International Peer Mentors 2023-24

Suhana Ahamed headshot Suhana Ahamed Hometown: Mumbai, India
Major/minor: Human physiology, bioengineering
Languages: English, Hindi, Urdu
Hobbies: Traveling, cooking, dancing
Favorite thing about UO: Research lab, social circle
Oluwaseun Alo headshot Oluwaseun Alo
Hometown: Ilesa, Nigeria
Major/minor: Business administration, MBA
Languages: Yoruba, English
Hobbies: Movies, biking
Favorite thing about UO: I'm fascinated by the diverse, inclusive, and supportive nature of the university community.
Ifra Ilyas Ansari headshot Ifra Ilyas Ansari
Hometown: Uttar Pradesh, India
Major/minor: Chemistry
Languages: Urdu, Hindi, English
Hobbies: Photography, singing, art, crafts, cooking
Favorite thing about UO: My workplace. Being a researcher at the Knight Campus gives me the opportunity to gaze at beautiful landscape of UO, Eugene, and Springfield.
Evelyne Bernardo headshot Tamara Alarcon Basurto
Hometown: Lima, Peru
Major/minor: Product design, MFA, arts and entrepreneurship
Languages: Spanish (native), French (fluent), English (fluent), German (conversational)
Hobbies: Snowboarding, sewing, graphic design, traveling
Favorite thing about UO: There is a strong sense of community that makes you feel like you belong wherever you are. Also, the closest snow spot is about 1.5 hours away, which is amazing.
Evelyne Bernardo headshot Evelyne Bernardo
Hometown: Rouen, France
Major/minor: American law track
Languages: French, English
Hobbies: Gym
Favorite thing about UO: The community and the campus.
Enoch Nkongolo Pulunda Elumba headshot Enoch Nkongolo Pulunda Elumba
Hometown: Citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, born in Japan
​​​​​Languages: English, Japanese, French, Swahili
Hobbies: Basketbal,l exercising, solving puzzles, cooking
Favorite thing about UO: The number of activities/events there are. There is always something going on at the U of O. It is a great opportunity to learn new things and meet new people.
Xiangchen Gu headshot Xiangchen Gu
Hometown: China
Major/minor: Chinese, PhD at East Asian Languages and Literatures
Languages: Mandarin, English, Korean
Hobbies: K-pop, yoga, swimming, dance
Favorite thing about UO: Nice people, helpful campus resources
Elizabeth Hwee headshot Elizabeth Hwee
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Major/minor: Business administration, Chinese
Languages: English, Mandarin
Hobbies: Tennis, baking
Favorite thing about UO: The school spirit! Go Ducks!
Blessing Ita-Samuel Blessing Ita-Samuel
Hometown: Nigeria
Major/minor: Energy environment and natural resource law
Languages: English
Hobbies: Music, traveling, movies
Favorite thing about UO: It's beautiful and peaceful.
Jisu Jason Lee headshot Jisu "Jason" Lee
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea and Beaverton, Oregon
Major/minor: Linguistics and East Asia studies, Korean
Languages: English, Korean, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese
Hobbies: Hiking, cooking, poetry, reading anime/manga
Favorite thing about UO: Accessibility and academic innovation.
Helena Machado Helena Machado
Hometown: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Languages: Portuguese, English
Hobbies: Movies, walking
Favorite thing about UO: Sunset on campus.
Cassidy Phelps Cassidy Phelps
Hometown: Canby, Oregon
Major/minor: Business, psychology
Languages: English
Hobbies: Reading, music, movies
Favorite thing about UO: Watching the plants on campus changed based on the season.
Marcus Vinicius Prada Riberio Marcus Vinicius Prada Riberio
Hometown: Pouso Alegre, Brazil
Major/minor: Accounting, Italian
Languages: English, Portuguese, Italian
Hobbies: Playing and watching sports, music, hanging out with friends
Favorite thing about UO: The people and sense of community on campus. Also the countless ways to get involved with anything you love.
Kerlos Rizk Kerlos Rizk
Hometown: Alexandria, Egypt
​​​​​​​Major/minor: Business administration, computer information technology
Languages: Arabic, English
Hobbies: Chess, travel, trying new foods
Favorite thing about UO: Meeting students from every corner of the world.
Danna Rubesh Danna Rubesh
Hometown: Portland, Oregon. Also lived in Oman, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Israel, Japan and England.
​​​​Languages: English, Spanish, some Japanese and Arabic
Hobbies: Hiking, bouldering, playing guitar
Favorite thing about UO: The proximity to nature and the local music.
Fillip Serban Fillip Serban
Hometown: Bucharest, Romania
​​​​​​​Major/minor: Psychology
Languages: English, French, Italian, Romanian
Hobbies: Soccer, rowing, traveling, vlogging
Favorite thing about UO: Great places to eat delicious food, nice gym, and campus is so green and beautiful.
Jordan Tay Jordan Tay
Hometown: Shanghai, China and Singapore
Languages: English, Chinese
Hobbies: Running, football (soccer), mahjong, poker
Favorite thing about UO: The recreation center, and ISSS Advisor Wanda Jamerson.
JJ Yan JJ Yan
Hometown: China
​​​​​​​Major/minor: Mathematics
Languages: English, Chinese
Hobbies: Mixology, hiking, traveling
Favorite thing about UO: The scenery and environment are very good, we can fully feel and enjoy the nature. Everyone here is very friendly and welcoming. Abundant activities make campus life full of passion and happiness.
Haopeng Yuan Haopeng Yuan
Hometown: China
​​​​​​​Major/minor: Communication and media studies, doctoral
Languages: Chinese, English
Hobbies: Road tripping, hiking, skiing, kayaking
Favorite thing about UO: I do appreciate how U of O embraces diversity and inclusiveness, namely accommodating international students in the way that we feel most welcome and comfortable (e.g., communication in WeChat, peer mentor program, short-period homestay, multilingual teaching, etc.)
Tim Zhao Tim Zhao
Hometown: Beijing, China
​​​​​​​Major/minor: Public relations, Japanese
Languages: Chinese, English
Hobbies: Gym, volleyball
Favorite thing about UO: I like the view, there are so many trees, rivers and etc.​​​​​​​