad and travelled to Ireland for four summers to study English language and culture. Because she loved the experience, she later participated in similar programs in Canada. She also completed a training program in the south of France where she learned some French. Alicia studied at Antonio de Nebrija University (Madrid), where she received a Masters of Teaching Spanish as a Second Language. Earlier, she received a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Autonoma University (Madrid).

Alicia has been a teacher of Spanish as a foreign language for 11 years, working for CEA and universities such as Antonio de Nebrija and Carlos III (Madrid). She has taught several courses in grammar, gender studies, and business to students from all over Europe and the US Being so closely involved in the Spanish university, she has participated in several congresses and has published a number of articles related to the teaching of foreign languages.

Alicia’s work experience has also developed outside the realm of academics and education. In addition to translating a number of books, she has been collaborating with the American section of the Office of Defense Cooperation (Madrid) for 8 years as a translator of legal and military documents.

Alicia practices body-combat, tries to travel whenever she has free time, and loves Spanish food.

Rubén Darío Alves López

Born and raised in Galicia, Rubén has always been interested in other cultures and languages. When he was sixteen, he decided to travel to London to experience a "new way of life." Because he loved the experience, he decided to spend the following four summers there. He made the most of it, travelling and discovering places such as Scotland and Wales. He also spent two weeks in Paris when he was seventeen and learned a little French.

Rubén studied at Antonio de Nebrija University (Madrid), where he received a Masters Degree in Teaching Spanish as a Second Language. He also received a B.A. in English Language and Literature from University of Vigo (Galicia).

Rubén has been a teacher of Spanish as a foreign language for 7 years, working as a translator for different companies and universities such as Antonio de Nebrija, San Pablo CEU, and Carlos III (Madrid). He has taught several courses in grammar, history studies, and arts not only to students from all over Europe and the U.S but also to Spaniards. Being so closely involved in the Spanish university system, he has participated in several congresses and has published a number of articles related to the teaching of foreign languages.

His working experience covers a wide range of academic and educational fields. Apart from having translated official documents and websites for different companies, he has been collaborating with different European academic projects such as the E-times Project developing new contents as well as assessing the results of the courses (in Madrid, London, Vienna, Sofia and Athens) for 2 years.

Rubén enjoys walking his dogs as well as meeting up with friends whenever he can. He also loves travelling and discovering new places.

Isabel Carrasco

Isabel Carrasco was born in Madrid and loves the study abroad atmosphere. In fact, she has been a part of various programs in Italy, Ireland and Greece. She speaks fluent English, Modern Greek and basic French.

Isabel is currently preparing a defense of her dissertation in the Department of Philosophy at the Complutense University (Madrid), where she is completing research on the aesthetic interactions between Images and Writing. She holds a B.A. in Art History from the Complutense University (Madrid).

She has been teaching Art History and Spanish Language & Literature to American students for the past 5 years at various American universities in Spain, such as Colgate University and CIEE, while working as an Assistant Director and Cultural Activities Coordinator for numerous American Programs in Spain. Isabel also works as a Resident Director in Madrid for Marist College and Stetson University. Her research interests focus on the study of writing as a plastic phenomenon in general and of Greek alphabet in particular. In addition, she participates in the seminar Writing and Image at the Complutense University (Madrid) in collaboration with the University of Paris VIII and the University of Turin. Her articles have been published in numerous Spanish and Greek academic journals.

Isabel practices karate and loves traveling and walking. In her free time, she enjoys roller skating in Retiro Park (Madrid).

Héctor Santiago-Cazull

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised between his Spanish-speaking homeland and New York City, Héctor Santiago-Cazull’s bilingual and multi-cultural upbringing made him very aware of cultural diversity at an early age. As a specialist in Historic Preservation, he worked for many years at the Institute for Puerto Rican Culture (San Juan, Puerto Rico), fighting to protect the Island’s Spanish-Caribbean heritage from the evil forces of global anonymity, eventually becoming Executive Director of Heritage Conservation. He has also worked independently as a researcher and consultant, carrying out dozens of research projects and interpretative studies on historical monuments and archaeological sites in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Panama.

Héctor completed his doctoral courses at the Universidad Complutense (Madrid, Spain), where he is working on his dissertation in Latin American History. In 1996 he received a Certificate in Architectural Heritage Conservation at Unesco’s International Centre for the Conservation of Cultural Property (Rome, Italy). Before that, Hector had obtained an M.S. in Historic Preservation and a B.A. in Architecture and Humanities, both from Columbia University (New York, NY).

Héctor speaks Spanish, English and Italian fluently, and has recently begun learning German. He loves travelling, cinema and music, but has a special interest in historical cities and architecture, with a particular obsession for the houses and fortifications of the Middle and Early Modern Ages. He has taken singing classes for many years and has sung professionally in classical and opera choirs.

Course Taught: Spanish Culture and Civilization

Francisco Frisuelos Krömer

Francisco was born in Sidi Ifni, the former Spanish territories in the Sahara, but he grew up in Sevilla, where his family moved when he was three. His early interest in other cultures led him to travel around Europe and study foreign languages. During his senior year in high school, he was an exchange student in Paris where he learned French. Later, after earning his university degree, he studied abroad in the US to perfect his English.

