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Ralph Destin

See Ralph at the Traveling While Black Student Panel

Ralph is a 4th-year student in Weinberg studying political science. He lives in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts but was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His family speaks French and Haitian Creole. He participated in the IES-Paris French Studies program in the Fall of 2024. He’s a fan of the Boston Celtics, live jazz, and museums.

Tania Miller

See Tania at the Study Abroad 101: Resources & Support for Black Students session

Tania Miller is a fourth-year student studying Neuroscience and Psychology at ¹û¶³´«Ã½. In fall of 2024, Tania studied at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. During her time abroad, Tania took classes in Scottish ethnology, cognitive science, and psychological perspectives on health and care. Outside of the classroom, she most enjoyed trying traditional foods and snacks, exploring with friends, and making new connections!

Maya Solomon

See Maya at the Traveling While Black Student Panel

Maya is a Junior studying Industrial Engineering and Architectural Engineering and Design. This past fall, she studied abroad in Shanghai, China with CIEE. There she enjoyed traveling the country while learning more about the topics of Economics and Business from the Chinese perspective. 

Jaeda Tagoe

See Jaeda at the Traveling While Black Student Panel

Jaeda Tagoe is a third year student studying Psychology and Chemistry. This past fall, she studied in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which was her very first time traveling outside of the country. She was able to learn so much about Argentine culture and travel around South America. Learning about the history of the music, foods, and people of Argentina was so impactful for her and she was also able to learn a similar history about Brazil when she traveled there. Additionally, she lived with a host family who didn't speak any English, so she was able to develop herSpanish skills. Ultimately, all of these experiences definitely shifted her worldview and made her realize how much she loves to travel. Next, she plans on traveling to Ghana, Africa, her home country, and she would love to travel around Europe in the future!

Ronald Tomen

See Ronald at the Traveling While Black Student Panel

My name is Ronald Tomen and I am currently a junior at Northwestern studying Economics and Legal Studies. I had the opportunity to study abroad in Paris this past semester and loved every minute of it - from traveling all over Europe to meeting really interesting people at Sciences Po. It was also great to learn more about being Black in Europe through my experiences.

Ava Thompson Greenwell, Ph.D.

Professor and Faculty-In-Residence

Dr. Thompson Greenwell will moderate the Traveling While Black Panel Discussion.

Ava Thompson Greenwell is a faculty member at ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications where she specializes in teaching video journalism.  She has served as co-director of the South Africa Journalism Residency Program and as faculty mentor for the Posse Program.

The Chicago native is director/producer of “Mandela in Chicago,” a documentary film about the city’s anti-apartheid movement and executive producer of “Hearing Silences,” a film about the history of Black women faculty at Northwestern that will debut on campus on February 25.  All are invited.

She is also author of Ladies Leading: The Black Women Who Control Television News and produced the Ladies Leading podcast to highlight the contributions of Black women in a variety of fields.

Dr. Greenwell, an academic life coach, has been a freelance correspondent for WGN-TV and Chicago Tonight, a PBS news program. Before Northwestern, she was as a news reporter at WFLA-TV in Tampa, FL; WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, MN; and WEHT-TV in Evansville, IN. 

During her time as an undergraduate at Northwestern, she studied abroad in Spain her junior year.  She recently returned from Buenos Aires, Argentina where she led a group of graduate students through an immersive reporting experience focused on solutions journalism.

Ryan Rounds

Assistant Director for Program Management and Outreach, Global Learning Office

Ryan will co-moderate the Study Abroad 101: Resources & Support for Black Students session

A Chicagoland native born in Chicago and raised in the south suburbs, Ryan joined the Global Learning Office in 2022 and she advises on and manages programs in France. Her interest in international education began in high school on a trip to Spain where she told a fellow classmate "You don't go to Spain to eat fries and ketchup."

Ryan received her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign. She realized that psychology, though interesting, was not her calling and went on to get her M.Ed. in International Higher Education from Loyola University Chicago. In both undergraduate and graduate school, Ryan had the opportunity to study abroad in long and short-term programs in Spain, Italy, and China. Prior to coming to Northwestern, Ryan has worked in retail, non-profit administration, distance learning design and facilitation, taught English abroad, and was most recently a Study Abroad Specialist at Western Michigan University. She has a particular interest in diversifying study abroad student participation. When she is not working, Ryan loves watching true crime documentaries, traveling, ethnic food, following her favorite YouTube content creators, thrifting, and hanging out with her frenchie, Hugo.