UMass Boston

Lorena Fuentes (She/Her/Hers)
Senior Director
(617) 297-6256 | Lorena.Fuentes-Lopez@umb.edu

Lorena joined UMass Boston in 2010. She served as a full-time instructor in the former ESL Pre-collegiate Program for one year and as a full-time faculty in the ESL Undergraduate Program at UMass Boston for close to eight years. Lorena switched careers in 2019, and served as the Associate Director for the undergraduate and pre-collegiate ESL programs for two years. She became a full-time administrator for the Pathways & Multilingual Programs as the Director in 2021. Lorena has an MA in Applied Linguistics and a PhD from the Higher Education and Leadership Program at UMass Boston. Her research interests include organizational theory in higher education, curriculum development, racial justice in education, and multilingual students. Lorena is also passionate about music, dancing, cats, and languages.

Gabe Hedemann (He/Him/His)
Assistant Director
(617) 297-1993 | Gabe.Hedemann@umb.edu

Gabe has been teaching multilingual students since 1998, with new arrivals in the Baltimore/DC area, as a high school and college writing instructor, and in Boston working with pre-collegiate and undergraduate students since 2008. Gabe has an MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), and he is interested in language skill assessment, lesson design, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy. He now works as Assistant Director for Pathways & Multilingual Programs, supporting students, tutors, and faculty in the ELP and DSP programs. Gabe lives in Dorchester with his partner and pets.

Daniel Flaherty (He/Him/His)
Program Assistant and Data Coordinator
(617) 287-6516 | Daniel.Flaherty@umb.edu

Daniel graduated from UMass Boston with two degrees: his Bachelor's in Latin American and Iberian Studies in 2019 and his Master's in Applied Linguistics in 2021. He has worked as an English and Spanish tutor, as well as a Community Ambassador for the Honors College at UMB. As a graduate student, Dan worked as a DSP tutor and has worked behind the scenes of the program since. Dan now serves as the Program Assistant and Data Coordinator for the department as the first point-of-contact to new ELP applicants, helping them through the process of getting to UMass Boston. His favorite hobbies are watching baseball and American football, playing video games, and language learning.

Maryam Altaf (She/Her/Hers)
Academic Success Advisor
(617) 297-1153 | Maryam.Altaf@umb.edu

Maryam is a UMass Boston Alumna, graduating with her BA and MA in International Relations. In her current role, Maryam supports immigrant-origin students, multilingual, and DSP students to make sure they feel supported and are meeting academic requirements successfully as they complete their college careers. Her research interests include the undocumented community, international relations, racial justice, and Pakistan. She is also passionate about reading and watching movies in her free time.

Khanh Dam (He/Him/His)
Academic Success Advisor
(617) 297-1093 | Khanh.Dam@umb.edu

Khanh Dam was a Direction for Student Potential program in the summer of 2019 and graduated from UMass Boston with a bachelor’s degree with English and Psychology minor. As a Vietnamese immigrant, he understood the importance of having a community and networking, so he continued to work closely with multilingual students as a peer mentor, tutor, and peer advisor throughout his undergraduate years. With the pride of being DSP and UMass Boston alumnus, Khanh is very excited to be the newest member of Pathways and Multilingual Programs and working as an Academic Success Advisor.