Oldenborg Center Staff

Oldenborg Center Staff

Senem Bakar
Senem Bakar
Interim Director, Oldenborg Center

As a higher education leader with over 30 years of experience in international education, Senem is passionate about building globally engaged campuses, supporting international student success and shaping immigration policy that works. She is driven by a deep belief in the power of global education to transform lives, build understanding and strengthen institutions. She has been honored with the NAFSA Outstanding Contributions to International Education Award, the Fulbright IEA Grant to France, the DAAD Germany Today Grant to Germany and AU’s Service to the Community Award, and served on national selection committees for Boren, Fulbright, Critical Languages Scholarship program and JET. Senem has been interviewed by NPR, VOA, WETA, NBC and several international media outlets on international education policy and student mobility.

Arlynne Dana Criste
Arlynne Dana Criste
Assistant Director, Special Projects, Oldenborg Center

Arlynne Criste (she/her) joined the Oldenborg Center team in the summer of 2025. Originally supporting Oldenborg’s Language Residents and other Oldenborg programming, she now assists with international student and scholar services and the upcoming transition to the Center for Global Engagement. Prior to Oldenborg, Arlynne worked in Pomona’s Asian Languages and Literatures Department managing the US operations (including applications, student advising, assessment, and crisis management) of the Associated Kyoto Program, a study abroad program to Japan. Her professional experience also includes positions at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC and NAFSA: Association of International Educators. As an international educator, Arlynne is passionate about facilitating opportunities for students to critically see themselves and their experiences within a global context. She has studied abroad in Japan twice—once during the summer in high school and for a full year in college.

Adan Gallardo
Adan Gallardo
Director, Foreign Language Resource Center (FLRC)

Adan joined Pomona College fall 2010 after serving as assistant director of the Language Lab at CSU Long Beach for six years. During his time as a student and graduate student at CSU Long Beach he had the opportunity to study abroad for a year in Heidelberg, Germany and participated multiple summers at the University of New Mexico Deutsche Sommerschule, a 5-week intensive German language program. Adan continues to enjoy working with foreign languages and technology. He can be found in Mason assisting the language faculty finding ways to integrate technology into the classroom to assist with language learning/teaching. During Oldenborg Language Tables, he can be found at the German, Japanese, Spanish or Swedish table. To date he has visited 13 countries and 38 U.S. states.

Tamara Olivos
Tamara Olivos
Assistant Director, Oldenborg Center

Tamara Olivos (she/her/ella) holds an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the California State University, Fullerton and a BA in English Language and Linguistics from the University of Chile. She first came to Pomona College as a Spanish Language Resident in 2015 and in 2021 joined Oldenborg as its Assistant Director. Tamara oversees Oldenborg Center programming including language tables, the language immersion residence hall, and language tutors, as well as support the Language Resident program.

Kathy Quispe
Kathy Guillen Quispe
Assistant Director, International Student & Scholar Services

Kathy E. Guillén Quispe (she/her/ella) joined Pomona College in January 2021 and oversees the International Student and Scholar Services. She specializes in helping F-1 and J-1 visa-holding students and scholars from pre-arrival through their program completion. Kathy has worked in international student advising for nine years. She holds an M.A. in Education with a specialization in International and Comparative Education from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Fadia Suuck
Fadia Suuck
Oldenborg Program Assistant, Oldenborg Center

Oldenborg Faculty Fellows

Pierre Englebert
Pierre Englebert
H. Russell Smith Professor of International Relations and Professor of Politics; Oldenborg Faculty Fellow
Feng Xiao
Feng Xiao
Associate Professor of Asian Languages and Literatures; Oldenborg Faculty Fellow

Language Residents

Chinese Language Resident Wenlu Xu
Wenlu Xu
Chinese Language Resident, Oldenborg Center
French Language Resident Leonard Schnakenbourg
Leonard Schnakenbourg
French Language Resident, Oldenborg Center
German Language Resident Sarah Bergmann
Sarah Bergmann
German Language Resident, Oldenborg Center
Japanese Language Resident Nozomi Hashimoto
Nozomi Hashimoto
Japanese Language Resident, Oldenborg Center
Russian Language Resident Rokhila Saidasanova
Rokhila Saidasanova
Russian Language Resident, Oldenborg Center
Blanca López Sagarra
Blanca López Sagarra
Spanish Language Resident, Oldenborg Center
Spanish Language Resident Ignacio Moreira Morales
Ignacio Moreira Morales
Spanish Language Resident, Oldenborg Center