Center for Global Education

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Who We Are and Where to Find Us

The Center for Global Education (CGE) offers a wide range of international study, research, service, and leadership opportunities to George Mason students, faculty, staff, and members of the general public. CGE also designs and implements international programs for undergraduates, graduates, and professionals seeking knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the culturally diverse society of the 21st century. Last but not least, CGE manages a variety of international programs in almost 50 countries: short-term programs during the winter break and summer term; semester and year-long exchanges; intensive language courses; internships; and an honors semester at the University of Oxford.


Lukacs

Yehuda Lukacs, PhD

Director

Email: ylukacs@gmu.edu

Yehuda Lukacs is Associate Provost for International Programs and Director of the Center for Global Education. He also teaches International Relations and History at George Mason University. He has taught at the School of International Service at American University, and the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. In January 2002, he was a visiting professor of International Relations at University College Cork, Ireland. He has published several articles and books dealing with contemporary international relations and Arab-Israeli affairs.


Lukacs

Marie alice Arnold

General Manager

Email:marnold7@gmu.edu
Phone: (703) 993-2167
Office Hours:
Mon/Tues 2-4 pm
Wed/Thurs 10:30 am-12:30 pm

Marie alice Arnold is the Center for Global Education's General Manager. She holds a Masters Degree in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University. Growing up in a Navy family, she moved often, developing a love of travel and an interest in cultural exchange. During her undergraduate years at Skidmore College, she spent a year at the Autonomous University of Madrid. In 1989, she began working in Study Abroad at the Council of International Educational Exchange (CIEE), where she worked with programs around the Globe.

Prior to joining CGE, she worked at Skidmore College as a Senior Program Manager in the Office of Off-Campus Study and Exchange. She is the proud mother of two wonderful boys. A graduate of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, she was excited to return to Virginia. Seeing students thrive in their adventures abroad fuels her passion for international education.


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Erin Mateu

Associate General Manager

Email: emateu@gmu.edu
Phone: (703) 993-3864
Office Hours:
Mon/Tues: 2pm-3pm
Wed/Thurs: 11am-12noon
OR by appointment

Erin Mateu is the Associate General Manager at the Center for Global Education. Having returned to the U.S after seven years living and working in Paris, France, Erin is excited about helping students achieve their global goals. Being a "military brat" and having to move fairly often gave her a taste for travel. She traveled extensively around the United States and France, and has also toured England and the Mediterranean (including Cyprus and Egypt).

Her study abroad experience began in high school with a semester in Bordeaux, France. Double majoring in International Business Management and French, Erin completed her undergraduate work at Central College in Iowa. In college, she participated in a year-long program at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, and then in a semester internship in London, England. She also attended the Institut Catholique de Paris for work on her Master's in French Comparative Literature.

Erin considers herself to be a true study abroad advocate who believes that study abroad can shape one's life. In joining CGE, she is looking forward to guiding and assisting those seeking exposure to something different.


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Joanne Cabe

Accounts Administrator

Email: jcabe@gmu.edu
Phone: (703) 993-4048

Joanne Cabe is the Accounts Administrator at the Center for Global Education and has been part of the Center for Global Education Mason Abroad team since 1995. Joanne is responsible for the daily financial management of the Center for Global Education. She has accompanied a Mason Spring group to Egypt and is the proud mother of three children, Jordan, Ariel & Leslie.


Lukacs

Shanaz Tihal

Office Manager

Email: btihal1@gmu.edu
Phone: (703) 993-2154

Shanaz Tihal is the Office Manager at the Center for Global Education. She joined the Center for Global Education team in Spring 2004. Shanaz is the first point of contact at CGE. Her bright smile and sunny disposition puts everyone at ease!

Originally from Guyana, Shanaz spent more of her life in Toronto, Canada where she worked at Centennial College in the Registrars Office for 19 years. Shanaz moved to the Washington, D.C. area along with her family in 2003. She is the proud mother of 3 beautiful children!


