Center for Global Education Staff

Kristen Mallory entered the field in 1999 when she received her MA degree in International Education from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT. As Director of Global Education, Ms. Mallory manages all study abroad academic opportunities as well as CMC’s Washington Internship Program and the Silicon Valley Program. She has held additional International Education positions at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and with the Forum on Education Abroad (ForumEA). She is a NAFSA Trainer Corps Member, and co-wrote the NAFSA CEP Workshop Health and Safety in International Education. She is currently a member of the ForumEA Council, the ForumEA Data Committee, and the IFSA Butler National Advisory Committee Executive Council. She has previously held positions as a QUIP Reviewer for the ForumEA, as the Chairperson for the ForumEA Annual Conference, on the National Advisory Board for the College of Global Studies, Arcadia University, as a member of the Academic Council for IES Abroad, and she has chaired the IES Abroad Nominations Committee. Her international experience includes Peace Corps, Chad, and study abroad Paris. She has led many workshops on the topics of Health and Safety, Home Institution and Program Provider Relationships, and Language Policy in Study Abroad. She was an accountant for the U.S. federal government prior to entering the field.

Lea Harper, a Pitzer College graduate, received her MA from the Department of Linguistics at UC Santa Barbara, with her thesis “The Representation of African American Vernacular English in the Media” and her C.Phil with dissertation work entitled ”You’re not my friend!”: Gender and Exclusionary Practices in a Multilingual California Preschool Classroom.” She studied abroad in Paris during her undergraduate work at Pitzer College, spending time in Central France during her semester abroad. She traveled extensively throughout Mexico while conducting research with Indigenous communities. She has journeyed in Japan with her two sons and readily shares that should she win the lottery she would buy herself a small home and would spend the rest on international travel! Lea arrived at CMC in 2002 and has worked extensively with CMC students in multiple capacities through her time with The Children’s School and the Student Accounts Office.

Brian Davidson '08 is an international educator, researcher, and librarian who is devoted to mentoring and advising students on how to secure competitive grants and awards around the world. As Director of Fellowships Advising at the Center for Global Education, he supports CMCers as they apply to programs such as Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell, Gates-Cambridge, and many others. Beyond just helping students with their applications, Brian strives to make the application process one of self-discovery and reflection.

As a student at CMC, he majored in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and served as a Buzz Woolley Fellow at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Brian later earned an MA in European and Russian Studies from Yale University, and an MS in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois. He has conducted research and given presentations on the British book trade in the late eighteenth century, the history of libraries in the Atlantic world, and the cultural history of books, reading, and advertising in Britain. His CMC study abroad experience in Nantes, France, first ignited his passion for intercultural education and led him to a position as Study Abroad Advisor in CMC's Office of Off-Campus Study from 2008 to 2010,  and his further research on the history and culture of Britain has sustained this enthusiasm. Brian is delighted to return to Claremont and work with CMCers once again.

Yi Shun Lai '96 is the Assistant Director for Fellowships Advising at CMC. 

She's taught postgraduate courses on pedagogy, writing, and publishing, and has delivered inclusivity workshops to everyone from triple-A video game studios to global humanitarian agencies. At CMC she was a Literature/French dual major. Later, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing--Fiction from the Northwest Institute for Literary Arts; and two certificates in diversity and inclusivity.

Yi Shun is dedicated to helping students through the rigorous, rewarding process of applying to fellowships.

In her spare time, she volunteers for ShelterBox, an international disaster-relief agency. Her next novel, A Suffragist's Guide to the Antarctic, comes out in February 2024 from Simon & Schuster's Atheneum imprint. She is a 2017 Thurber Prize semi-finalist for her debut novel, Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu.