VIA's Staff
Patrick Arnold, China Program Director
Patrick joins VIA after managing international partner relationships for several years at a U.S.-based cultural exchange organization. Prior to moving to San Francisco he taught English in Hunan Province, China. Previously, he's worked for the International Crisis Group, U.S. Department of State, and the Peace Corps. Patrick received his BA and MA degrees in International Affairs from American University's School of International Service and has lived in or visited over thirty countries. Amy Louise Azuma, Stanford Programs Director
Michael Bedford, Executive Director
Dwight Clark, Founder
Dwight, while serving as Stanford’s Dean of Freshmen Men, took 23 Stanford students to Hong Kong volunteer assignments in the summer of 1963. That experience led to the formation of Volunteers in Asia (now VIA). He served as VIA’s president during its first forty years, a period which saw the organization expand its volunteer work and, beginning in 1977, offer short-term, focused study programs bringing Asian students to the United States. Now semi-retired, he divides his time between California and Asia. In addition to remaining an advisor to VIA, Dwight leads two Learning Across Borders study programs for Asian students each year: a February program from Japan to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore and a September program from Japan and Taiwan to Burma (Myanmar). Lillian Forsyth, Mainland Southeast Asia Program Director
Lillian has long been interested in cross-cultural experiences and education, but her relationship with Vietnam began when she spent a semester studying in Ho Chi Minh City as a sophomore in college. After five months studying and volunteering at a shelter for street children in Vietnam, she knew she wanted to return upon graduation. Lillian joined VIA as a volunteer in 2006 after completing a B.A. in Southeast Asian Studies at Barnard College in New York City. She volunteered at An Giang University until 2008 when she joined VIA as Vietnam Program Director. Outside of her work, Lillian enjoys the outdoors, cooking with friends and family, playing guitar, and getting lost in new places. Kazutoh Ishida, Senior Stanford Programs Director
Tony Luong, Vietnam In Country Representative
David Manning, Development & Administrative Assistant
Jon Palmer, Indonesia Program Director
Coming Soon, Finance and Administrative Director
Sugiyanto, Indonesia Country Representative
Sugiyanto was born in a small town of Central Java. He gained his Bachelors degree in English Literature from Gadjah Mada University. From 2001 through 2005, he volunteered at a local NGO focusing on environmental education for children. He assisted the organization in designing educational materials and translating texts. Since 2005, he has worked as an Indonesian language instructor for foreigners in Jogjakarta. One of his interests is learning photography from books and other sources. Ben Strong, Stanford Programs Director
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After earning a B.A. at the University of California at Berkeley, Amy Louise completed her TESOL certification. She spent
the next four years teaching in public schools with the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme. Her experiences in Japan deepened her interest in the program designs, and she finished her master's coursework in International
Education at SIT Graduate Institute. Amy Louise joined VIA's Stanford Programs in May of 2009.
Kazutoh was a participant in the 1991 American Language & Culture (ALC) program and also in the 1992 Southeast Asia program, which greatly broadened his perspective on various issues in the United States and Asia. As Senior Stanford Programs Director at VIA, he specializes in cross-cultural and foreign language education. He received his Phd degree in East Asian Languages & Literatures (Japanese pedagogy) from the University of Hawai'i. His personal interests include watching movies, hiking and traveling. In addition to his fondness of Asia, he loved traveling to Tanzania and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Tony Luong graduated from San Francisco State in 2006 with B.A.s in English and Asian American Studies. He is a proud member of the Vietnamese Artist Collective, and his literal works can be found in "As Is, A collection of works from Vietnamese Artists," and "The Yellow Journal, Vol 13." Before joining VIA Tony resided in San Francisco, where he worked at Nixon Peabody LLP, and dedicated his time to writing, volunteering, and playing basketball. Tony was a VIA volunteer at the University of Dalat from 2009 – 10 and was also the recipient of a Ford Foundation Community Fellowship, which he used to spearhead a poetry writing project at a home for blind children in Dalat.
David graduated from Bard College in 2007 and spend two years working for a foreign policy non-profit in New York City before packing up and moving across the country to San Francisco. In New York David became involved with Bard's Globalization and International Affairs Program and is a member of the Alumni Advisory Board. He first traveled to Asia in 1999 for a six week program in Thailand, and went again in the summer of 2009 visiting both Japan and Vietnam.
Jon first went to Indonesia on a junior high school trip and kept his
life intertwined with this fascinating archipelago ever since. He
volunteered with AVI (Australian Volunteers International) in Sumatra,
and worked with AusAID and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, before
joining VIA in July 2009.
Bio coming soon!
Ben spent two fantastic years from 2006 - 2008 as a VIA volunteer teaching in China at the Guangzhou English Training Center for the Handicapped. While teaching there, he became especially interested in engaging students in service-related programs to outreach and give back to the local community. He's very excited to join the Stanford side of VIA, and continue exploring the area of service-learning for students from Asia with the AUSL and ESI programs.