Buenos Aires

Yvette Gellis

yvette.gellis@pepperdine.edu

Visiting Assistant Professor of Arts

Yvette Gellis is a contemporary artist with an active exhibition program both nationally and internationally. She serves as a full-time Assistant Professor of Art at  Seaver College, where she teaches courses in drawing, painting, printmaking, and art fundamentals and design. Additionally, she has taught First Year Seminar and Chapel Connections at Seaver. 

Yvette skillfully weaves the spiritual foundation of Pepperdine's mission into her programs, providing students with a holistic and enriching experience. One of the most significant and profoundly impactful years of her life was spent as an undergraduate abroad in Aix-en-Provence. Yvette is now thrilled to help students embrace the experience of living in Buenos Aires. She views discovering and venturing into a new community as a welcome adventure and looks forward to sharing this journey with her students.  Yvette is married to Andy, and together they have a son and daughter who are now young professionals pursuing their careers. They love the outdoors, enjoying activities like hiking, biking, and exploring new places as a family.

Dr. Carrie Wall

carrie.wall@pepperdine.edu

Professor of Teacher Education
Teacher Preparation Program Undergraduate Coordinator

Carrie Wall is a Professor of Teacher Education at Seaver College. She teaches courses in human development, educational foundations, literacy, and teaching methods and researches trauma-informed practices within education. She and her husband, Andy, are Pepperdine sweethearts whose three daughters also graduated from Pepperdine. Participating in International Programs is a family tradition in the Wall household. Carrie and Andy experienced the magic of living in Heidelberg as Pepperdine students and then in Florence during spring 2019 as the faculty family. Additionally, their oldest daughter, Jenna (30), studied in Heidelberg and Florence. Jessica (28) studied in Heidelberg and Buenos Aires. Michaela (26) studied in Buenos Aires and New Zealand. Carrie and Andy love to witness the transformation that occurs when students go abroad, only to return as well-traveled, confident, culturally sensitive, relationally connected, spiritually deepened, reflective adults.

Carrie and Andy love to travel and adventure as well as get to know and meaningfully invest in students. Whether welcoming people into their home for dinner, grabbing coffee in a local café, or seizing a spontaneous moment to connect, they look forward to building relationships with the people they meet along the way. 

Amy Johnson

amy.johnson2@pepperdine.edu

Executive in Residence of Business
Business Administration Division, Seaver College

Amy is a seasoned consultant and educator with a diverse background in business and social impact. She holds a BS in Business Administration from Pepperdine University and has extensive experience in IT strategies, ERP implementations, and change management, having worked with Arthur Andersen and led Strategic Vision Consulting, which she and her partners sold to Cognizant Technologies. At Cognizant, she managed global IT and business process projects. Amy's career took a turn when she spent a year traveling and learning across various countries. She later earned a Master’s in Social Entrepreneurship where she spent a few months living in Buenos Aires working with local nonprofits.  She has spent the past 11 years teaching one of the capstone classes Servant Leadership. Amy continues to run her own consulting firm, Go Make a Difference Ventures, where she actively supports nonprofits, and serves on the boards of the Al Wooten Jr. Youth Center and Pepperdine’s Board of Visitors. 

Ame Cividanes

ame.cividanes@pepperdine.edu

Professor of Hispanic Studies
International Studies and Languages Division

Dr. Ame Cividanes, Professor of Teaching of Hispanic Studies, received her Ph.D. in Contemporary Spanish Literature from Florida State University, with a secondary specialization in Curriculum Development and Second Language Acquisition. She previously taught Spanish at Pepperdine from 1997 to 2000 and directed the Buenos Aires summer program in 1999.

Dr. Cividanes brings a wealth of experience in language education, having served as Director of the Spanish and Portuguese Language Program at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. She has taught all levels of Spanish language, literature, and culture, and held prior appointments at the University of Miami, where she was Intensive Language Program Coordinator, and at Florida Atlantic University.

Dr. Cividanes has over 20 years of experience leading intensive language and culture programs in Latin America and Spain. At Yale, she served as both faculty and director for the university’s programs in Bilbao, Spain, and Quito, Ecuador. In Spring 2025, Dr. Cividanes served as Faculty in Residence for Pepperdine’s International Programs in Switzerland, and this summer, she is directing Pepperdine’s Upper Division Program in Madrid. She has a deep love for Argentina and can’t wait to work with our students there in the near future.

Her lifelong commitment to fostering intercultural understanding at the university level remains a personal and professional passion. She is also deeply committed to Pepperdine’s Christian mission, and views her work—both in and outside the classroom—as a way to serve and guide students in their academic, personal, and spiritual growth.