Alix Van Zandt

Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG)

Director of Curriculum and Training, ASPIRE

Alix Van Zandt is the Director of Curriculum and Training for the ASPIRE Project. She comes to the project with ten years’ experience working in international education and development, eight of which have been in Guatemala.

Originally from Washington State, USA, Alix graduated from Stanford University (2013) with a B.A. in Political Science, and an M.A. in Latin American Studies (2014). As an undergraduate she studied in Madrid, worked for the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and took part in varsity athletics. She also worked in the Postgraduate Fellowships division of Stanford’s Haas Center for Public Service, and was a student advisor for the Stanford in Madrid Overseas Studies Program.

Alix’s interest in Latin America stems from a summer in rural Panama with Learning Enterprises, an English-teaching and cultural exchange nonprofit for university students, which inspired her to delve deeper into the politics, history, and development of Latin America and its relationship with the United States. She returned to Panama to direct the program in 2013 and 2014 while researching her thesis on education and teacher training in Panama. Intent on building upon her experience and studies about education and development in the region, she pursued a fellowship through Princeton in Latin America at Antigua International School in Antigua, Guatemala, which extended into a two-year role.

Alix then spent two years developing curriculum and training local teachers at the Maia Impact School in Sololá, Guatemala – Central America’s first female, indigenous-led secondary school designed to connect the talents of rural Indigenous young women with the opportunities of the 21st century. Prior to joining the ASPIRE team, Alix was the Director of Education Programs for Mathkind, an international education nonprofit that collaborates with partners in the US, Guatemala and Ecuador to design and deliver quality professional development programs for math teachers. She is excited to collaborate with ASPIRE´s multifaceted, multi-cultural team to create a world-class, regionally relevant, replicable model for how higher education institutions can support local and regional development priorities.