Paco, as everyone calls him, is currently working on his PhD in Film Studies at the Universidad Autonoma (Madrid). He also received an MA in Humanities from the Universidad Carlos III (Madrid) and a Bachelor’s in Art History from Universidad de Sevilla.

Francisco has worked as a professor for several American universities and study abroad programs teaching Spanish Cinema, Art History, and Spanish culture. He has extensive experience working with study abroad students as a Resident Director, and he takes great pride in being able to make the students' time in Madrid enjoyable.

In his spare time, Paco enjoys writing, music, film, photography, art, traveling, reading, and going to the theater. He is fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Italian. Paco believes that studying abroad is the best experience any student can have because it’s challenging, rewarding, and fun to learn a new language and culture as well as experience exciting places and new situations. Moreover, Paco knows that studying abroad is a great opportunity to meet lifelong friends.

Isabel Piera

Isabel Piera is a native of Spain and received her Master's degree in Spanish and Latin-American Literature from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1985. She then completed her PhD courses at the Complutense University in Madrid. Presently, she is finishing her thesis on Spanish language lexicon. Isabel Piera also speaks fluent English and basic French.

Isabel has been teaching Spanish language courses to American and international students for the past 20 years and Spanish Culture and Civilization courses for the past 10 years. She has also participated in cultural site visits to different parts of Madrid and nearby locations such as Toledo, Segovia, El Escorial, and Avila.

In her free time, Isabel has been taken singing lessons for 4 the past years and performs jazz and Latin American songs in Madrid's local pubs several times each year.

Oscar Martínez-Tapia, PhD

Dr. Oscar Martínez-Tapia has been teaching politics for a number of years at various American universities (UC Irvine and Harvard University in the U.S. and Saint Louis and Suffolk Universities abroad programs in Madrid) and Spanish universities (Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Cesma School of Business). He especially enjoys teaching in these two rather different and yet complementary academic worlds and in two languages, English and Spanish.

He earned a PhD in Political Science from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid where he also obtained his undergraduate degree in Political Science in 1997. In between, he received his M.A. in International Relations from the University of Manchester (U.K.) in 2000. He has done research at different times at the University of Lund (Sweden), The University of California at Irvine, Harvard University, and the Advanced Center for Social Sciences at the Juan March Institute in Madrid. He also was Communication Advisor to the Vice-president of Spain from 2005-2007.

Oscar enjoys reading, films, traveling, and evolutionary biology. Ever since he was a kid, he has been fascinated by primate’s behavior. If he had not been a political scientist, he would have tried to study monkeys.

Raquel Escudero Villaverde

Raquel Escudero Villaverde was born and raised in Madrid (Spain), but she always has been interested in other cultures. That’s the reason why she has travelled all over the world. She knew she wanted to teach Spanish as a foreign language since she was really young.

Raquel earned her Spanish Philology Degree at Complutense University in Madrid, and she has attended several courses related to Spanish grammar and culture. At the same time she started studying English and French. After finishing her degree, she started her own company to teach Spanish as a foreign language in the business world in Madrid.

She has been teaching Spanish for 14 years, not only working for her own company, but also teaching at Complutense University (Madrid), Carlos III University (Madrid) and for the American section of the Office of Defense Cooperation. She has also published a Spanish grammar book and has participated in several congresses related to Spanish language.

Raquel practices sports, loves travelling and enjoys Spanish culture.

Eduardo Aram Kehyaian Arakelian

Eduardo Aram has taught Strategic Marketing in CUNEF’s Finance Master program as well as Marketing and Foreign Trade in the Joint Business-Law Bachelor degree in Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. During the last 24 years, he has also developed a corporate career in Management Consulting at McKinsey & Co., Investment Banking at Banco Santander, and Venture Capital at Wisdom Factory SCR and Unirisco SCR.

Eduardo got a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with distinction with a major in Finance, from The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1987. While attending the Master, he was appointed as researcher in Statistics Management Science. Prior to that Eduardo got a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) degree, with a major in Economics from the Universidad de la República in Montevideo (Uruguay) in 1985.

Son of Armenian immigrants, Eduardo was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1962. He grew up there, with several periods in Brazil, until he went to the U.S., where he lived for a couple of years before settling down in Madrid in 1987. He has dual nationality: Spanish and Uruguayan. He has had hands-on experience living in developing countries, developed ones and new entrants in the European Union.

Eduardo's native tongue is Spanish, and he is also fluent in English and Portuguese.

Pau Sanmartín

Pau Sanmartin was born in Valencia, but moved to Madrid when he was a child. As a teenager, he spent three summers in Dublin learning English. Pau has studied and worked in Spain and France, so he also speaks fluently French.

He earned a degree in Theory of Literature and Comparative Literature in 2000 at the Complutense de Madrid University, also winning the First National Award. He also was awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship during 2001-2005. During this time, he taught courses in Literature, participated in several congresses and published a number of articles related to Literature and Russian Literary Critics, the subject of his doctoral dissertation. He earned a doctorate in 2006.

