Whitney O’Brien currently serves as a Program Assistant on the Operations and Systems team. In this role, she serves the Academic Program Area through the review and submission of graduate applications, verification of academic documents, issuance of immigration documents and collaborates with the Coordinator of the Academic Program Area to ensure efficiency across teams. Whitney picked up a fluency in Spanish during her high school study abroad experience in San Fernando, Spain. As an undergraduate at the University of Vermont, she became involved with the Latin@ and Spanish-speaking population in Burlington, VT through work study in the city. During her senior year, she spent two months on a solo thesis research expedition exploring the border dispute issues and potential for environmental peace-building between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Whitney has a bachelor of science in environmental studies from the University of Vermont and is currently pursuing an EdM at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.