International Education Staff
Pat Cavendish
Director of International Education
Patrick Cavendish immigrated to the USA at the age of 31. His PhD is in Chinese History and he taught History at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and the University of California at Santa Cruz.
He has worked at Pierce College since 1989, first as Coordinator of the ESL program for immigrants and, since 1992, as Director of International Education.
He used to be very interested in sailboats and sailing but, now that he stays on land, he likes gardening and reading. He sings in the college choir and is interested in foreign languages, the more unusual the better!
Cindy MacKersie
SEVIS Manager
Cindy MacKersie grew up in the state of Maine in the Northeastern United States, but has been living in Washington for the past 17 years.
She has worked in International Education at Pierce College for 12 years as an ESL instructor, Activities Coordinator, and a Student Advisor. She has a B.A. degree in French with a minor in Japanese, a Certificate in TESL, and an M.A. in Adult Education.
She has lived and worked in France, Japan, and Germany and has travelled to various other locations throughout the world including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and many European countries.
Mary Meulblok
Manager, International Student Services
Mary is the Manager of International Student Services at Pierce. She has worked in International Education for over ten years.
Mary received her degrees in French and Education from Western Washington University in 1986. Her international experience includes a year as an au pair and student at L'Universite d'haute Bretagne in Rennes, France in 1981-82.
Mary is married to a Dutchman (whom she met while he was an exchange student in college) and together they have three daughters. Her hobbies include travel, reading, and spending time with her family.
Sandy Plann
Manager, International Marketing
Sandy has had many years of varied experience in the field of international education. She holds a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a teaching certificate and Master's degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from UCLA, and has taught English to international students, immigrants and refugees. As Marketing Manager she has visited many countries, introducing Pierce College to students, high schools, colleges and universities.
In her free time, Sandy enjoys spending time with her family and pursuing various hobbies, including reading, crafts, gardening and sports, especially swimming, biking, and running. She has lived and worked in Mexico, Ecuador, Spain and Wales and is an avid traveler.
Brandy Stricker
Intensive English Program (IEP) Coordinator
Brandy came to Pierce College in June of 2007. She has been an ESL instructor for many years in California, Japan, and Washington, and has also been the ESL Department Chair in colleges in Japan and Tacoma. She holds a BA in Spanish and an MA in ESL from California State University, Sacramento. Brandy loves to travel; she studied for a semester at the University of Tarragona, Spain, and has done homestays in Australia, Germany, and Russia, where she taught a three-week course on teaching ESL at Volny University. She has also visited many other countries, including Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Denmark, and Mexico.
Brandy loves reading and going for walks. Walking is a beautiful and personal way to see and experience new places. Her main passion, however, is country dance. She and her husband teach country dance; she DJs at dances, manages the Cimarron Country Dancers dance team, and produces the Pacific DanceFest each year in October. Just ask her where to go to learn it yourself!
Brandy truly enjoys working at Pierce College. The entire staff is friendly and supportive and makes students, faculty, and staff feel welcome. She says that it’s a very happy place!
Jennifer Gruver
Student Activities Coordinator/Admissions
Jennifer Gruver is originally from Baltimore, Maryland near Washington D.C. on the east coast of the US. She moved to Seattle in 1997 and has lived there off and on for 11 years. She really likes to live near the ocean.
She graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor’s in Sociology and Liberal Arts. During her college career, she studied abroad in Prague, Czech Republic and she also taught English in Kenya during the summer. After college, she wanted to teach overseas again so she joined the JET program and taught English in Shimane Prefecture, Japan for two years. Upon returning from Japan, Jen earned her Masters in Teaching from Western Washington University in Seattle.
Jennifer has taught ESL for 3 years and has worked in student services for international students for over 1 year. She loves to work with international students because the culture she craves to learn comes to her here in the US. She loves to travel also and has been to over 20 countries.
Aside from having fun with students on activities, she likes music, yoga, meditation, tennis, badminton, reading, talking, eating, watching movies, hiking, laughing, and learning foreign languages. She can speak a little Spanish, German and Japanese.
Marina Anton
Program Assistant in International Education
Marina Anton has a college degree in Social Work from Moldova and a CNA Certificate from Pierce College. She worked as a social worker, counselor, and coordinator of a German charity in Moldova for 6 years. She moved to the USA in 2005.
Marina has worked at Pierce College since 2006, first as a File Clerk in Transitional Education and as a teaching assistant in the ESL Program; since January 2008 she has been the Program Assistant in the Office of International Education. She also teaches Russian in Pierce’s Continuing Education Program.
Marina sings in her church choir, is the leader of a musical group called “Voice of Hope”, and teaches Romanian at her church. She is fluent in English, Romanian, and Russian and has traveled in the Ukraine, Romania, Germany, England, Scotland, and Canada. She likes sports and would like to learn how to play the guitar.