Pau has taught a variety of courses for U.S. students since 2007. He taught Literature and Spanish Culture & Civilization at American University in Madrid. In spring 2008, he taught “The Culture of Food and Wine in Spain” for CEA Global Education. He combines his work as a teacher conducting different reading clubs in public libraries in Madrid.

Pau loves literature, music, cinema and any cultural activity.

Alberto Fuentes

A New York City native, Alberto Fuentes currently works as General Manager of Dragon Cellars, a company that designs and constructs custom wine cellars. They work with top level residential and commercial clients across Spain.

Before working in the custom construction business, Al began his career in the U.S. Air Force where he served for over 16 years. He held numerous management positions in aircraft maintenance at air force bases across both the U.S. and Spain. Throughout his career Al has received extensive recognition for his leadership, not to mention becoming Detachment Commander at the peak of his military career.

Upon his eventual arrival in Spain, Al joined the human resources consultancy, Mercuri Urval where he quickly adapted to Madrid’s environment. Al was promoted to Team Leader after gaining merits from his selection and management development projects. After holding key positions in many other companies, he began work at NEXUS in 2004 as their Senior Management Consultant.

Fluent in both English and Spanish languages, Al has worked in numerous international projects in countries such as Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Barbados, Jamaica, Panama, U.S., France, U.K., Turkey, Italy, Portugal and Spain. 

He’s also an active lecturer and teacher in various universities such as:  CEA Global Campus in Madrid, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), Syracuse University, Insitituto de Empresa, Univerisdad Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad Europea de Madrid and Schiller International University.

Al holds a bachelor’s degree in Professional Aeronautics (Magna Cum Laude) and a master’s in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. In addition, he also retains a master’s degree in Business Administration from Albany State University.

Alex Toedtli Mera

Alex Toedtli Mera was born and raised in Mexico City where he came from a very mixed background – his mother is Colombian and his father is Swiss. Due to the multicultural environment he grew up in, Alex embraced this same mentality all throughout his life, bringing his life journey to all of the following cities: Dallas, Texas; San Francisco, California; Hong Kong, China; and now, Madrid, Spain.

Before his life of travel and work began, Alex earned his bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts and Sciences from the Anahuac University in Mexico City, and shortly after studied Film at the New York Film Academy. After becoming a US citizen in 2007, Alex left his then career in advertising to make his first documentary film "Babalú" – a film about a journey into Colombia's past to uncover the voice of a forgotten singer. Babalú has been screened in various film festivals in both North and Latin America.

In addition to his film career, Alex has utilized his language skills (he is fluent in both Spanish and English and speaks conversational French and German) for teaching purposes. In Oakland, California he worked as a Cultural Communication Instructor at Brett Harte Elementary School. He brought this same experience to Dallas, Texas where he volunteered as an English teacher for Mexican Immigrants seeking to learn English as a second language. In both cities, Alex simultaneously incorporated his creative skills into his life by working as a Creative Writer for a multicultural advertising agency.

Pepa Alarcon Rincon

Born and raised in Madrid, Pepa Alarcon Rincon has always been interested in other cultures and languages. As soon as she finished her degree at the Spanish University in Madrid, she flew to Scotland to discover a new culture and to learn English. She then, started to teach Spanish to the foreigners there.

Two years later, Pepa travelled to Paris to study French and in the meantime, openly welcomed the opportunity to continue teaching Spanish. Passionate and excited by her teaching experiences, she ventured to Greece next where she taught at the Instituto Cervantes for several years.

Pepa studied at Antonio de Nebrija University in Madrid, where she received a master’s degree in teaching Spanish as a second language. She also attended many seminars to continue improving her ability to teach.

Pepa has taught Spanish as a foreign language for 19 years, working for universities such as Carlos III in Madrid, Camilo José Cela, and other private organizations both in Spain and abroad. She also collaborates with the Instituto Cervantes of Madrid for several different projects such as teacher training, exam supervision, teacher recruitment, the expansion of e-lessons, etc.

Reading, attending the theatre, going to the cinema and practicing yoga occupy most of Pepa’s free time outside of her teaching career.

Jaime González

The Culture of Food and Wine

Born and raised in Madrid, Jaime González is a professional photographer who has devoted his career to his two passions in life: photography and food. Jaime has taught several photography courses in which his curriculum creatively combines the visual aspects of food and the culture that coincides with it. In addition to photography, Jaime has also taught Spanish Language and Culture classes in Argentina. He employs his passion for photography outside of teaching as well by working with different Spanish publications as a journalist, photographer, and a contributor to advertising projects.

Jaime received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid – one of the oldest universities in the world, and after, studied Photography and Film at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. While enrolled there, Jaime elected to write his thesis on Culinary Photography.

Jaime speaks Spanish, English and Portuguese, and loves to travel. He enjoys the learning opportunity travel gives him in terms of exposure to other culture’s gastronomies, which he then tries to replicate at home with friends. In his spare time, Jaime enjoys the simple life, spending time with his family and friends, and is always ready to go to the movies. He sits as an active member of the Spanish Photography and Journalism Association.