Graduate Communications and Intercultural Programs Team

Sue Mathias

Director

Sue Mathias is the director of the GCIP team. She works with graduate students, helping them with oral and written English proficiency, and coaching international students who are adjusting academically and socially to life at Duke.

She has taught English as a Second Language (ESL) and worked with graduate students since 2002. Sue received a Bachelor of Science in Finance with a minor in Japanese from Pennsylvania State University before spending a year at Sophia University in Tokyo on a Rotary scholarship.

After working in finance for a decade, Sue earned a Master of Arts in Teaching ESL and a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction at Penn State, where she focused on foreign language education.

Contact: susan.mathias@duke.edu

Angus Bowers

Communications Consultant

Angus Bowers joined Duke University as a communications consultant in late 2018. He brings over 11 years of teaching experience to the Graduate Communications and Intercultural Programs.

He comes from teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) at Wake Technical Community College and from the Intensive English Program at North Carolina State University. In addition, Angus has trained ESL teachers as a faculty member of the ESL Teacher Certificate program at Wake Technical Community College.

He received a Monbukagakusho Research Grant from the Japanese Government to complete a master’s degree in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and has an Master of Arts in English Linguistics from NC State.

Angus has lived in France, Japan, and the United Kingdom for extended periods of time. He was recently awarded a grant from the Partners of the Americas to train English teachers in Bolivia.

Contact: angus.bowers@duke.edu

Patty Carroll

Communications Consultant

Before coming to Duke, Patty taught at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. She has also served in leadership at nonprofit organizations and teacher preparation programs across the United States to broaden educational access and equity for all students.

Additionally, she has been a Pre-K-12 mentor teacher and has taught English as an additional language in California, Hungary, and Russia.

Patty earned a PhD in Special Education and an MEd from the University of California at Los Angeles. Her research has been published in Language Testing, Review of Research in Education, and Journal of Learning Disabilities.

She earned her Master of Arts in TESOL and secondary English teaching credential from California State University, Los Angeles.

Contact: patricia.carroll@duke.edu

Allison McIntyre

Communications Consultant

When Allison came to the Pratt School of Engineering in 2022, she brought with her more than 23 years of teaching experience.

She started her career as a member of the U.S. Peace Corps. She served for two years in Papua New Guinea, where she taught high school English. She then started and built an ESL program at a middle school in Raleigh, where she worked with international students for eight years before moving to Wake Technical Community College.

For the past 13 years, Allison has worked with students from all over the world in a number of capacities at Wake Tech. She has also worked privately for three years as a one-on-one coach helping international students improve their English proficiency.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at Texas A&M University and an English as a Second Language and Secondary English license at the University of Texas at Dallas. Allison enjoys doing yoga, playing tennis, reading, gardening and spending time with her friends and her three children.

Contact: allison.mcintyre@duke.edu

Marcie Pachino

Communications Consultant

Marcie Pachino started working as a Communications Consultant at the Graduate Communications Center in 2018.

Prior to this, she taught English as a second language (ESL) to international high school students in the Durham Public Schools for 29 years. Marcie has also taught ESL strategies to graduate students in Duke’s Master of Arts in Teaching program.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts in history at Duke, her Master of Arts in Teaching at the School for International Training, and her North Carolina Teaching License at North Carolina Central University. Marcie speaks Spanish, and now that she is at Duke Engineering, she hopes to remember some Chinese she learned as a Duke undergrad. In her free time, Marcie enjoys reading fiction, seeing movies, traveling domestically and internationally, and spending time with friends and family.

Contact: marcie.pachino@duke.edu

Ilana Palmer

Communications Consultant

Ilana Palmer brings over 12 years of teaching experience to her work as a Communications Consultant with the Graduate Communications Center. Prior to joining the team at Duke, Ilana worked with international and domestic students in the Wake County Public Schools and served as the lead teacher at private school in Raleigh. For many years, she taught ESL as well as supervised and mentored ESL teachers at Wake Technical Community College.

Ilana received her bachelor’s degree with honors in psychology from Harvard University and earned a Master of Education in TESOL from Boston University. She holds a Certificate of Social Work from the New York Academy of Medicine and is currently pursuing certification as a Curriculum and Instructional Specialist from Meredith College. Outside of work, Ilana loves spending time with family, reading, gardening, and crafting. She lives in Raleigh with her husband, son, two dogs, and nine chickens.

Contact: ilana.palmer@duke.edu