Usap South Africa Leadership
Working with diverse students from various parts of South Africa , our EducationUSA Advisors strive to assist these students with accessing information regarding study in the USA and then applying to specific universities that meet their individual criteria.
Martha Bridgman, Usap South Africa, Cape Town
Susan D. Knowles, South Africa, Durban
Martha Bridgman
Usap South Africa, Cape town
An Education USA Advisor since 2003, Martha Bridgman has a longstanding interest in international affairs. She is an American by birth, and attended the University of California, Davis, obtaining a BA in International Relations (1982) before moving to Washington, DC. There she served as an intern at the Department of State and went on to complete graduate studies at Georgetown University (MSFS 1985). An internship with the US Foreign Service took her to South Africa, where she subsequently married and settled and went on to do a doctorate in Foreign Policy Analysis at the University of Stellenbosch (DPhill 1999).
She taught on American Politics and Foreign Policy for three years at the University of Stellenbosch before joining Education USA.
Martha initiated the Usap in Cape Town in 2006, and assisted an initial group of 5 students to apply for study in the US. Two of these obtained full funding, one at Penn and the other at Wesleyan. She continues with the program, having made adjustments to take into account the unique challenges facing South African applicants.
She stepped into the role of Education Advising Representative for Africa to NAFSA: Association of International Educators, in 2005. In early 2008, she was appointed the coordinator for the global Overseas Education Advising community to NAFSA.
She continues with her academic interests in international affairs through her involvement with the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) both as chair of the Western Cape Branch of the Institute and as an author for various SAIIA publications. She is married to an Advocate with the Cape Bar, and has three children.
Susan D. Knowles
Usap South Africa, Durban
Susan is originally from upstate New York and has a BSc. Degree from Cornell University. While at Cornell, she met her husband who is South African. They married and have since lived in both the U.S. and South Africa. She served as an International Student Advisor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in the 1990's. This is her second year as the EducationUSA Advisor at the US Consulate General in Durban, South Africa.
Susan initiated Durban's Usap in 2006 shortly after joining the Consulate. She worked with one student who is now currently on a full scholarship at Duke University , North Carolina , studying Mechanical Engineering. In 2007 she worked with three students, two of whom accepted funding to study in South Africa , and one who received a substantial scholarship from Sarah Lawrence College in New York and was placed on the waiting list at Mount Holyoke College and Middlebury College .