
Roxann Brown was born in western Pennsylvania. She received her Master’s in Cross-Cultural and International Education from Bowling Green State University, where she studied as a Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Fellow. Before attending graduate school, Roxann, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, served for two years as a teacher of English as a foreign language at an orphanage school in Azerbaijan. While at Bowling Green State University, she met and started collaborating on cultural, artistic and social activism projects with Federico Cuatlacuatl.
Roxann’s cross-cultural experiences began as a first-generation college student studying in Rome for a full academic year while attending Saint Mary’s College. She directed the Ireland Program for Saint Mary’s for four years. She moved from Saint Mary’s College to Harvard where she worked for three years as the assistant to the Irish poet Seamus Heaney. During this time she honed her cross-cultural communications skills as his liaison.
Roxann has conducted cross-cultural training at Bowling Green State University, Peace Corps, World Chicago and AFS Intercultural Programs USA. These trainings were for foreign scholars, professionals and high school exchange students studying in the United States on programs sponsored by the U. S. Department of State and other programs or Americans studying or working.
She serves as the residency’s cross-cultural communications and culture shock consultant and is honored to do so.