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Sarah Mournighan

Program Officer

Email: smournig@gmu.edu
Phone:
(703) 993-2106
Office Hours:
Wednesday 10am – 12pm
Thursday 2 pm – 4 pm
Friday by appointment

Sarah Mournighan is a program officer at the Center for Global Education and a native of the Washington DC area who hails from McLean, VA.

She received her undergraduate degree from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, where she studied International Relations and French. While at Bucknell, she spent a semester at the Université François Rabelais in Tours, France, studying French politics and International Economics (all in French!). She also interned in the Office of International Education at Bucknell.

Her second time abroad was at the University of Bristol in England where she received her Masters of Science in International Relations. She is a former DC area intern, having held internships at the US International Trade Commission and in the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the US Department of Energy. Sarah is excited to help students receive the same life changing experiences that come with living and studying overseas.


Lukacs

Denise Elles-Mdahuar

Senior Program Officer

Email: dellesmd@gmu.edu
Phone:
(703) 993-2155
Office Hours:
Mon/Tues 2 pm- 4 pm
Wed/Thurs 10am-11am

Denise Elles-Mdahuar is a Senior Program Officer at the Center for Global Education. Denise is an American citizen with Lebanese and Italian heritage, who has travelled to England, Ireland, Wales, Spain, Canada and lived in Mexico for many years. Denise is fluent in Spanish and while in Mexico, Denise attended the University of Mexico for Foreigners studying Spanish and Mexican Culture and worked as an ESL teacher with both children and adults.


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Gregory Seiler

Program Officer

Email: gseiler2@gmu.edu
Phone:
(703) 993-2641
Office Hours:
Wed 10 am-2 pm
Thur 12noon -2pm
Mon/Tue/Fri by appointment

Gregory Seiler is a Program Officer at the Center for Global Education. Prior to joining CGE, he worked as a Program Manager at the Association for International Practical Training (AIPT) managing international experiential learning programs and internships. Passionate about international experience, Gregory has studied abroad at the University of Salamanca and worked as an English teacher at the Vietnamese American Training College in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Gregory received his bachelor of arts from George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C.


LukacsDaria Stepanova

Program Officer

Email: dstepan1@gmu.edu
Phone:
(703) 993-2161
Office Hours: TBD

Daria Stepanova is a Direct Exchanges Program Officer at the Center for Global Education. A Russian national, she came to George Mason University in 2006 as an international student seeking her B.S. in Marketing. Through CGE, she spent a semester in Madrid, Spain, studying Spanish in class and doing and internship at Avon. After completing her undergraduate degree, she came back to Moscow to work at Yamaha. She could not stay away from Mason long, so in 2012 she returned to work for the English department pursuing a certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). Daria is bilingual in Russian and English and also fluent in Spanish. She is excited to work in a team of global education advocates who make life-changing international experience smooth and accessible.


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Achim Loch

Internet Marketing and Outreach Coordinator

Email: aloch@gmu.edu
Phone:
(703) 993-6551

Achim Loch is the Internet Marketing and Outreach Coordinator for the Center for Global Education. A German citizen, Achim worked as an EFL teacher for numerous companies and educational institutions, as a technical director for an English language drama group, and as an organist for several Lutheran churches. He received his M.A. (Magister Artium) in American Studies from Saarland University in Saarbruecken, Germany and studied abroad on a direct exchange in the US at Hillsdale College in Michigan. Some of his favorite field trips include traveling to London, England on multiple occasions, serving as a translator on a trip to Ireland, visiting Iceland, and driving a van to Tbilisi, Georgia via Switzerland, Italy, Greece, and Turkey.

Contact Us

Center for Global Education
Johnson Center, Room 235
George Mason University
4400 University Drive
MSN 2B8
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444

Phone

703-993-2154

Fax

703-993-2153

Email

cge@gmu.edu

Office Hours

9am - 5pm

(Monday - Friday)

Our Location

We are located on the second floor
in Room 235 in the Johnson Center above the food court.

Social Media

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