Meet our international team
We have taught at US universities for over 30 years. We have also earned degrees in the US, been international students in the US, and we have children who plan to study in the US. Having navigated curricula, visas, and campus life ourselves, we bring firsthand knowledge to your family. Our passion is turning an exciting but stressful period into a clear, confident path forward for students.
Sarah Valdez
Sarah was born and educated in the US, where she earned a PhD from the University of Washington and a BA from the University of Colorado.
She has over 20 years of international teaching experience, having taught at IE University and Carlos III University in Spain, New York University in Abu Dhabi, the University of Washington in the US, and is currently Associate Professor at Linköping University in Sweden.
Sarah also advises students at all levels. She has supervised students in bachelor’s and master’s programs, and is the Director of PhD Studies at the Institute for Analytical Sociology, where her role is to guide students through the 4-year program, ensuring they hit all benchmarks and graduate on time.
Sarah's experience teaching and studying on both sides of the Atlantic contributes to the international perspective of the Encinar team. She understands differences between the American and European higher education systems and can translate between them.
Charlotte Tubbax
Charlotte has been a Belgian expat in Madrid for over 20 years, with a career spanning journalism, real estate project management, and entrepreneurship. She brings the operational instincts of someone who has managed complexity under pressure and never lost sight of the client.
She studied public relations and communication at ULB Université Libre de Bruxelles and earned a second degree at la UAM Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She also spent an Erasmus year in Madrid and earned a Eurodyssey professional placement in Paris.
Charlotte has a firsthand understanding of what it means to land in a foreign system, find your footing, and build from there.
Importantly, as a mother of two teenagers in the Spanish school system, she understands the landscape Spanish families are coming from. She can identify blind spots and what might catch a young international student off guard in the US college system.
Liliane Duséwoir Dans
Half Belgian, half American, Liliane studied in both Belgium (Université de Mons) and Spain (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) before pursuing graduate studies as a Fulbright Scholar in the US (Boston University).
She has taught at Brown University, the College of the Holy Cross, and Boston University and has spent nearly two decades navigating higher-education institutions from the inside, as both a faculty member and as Faculty-in-Residence living alongside students on campus.
She served as Co-director of Undergraduate Studies at Boston University, where she advised undergraduate students and received the 2019 Boston University Award for Outstanding Service.
Liliane brings to the Encinar team something no guidebook can offer: 20+ years of direct, daily observations of how American university life works. She understands its rhythms, its unwritten rules, and the decisions that shape a student's trajectory from the first semester onward.