About Us 

I was born in Alabama and grew up with the advantage of living in the suburbs of many wonderful U.S. cities such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle. My worldview really changed when I took my first trip to Europe as a sophomore in high school. I was an AFS exchange student to Thailand the following year, and spent my university junior year abroad in Madrid, Spain. After graduating from Tulane with an M.A. in International Relations, I spent a year working in Washington, D.C. I have been privileged to be a member of the UNO Division of International Education since 1988. During this time I have led numerous educational trips to Europe, nurtured the Intensive English Language Program, recruited international students in Asia, Europe and Latin America, and have served in professional leadership roles at the state, regional and national levels. I love working with students and helping them explore new countries and cultures, whether they are U.S. Americans abroad or internationals in New Orleans. The students’ excitement and energy motivate and inspire me daily. I speak Spanish, some German and I keep hoping to learn more Czech. (My Thai is pretty rusty!) My husband and I have one daughter and a cat named Momo.

As a native of Austria, it is a great honor and pleasure for me to direct the Innsbruck International Summer School and accompany students and faculty to my home country each summer. I came to the University of New Orleans in 1992 as an exchange student from the University of Innsbruck, and this study abroad experience has truly changed my life! Since then, I have worked in the UNO Division of International Education with various programs, have accompanied students to Austria, Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic, and have taught English, ESL, and German at UNO. I majored in Foreign Languages, English, and Education and earned a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Graz (Austria). I live in New Orleans with my husband, a native New Orleanian, and our two children. I try to teach my children to keep an open mind about other cultures, to embrace differences, and to always try new foods!

This will be my tenth summer with the Innsbruck International Summer School and all I can say is that I hope you enjoy it as much as I do every year! This position is a wonderful opportunity for me given my background, my love for traveling and how much I enjoy working with students and parents. I was born in New York, lived in Monte-Carlo for 13 years and Miami for 2 years before I moved to New Orleans in 2003. After completing my B.A. in French at Tulane University, I worked there in Housing and New Student Orientation for several years before taking this position at UNO. I speak French, Italian and some Spanish. You will probably recognize my love for photography when you see me taking hundreds of pictures at our events in Innsbruck. As the summer approaches, I am excited about returning to Innsbruck and meeting all the Summer School participants.

László Zsolt Fülöp was born and raised in the ethnic Hungarian community of the Transylvanian region of Romania. He is a proud immigrant, having moved to the U.S. in the 90s with a small suitcase after a stint as a waiter on a cruise ship. He is Associate Professor in the School of the Arts - Department of Film at the University of New Orleans. He teaches Script Analysis, Screenwriting, Documentary Film Production, History of Documentary Film, and other film-related subjects. He is also a documentary filmmaker, a screenwriter, and a playwright. He has also taught and was Academic Director in UNO’s international summer programs in Prague, Czech Republic and Kyoto, Japan.

Mailing Address:

UNO-Innsbruck International Summer School
c/o Rössl in der Au
Höttinger Au 34
A-6020 Innsbruck
Austria, Europe

Rössl Phone: 011.43.50.447.611