Eduardo Contreras, Jr. has been appointed director of Studies Abroad, according to Thomas Green, provost. He will be assuming his responsibilities on July 1, 2015.
Contreras comes to The Bluff from Harvard University, where he recently completed his doctor of education degree. He also holds an Ed.M. in higher education from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard, an M.A. in Asian cultures and languages, and a B.A. in history (with high honors) from the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He will have a concurrent faculty appointment in the School of Education.
Recently, Contreras has been teaching in the Higher Education Institutes at Harvard, serving as the study abroad program consultant in the Harvard Europe Program, and providing mentorship in the Office of Minority Education at MIT. Before moving to Massachusetts for graduate studies, he was a program coordinator in the study abroad office, international advisor in the Center for Global Educational Opportunities, and a research associate in the South Asia Institute, all at University of Texas at Austin.
Contreras is fluent in Spanish, and can also speak, read, and write in Hindi/Urdu, and read and write in Sanskrit. He is the author of numerous articles and chapters on international education and he has also offered many presentations and invited lectures on the topic.
For more information, contact the provost’s office at 7105 or staten@up.edu.