On SITe podcast

Kate Casa discusses climate change in Ecuador with SIT Ecuador Academic Director Fabian Espinosa. Fabian holds an MA in biology and anthropology from UC Santa Cruz. He was communication and information coordinator for the Charles Darwin Research Station on the Galápagos Islands, executive director of the Cofán Ethnographic Museum in the Cuyabeno Nature Reserve, and advisor to the president of Ecuador on environmental and indigenous affairs. He has extensive experience as a naturalist guide and cultural interpreter, leading groups in archaeology, indigenous cosmologies, and natural history.

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A hallmark of SIT's Vermont commencement ceremonies is the prominent presence of African percussion. Western Massachusetts musician Tony Vacca and his friend Steve Leicach, often with other musical guests, provide those sounds. Tony's long career became a cross-cultural passion when he first visited Senegal. In this episode, he talks about his voyage, and demonstrates Senegalese instruments.

MA TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) chair and faculty member Leslie Turpin discusses experiential learning and how it's used in SIT's pioneering TESOL program. Leslie, who is also an alumna of the program, has taught at SIT since 1989. She received her PhD in integral studies at the California Institute for Integral Studies in 2004. As the managing director of acclaimed puppet theater Sandglass, she produced two international festivals, and she is also US tour manager for the Georgian ensemble Zedashe.

2019 SIT commencement speaker Meghan Audette is an alumna of SIT Graduate Institute and deputy director for programs at the West Bank Field Office of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Audette completed her MA in sustainable development at SIT in 2004, and holds a BA in world history and English literature from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.