CAPA About Us | Academic Directors

Melissa Hardin, VP Academic Affairs

CAPA_Melissa Hardin Headshot 2020

Melissa oversees all aspects of CAPA’s academic affairs, working closely with our faculty and our institution partners to manage and further develop the quality of CAPA’s academic offerings.

Melissa joined CAPA in 2019 as the Vice President of Academic Affairs. She has been an international education professional since 1997, most recently as the Assistant Dean for International Studies at Ursinus College where she oversaw all aspects of study abroad advising and managed relationships with program partners from 1997 to 2019. Formerly a member of the Academic Advisory Board for CAPA (serving as chair from 2012 to 2019), she has participated in or chaired five-year reviews of CAPA programs in Florence, London, and Sydney. She is also a certified QUIP Peer Reviewer for the Forum on Education Abroad for which she has conducted external reviews of study abroad programs and offices in the US, Europe, and Latin America.

Melissa received a Fulbright Scholars Program grant for the International Education Administrators Seminar in Japan in 2013, and in 2017 the Pennsylvania Council for International Education (PACIE) bestowed upon her the David A. Portlock Outstanding International Educator Award. Melissa holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees along with a PhD in Spanish Languages and Literature from the University of Missouri-Columbia (Phi Beta Kappa), Middlebury College, and Washington University in St. Louis, respectively.

Dublin, Dr. Darren Kelly

Director of Academic Affairs in Dublin

A Dublin native, Dr. Darren Kelly holds a BA in English and Geography and a PhD in Cultural Geography from St. Patrick’s College, Dublin City University. He developed and currently lectures on the Postgraduate Diploma in Further Education at Marino Institute of Education, Trinity College, Dublin. Prior to lecturing, Darren worked in a range of community development and educational organizations in Dublin and travelled extensively. His interest in study abroad began at age 17 when he spent a high school year abroad in Oxford, Ohio. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Residence in 2007-2008 at Beloit College, Wisconsin. Over the past 10 years, Darren has increasingly focused his work (teaching, consulting, and publishing) in the area of linking academic theory and field studies in international education and study abroad. As coordinator of CAPA’s Global Internship Program, he has developed a research interest in the area of intercultural intelligence and self-reflection as related to students’ personal and professional development.

Florence, Dr. Guido Reverdito

Director of Academic Programs in Florence

After a BA in Classics and a Master’s in Teaching Italian as a Second Language, Guido received his PhD in Italian Studies from the University of Padua. He worked as a visiting professor in Classics at the University of Kansas in 1989 and for 16 years, he was a Lecturer in Italian Language and Literature on behalf of the Italian Government in Istanbul, Madrid, Budapest, and Canterbury. From 2009 to present, he has been the Director of Academics at CAPA, where he teaches courses in social history of Italy and contemporary Italian cinema. He edited and translated several classic Latin authors, and wrote a History of Latin Literature in four volumes. Since 1989, he has been a film critic. His latest work is research on early years and production of celebrated Italian crime novelist Giorgio Scerbanenco (Giorgio Scerbanenco and the heart of darkness of Italian crime novel, Aracne, 2014).

London, Dr. Michael Woolf

Deputy President for Strategic Development

Michael has spent much of his career in an international context. Prior to working in mainstream international education, he taught American Literature at the universities of Hull, Middlesex, Padova, and Venice, and worked as a researcher-writer for BBC radio. Michael has held leadership roles with FIE, CIEE, and Syracuse University. He has also consulted for New York University, Brethren Colleges Abroad, Warwick University, and is an adviser to the President of Tamagawa University in Tokyo.

He serves on a number of boards and committees including the Curriculum Committee of the Forum on Education Abroad, the Editorial Boards of Frontiers and the Journal of Studies in International Education, EAIE’s Knowledge Development Task Force, and Braun Stiftung für Internationalen Austausch. Michael was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Forum on Education Abroad from 2006 to 2012.

Michael holds a PhD in American Studies, an MA in Literature, and a BA in History and Politics. He has written widely and has published extensively on international education and cultural studies. Most recently, he published work aimed at critically reviewing the core assumptions of study abroad. You can read a sample of Michael’s short essays in his monthly blog column Thoughts on Education Abroad

London, Dr. Anthony Gristwood

Faculty Chair, Principal Lecturer and Director of the Global Institute of Community Engagement

Anthony Gristwood is Faculty Chair, Principal Lecturer and Director of the Global Institute of Community Engagement at CAPA's London Center. He has been teaching in higher education since 1994 and has specialized in the field of education abroad for the last 20 years at CAPA, the Bader International Study Centre of Queen’s University (Canada), and the University of Connecticut in London. He holds an MA, PGCE, and PhD in Geography from the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His current research and teaching interests include globalization, global cities, and modern London; politics, identity, and culture in modern Europe, particularly Spain; and the use of digital mapping in globally-networked teaching and learning. Publications include “Engaging with Self, Others, Space, and Place: Leveraging the Geographic Imagination in Education Abroad” (with Darren Kelly), in Brewer & Ogden, eds., Education Abroad and the Undergraduate Experience: Critical Perspectives and Approaches to Integration with Student Learning and Development (Stylus, May 2019). Anthony is also a regular contributor to, and editor of the CAPA Occasional Publications series.

London, Dr. Mike Punter

Director of Theater Education in London

Mike Punter is the Director of Theatre Education for CAPA, based in London. He teaches a number of courses in London including Theatre in the City, Witchcraft and Magical Performance, Writing a Play, and Theatricality for BFA Actors. He has also written the courses Utopia: Extraordinary Places and Where to Find Them and Communicate. Mike is a produced and published dramatist whose work has been staged and toured by a range of theatres, including Hampstead Theatre in London, the UK's National Theatre, Paines Plough theatre company and the BBC. He’s presently developing a new project for British television. Mike has a First-Class BA (Hons) degree in English and Theatre Studies, an MA in Renaissance Literature and Drama and a PhD with a focus on magic on the stage.

Sydney, Dr. Julia Miller

Director of Academic Affairs in Sydney

Dr. Julia Miller is the Director of Academic Affairs in the CAPA Sydney Center. Julia has been teaching in the Australian tertiary education sector for more than a decade. She gained her doctorate in Modern History from Macquarie University for her research in climate history. For CAPA, Julia teaches Analyzing and Exploring the Global City, Australian History and People, Place, and Culture: Environmental Debates in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. The latter course reflects Julia’s deep concern about our environmental future. At CAPA, Julia has put in place the Sustainable Sydney initiative to build environmental awareness and to encourage behavioral change. Julia lives in Pittwater on Sydney’s Northern Beaches—an area known for its coastline, waterways, and healthy lifestyle.

Academic Leadership