Miranda Barril, B.A., M.S.

Miranda was born and raised in Juneau, AK and as an alum of JDHS, has had experience with UAS before with dual enrollment and visiting campus. However, her passions took her away from Alaska when she graduated and she found herself at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, where she pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Japanese. She also did a full year of study abroad in Nagoya, Japan during her time there through Nagoya Gakuin University.

After graduation, Miranda received a job offer with the Japanese Teaching Exchange Program (JET) and returned to Japan for 2 1/2 years to teach English to a variety of students and schools in Hamamatsu, Japan. Her favorite things to do in Japan are explore ramen shops, walk around local parks and shrines, and of course, karaoke!

She returned to the States in 2017 and stayed in Juneau briefly before moving to Washington state to take on a job with Microsoft. She worked with employees who were looking to relocate to another country for work and assisted in the visa application process. It was during this job she realized that while she loved working within international relations, she wanted to focus on international education and decided to return to school to obtain her Masters. While working full-time, Miranda also worked towards an M.S. in International Relations and Global Studies with a focus in Education; she graduated in 2020, or more commonly known as the year of the great pandemic.

Once the pandemic eased in late 2020, Miranda was offered a job with DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA, where she served a variety of roles during her two years there, including an Admissions Coordinator, International Admissions Coordinator and their International Services Coordinator.

Miranda returned to Juneau at the end of 2022 and has since enjoyed working with students as UAS aspiring to achieve their study abroad ambitions. If you think study abroad is out of reach, don't despair! She is here to make it happen, one way or another; Miranda is a huge advocate of study abroad and the impact is has on education.

Outside of work, Miranda loves to go on walks, paint, and is an avid reader. Most often her response to "what are you doing this weekend" is "reading". She is also a horror genre fan and loves to discuss horror movies and the progression of the genre in general. She has two cats by the names of Momo and Satsu that came back up with her from Washington. Be prepared to be swarmed with cat photos if you mention them!