Sharon Garratt has had a passion for Latin American language and culture since first taking Spanish in junior high school. After majoring in Spanish at Purdue University, she worked for the Comité de Apoyo, a nonprofit funded by the American Friends Service Committee to help educate and support women factory workers across the border, while pursuing teacher certification at Pan American University in South Texas. She subsequently taught bilingual kindergarten for five years in Mission, Texas. She has spent the past 23 years teaching ESL in Rogers, Arkansas.

Sharon has been involved in numerous social, environmental, and animal welfare organizations over the years. In 2012, she joined the Arkansas Chapter of Partners of the Americas and was selected as a mentor to Ecuador with a group of Youth Ambassadors. She has been on the Board of Directors since that time. Participating in Partners is a gratifying way to “Connect, Serve, Change Lives,” as our mission states.

Dr. John Ball is a medical doctor who worked with the Bolivian American Medical Association through the 90's in Bolivian public hospitals. He has been active in providing hemodialysis to developing world countries through a charity, The Bridge of Life. He currently is active in Bolivia with an NGO, Alianza Boliviana, dedicated to assisting Healthcare. His goal is to assist Partners in expanding its programs in Bolivia. 

Dr. Margaret Clark began teaching at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1969 while working on her doctorate in education, thereby becoming one of the first African Americans hired to teach at the UA. Over the next 29 years, she taught French in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, In the College of Education and Health Professions, she taught courses in secondary education, including foreign language methodology and multicultural education. She offered English as a Second Language (ESL) workshops in Northwest Arkansas before developing a master's degree program in ESL and teaching master's degree education courses in the university’s summer program in Athens, Greece. Over the years, she made numerous scholarly presentations, including ones in the countries of Brazil, Brunei, Chile, Mexico, Oman, and Singapore.

Dr. Clark was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, a Silas Hunt Legacy Award in 2006, the Arkansas Alumni Association Service Award in 2015, and the Machado Leadership Award from the Partners of the Americas in 2016. In 2019, a dormitory at the Fayetteville campus was named in her honor: Margaret Clark Hall.

Dr. Clark retired in 1998 but continued teaching foreign language methodology classes until the end of the summer of 2007. Currently, she remains actively involved in community and state organizations by continuing her years of service to the Arkansas-East Bolivia Partnership and the Committee of the Washington County Coalition of Women in History.

Christine Smart is an Academic Advisor and Mentor in the Grow Your Own (CYO) Program in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville). 

In 2019, as part of the 50th anniversary of the English Language Fellow Program at the U.S. Department of State, Christine was selected to return to Uzbekistan as an English Language Specialist to conduct a “Go Back, Give Back” project conducting two weeks of teacher training workshops for university professors who teach English as a foreign language.

Lorraine Duso Kitts is a music professor of oboe and bassoon at the University of Central Arkansas. She
has been teaching for over 20 years at UCA. She is also an adjunct professor of bassoon instructor at Harding University and double reeds at Hendrix College. She plays Second Oboe with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra as well as Principal Oboe with the Conway Symphony Orchestra. Lorraine became involved with Partners of the  Americas when she attended the Arkansas Partners of the Americas Reception for the Kay Kraeft Scholarship on in Conway, AR. Lorraine was listening to a Brahms Trio performed by three Bolivian students from UCA. She donated to the scholarship that evening and attended the general meeting the next day. She thought this was an excellent organization with members who are very devoted to the welfare of the community.

Phil Serafini's professional preparation includes programs of study in agronomy, liberal arts, rural development, and rice cropping. He has a lifetime of experience in synergistic activities such as working with scientists to subsistence farmers in West Africa and Bolivia. Phil has designed, supervised, and trained others to conduct production agriculture and institutional support for agricultural research in Bolivia, Uganda, Niger, Morocco, southern Africa, Nepal, Mali, Haiti and West Africa. Some of Phil's appointments include U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Swamp Development (Sierra Leon), Research Farm Manager, Sahelian Center (Niger), Research Assistant Professor, U of A, International Agricultural Programs (Arkansas), and Partner and CEO of Sistemas de Riego Valley (Bolivia). He has developed and managed two commercial farms totalling 4,800 ha as well as Bolivia's largest irrigation equipment company. Mr. Serafini is fluent in Spanish, French, and English.   

McKenzie McMath is an experienced international communications professional with a passion for Hispanic and LATAM culture and language.  Her specialties include an integrated marketing approach to strategic communications, facilitating transcreation, and the study of people through the lens of cultural anthropology.  Lo mejor esta por venir!

Dr. Kristina (Tina) Howlett is passionate about connecting, serving, and changing lives, so joining Partners of the Americas resonated with her life's mission. In 2022, Dr. Howlett facilitated a POA chapter initiative, POA Pen Pals, connecting high school students and teachers in Arkansas and East Bolivia. She was recently awarded a USAID Partners of the Americas Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Youth Development Travel Award to design an English language book for an environmental institute in the Dominican Republic. Tina studied foreign languages at The University of Connecticut, and her first job was coordinating conferences for organic farmers in Ireland, England, and Scotland. She is a former Community Projects Coordinator/Advisor for the Rogers Honors Academy in Rogers, Arkansas, and an Assistant Professor of TESOL Education at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. From 1996-2016, Dr. Howlett served as an ESL Lead Teacher and Curriculum Specialist for the Rogers Public Schools. Dr. Howlett is Past-President/Lifetime Member of  ARKTESOL (Arkansas Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) and past V.P. of Beta Chapter and Treasurer of Iota Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, a society of key women educators. She is especially proud of spearheading the ARKTESOL and AFLTA (AR Foreign Language Teachers Association) partnership supporting the foundation of the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy. Currently, Dr. Howlett is the Northwest Arkansas Coordinator of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and a facilitator with Youth Literacy Programs of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. 

Jackie Lamar recently retired from the University of Central Arkansas where she was Professor of
Saxophone and Jazz for 32 years. She holds the Doctorate of Musical Arts in Saxophone Performance and Master of Music Education from the University of North Texas and the Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Central Arkansas. She is an active member of the Arkansas-East Bolivia Partners of the Americas Chapter and serves as Cultural Chair and Vice President for Central Arkansas. She completed a trip to Santa Cruz Bolivia in 2018 receiving a Partners Travel Grant. Following that trip, she has initiated 2 projects: Music Stands for Bellas Artes School in Santa Cruz, and the Kay Kraeft Scholarship for Bolivian UCA Music Students. In retirement, Dr. Lamar is enjoying performing for musicals and shows. She continues to perform on soprano saxophone with the Arkansas Saxophone Quartet and is bassoonist with Central Arkansas Chamber Winds.

Dr. Freddie A. Bowles is an associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where she teaches courses in the Bachelor and Masters programs for preparing secondary teachers and for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Dr. Bowles has also served as President of the Arkansas Association of Teacher Educators, Vice-President of Iota Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, Secretary of the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association, Board Member of the Association of Teacher Educators and the Arkansas Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and Arkansas Delegate to the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Language and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. She is currently the Arkansas Liaison for the National Museum of Language and has been awarded the Distinguished Member Award 2020 for the Association of Teacher Educators.