Excel Madrid/Barcelona
2007 Staff Bios (return to program page)

Christian Cousins (Advanced Spanish, Conversational Spanish): Trinity College, B.A., University of Texas, PhD candidate. Christian graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, CT with a degree in Spanish, earning the PRESHCO Prize for Hispanic Studies. While at Trinity, Christian worked as an athletic trainer, tutored inner-city middle school students, and studied abroad at the Universitat de Barcelona. In Spain, Christian lived with a Spanish family, studied literature and philosophy, and traveled throughout the country. His other travels include Greece, Germany, Austria, Portugal, France, the Czech Republic, Chile, Peru, and most of Central America. After graduating from Trinity, he taught Spanish and coached soccer and baseball at a private school in Dallas, Texas. Christian is currently a doctoral student at the University of Texas, Austin studying Spanish literature.  Last summer, he spent 2 weeks working as a translator in Chile for Habitat for Humanity.  This summer before meeting up with Putney, Christian will spend the month of June perfecting his German at the Goethe Institut in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany.  This will be his fifth summer with Putney and fourth summer with Excel Madrid/Barcelona. Christian is fluent in Spanish and conversant in German.

Jordi Cucurella (Digital Photography, Travel Photography): Institut Polytecnic de Sarria, Gris Art Photography School.  Jordi was born and raised in Barcelona, Spain. He studied image and sound at the Institut Polytecnic of Sarria and also took additional Photography classes at the Gris Art Photography School in Barcelona. After his studies he worked as a photography assistant for magazines such as Casa Viva, El Mueble, and Marie Claire.  Currently he works as a wholesale book distributor and continues to do photography as a freelance artist.  In his free time you can find him playing soccer, working on his website, or sailing the Mediterranean Sea.  He has his Captain’s Recreational Yacht license and enjoys touring the Costa Brava of Spain and the Baleric Islands.  Jordi has traveled to Brazil, Argentina, the United States, and all throughout Europe.  He is fluent in Catalan, Spanish, and English. 

Eli Evans (Assistant Director, Creative Writing): University of Wisconsin, B.A.; University of Arizona, M.F.A. Eli was a Phi Beta Kappa student in English and Spanish at the University of Wisconsin, where he wrote a weekly humor column for The Daily Cardinal and was an editor for the Madison Review literary journal. After college, he taught English in Madrid for a year. Eli received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona, where he was the 1999 fiction fellow. In 2007 he has published or will publish an essay in the literature and culture magazine N+1, an interview in the literary magazine Glimmer Train with the Spanish writer Javier Marías, and an essay about the recent work of philosopher Alain Badiou in the Spanish literary magazine Quimera, (with the latter translated to Spanish by Excel Madrid/Barcelona Administrative Coordinator Haley O'Neil.)  His work has been nominated for numerous awards and prizes, including a Pushcart Prize. He currently teaches creative writing at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA, and is a fellow in critical theory at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Eli is fluent in Spanish. This will be his seventh summer with Excel Madrid/Barcelona.

Leah Hamilton (Intermediate and Conversational Spanish): University of Massachusetts, Amherst, B.A., School for International Training M.A.T. Leah's varied interests brought her from studying Opera in Amherst, Mass, to Spanish studies in Granada and Oviedo, Spain during her junior year of college. Sparking a love for travel and language learning, she journeyed to Argentina, France and later, Barcelona, Spain where she lived and taught English for two years. After working in centers for International Study Abroad Programs, she is now pursuing her love for teaching. Recently, Leah was honored with an invitation to present her work, developing creative curriculum to teach language, at an education conference at Columbia University. Her fifth summer with Putney, Leah has taught Spanish at Excel Cuba and Excel Spain. She is fluent in Spanish and conversant in French.

Sarah Harper (Resident Advisor): Amherst College, B.A.  Sarah recently received her undergraduate degree in Spanish and Latin American History from Amherst College.  While at Amherst, she sat on the Five College Latin American Studies Council, serving as the webmaster for the Five College LAS web page.  Additionally, she was a member of both the Amherst College Women's Golf and Women's Squash teams, and has served as Women's Golf captain for two years.  During her junior spring, she spent five months in Buenos Aires, Argentina, advancing her language skills and studying Argentine history.  She is currently learning French and applying for graduate programs in Spanish.  She recently accepted the Hitchcock Fellowship from Amherst College Athletics Department, which will allow her to pursue her goals as an educator, both on and off the athletic field.  After two summers as an R.A. at Excel Amherst, this will be Sarah's first summer with Excel Spain.

Patrick Noyes (Director): Georgetown University, B.A. Patrick graduated cum laude from Georgetown, where he received the Retablo prize for excellence in Spanish theatre and was a founding member of Hoya Computing, the university’s first computer store. He spent his junior year of high school in Barcelona and his junior year of college in Sevilla.  After college Patrick spent three years living in Madrid, where he was a bookstore owner, a free-lance writer, and the product manager for the Bit-Bang Network—a computer consulting firm.  He took advanced courses at the University Complutense of Madrid and translated screenplays for Lola Films S.A.  He directed the Excel Spain program in 2002-2004, Excel Amherst in 2005. and Excel China last summer.  Patrick works year-round on the Excel programs from our base in Putney, VT.  This is his ninth summer with Putney Student Travel, and his sixth as an Excel Director.

Haley O'Neil (Administrative Coordinator): Skidmore College, B.A.; University of California, Santa Barbara, M.A. Haley graduated magna cum laude from Skidmore with a dual degree in Spanish and Anthropology. At Skidmore she received the Sonja P. Karsen award for excellence in Spanish and was inducted in the Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Delta Pi, and Periclean honors societies. She spent her junior year studying at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and holds a diploma in Spanish as a foreign language from the Spanish Ministry of Education. Haley recently completed her second year at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she is pursing a doctoral degree in Hispanic literature. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe and Latin America and is fluent in Spanish. This is Haley's sixth year with Excel Madrid/Barcelona.