Melanie Mackenzie Email & Phone Number

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

As Manager of Student Services, I maintain a small advising portfolio for CET programs in Brazil, Colombia, and Jordan while providing enhanced support to the Director of Latin America Programs, overseeing enrollment processes, ensuring excellent pre-program communication, and managing re-departure timelines. As a leader on the Student Services team, I provide mentorship, feedback, and ongoing training to the Student Services Coordinators and work closely with the Director on process improvements and team development. I additionally was interim manager of four Student Services Coordinators from May to September 2024, and re-launched the CET internship program in 2023 after a three-year hiatus.

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

In addition to advising 250+ students per year applying to and preparing for CET programs in Brazil, Colombia, Japan, and Jordan, I:-Assist in recruitment and training of new student services team members.-Carry out admin-level responsibilities in TerraDotta and Canvas LMS. -Managed CET’s program evaluations and data analysis, synthesizing and reporting our programs’ demographic trends and deploying course, midterm, and final evaluations for 15+ programs per term (November 2020 to June 2022).-Served as interim Billing Coordinator from July to November 2021, overseeing all billing processes including payment plans and university invoicing.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I support CET students from the moment they open an application to the moment they get on the plane through clear, educational, empathetic, and individualized advising. -I counsel 200-300 students per year on program selection, the application process, health and safety, course enrollment, navigating diverse identities in new contexts, and more. I make admissions decisions, assess student needs, identify students needing extra support, and carry out targeted pre-departure follow-up. -I support students with their visa applications by preparing supporting documents, maintaining up-to-date instruction packets, and troubleshooting complex individual circumstances.-During COVID-19, I supported the pivot to virtual programming by converting applicants to virtual programs, re-imagining application and advising materials for online language and internship programs, and interfacing existing platforms with new systems. -I was the primary on-site contact for students on a DC-based semester internship program, organizing extracurricular activities, supporting program faculty, and advising students through academic, interpersonal, and professional challenges.

São João Del Rei Area, Brazil

I supported English teaching, learning, and cultural exchange at the Federal University of São João del Rei and in the local community through conversation clubs, workshops, and class presentations. Activities I planned include:-Cultural "Dos and Don'ts" in the U.S. and Brazil-Idioms Conversation Club for Beginning English Learners-Art & Community Identity Certificate Course-Conversation Club: Hogwarts Edition-Academic Writing Workshop-Intro to English Literature Club-First in Flight Debate: Santos Dumont vs. the Wright BrothersOutside of my formal responsibilities, I co-created a partnership between student teachers, public schools, Fulbright, the U.S. Department of State's Regional English Language Office, and community partners to engage middle school students in local history and English by visiting nearby Neolithic cave paintings.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

My regular responsibilities included processing accounts payable checks and ACH payments, making check deposits, and working with financial approvers. I regularly used platforms including Sage, Excel, TourTools, Igloo, Hellosign, and Sharefile. I also was responsible for various office management tasks, including petty cash, maintaining and ordering office supplies, and staff-wide technology trainings. I also created a standard new staff orientation and conducted an office services survey and presented the results.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

As a front-line representative of CET, I processed application materials and transcripts, took payments, and responded to student inquiries via phone and email. I performed daily data management tasks in Salesforce, Terradotta, and TourTools. In addition, I took on projects for the program management, student services, and marketing departments such as: -compiling briefing books-analyzing student withdrawal trends-posting student blogs from the Student Correspondent Program to the CET website-researching and writing competitor analyses and program development memos-updating and reformatting syllabi-developing pre-departure materials such as internship possibilities packets-assembling program proposals and itineraries for short-term faculty-led programs-preparing training materials and schedules for new staff members

Washington D.C. Metro Area

As program coordinator, I managed an eight-person leadership staff and oversaw a team of over 120 volunteer student Ambassadors. With my co-coordinator, I developed and executed a 10-month budget, organized program-wide events and activities, trained 30 new Ambassadors each semester, and coordinated with the Office of Enrollment. Ambassador program activities include twice-daily campus tours, student-hosted day visits, large campus visit days with up to 2,000 guests per day, out-of-town recruitment events, internal social and professional development events, social media, and marketing.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I assisted the Membership Department and the Cities Seeking Cities program. Through the Cities Seeking Cities program, I assisted domestic and foreign cities in the searches for new sister cities partners. Other duties included research, communications, and data management in Salesforce.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I provided assistance mainly in research, communications, data management, and targeted host family outreach. Additionally, I staffed student and host family orientations and other events.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I assisted with administrative and customer service related tasks such as data management in Colleague, emails, and phone calls.

Washington, Dc

I coordinated the university’s admissions tours program by scheduling and managing 50 tour guides for daily admissions campus tours. In Fall 2015, I trained 30 new tour guides to be knowledgeable and engaging representatives of the university. I also collaborated with the Office of Enrollment and campus departments to create an effective and representative tour experience that showcases the best of the campus during both daily operations and special events.

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), International Studies

Activities and Societies: American University Scholars (undergraduate research community), Club Cross Country and Track, Language Exchange.

International Relations And Affairs

Activities and Societies: Grupo Igualdade CapoeiraA semester at PUC-Rio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. My coursework, taken entirely.