Professor Nilda Soto Ruiz has dedicated her professional career to providing quality educational programs in both public and private educational settings. She has more than 36 years experience as a teacher and high-ranking administrator in the New York City Public School System. Dr. Soto Ruiz’s accomplishments have distinguished her as a leading practitioner and advocate in the field of education. Her research interests include the teaching of English Language Learners and students with special needs.

Dr. Soto Ruiz, who was born in New York City is a product of the New York City Public Schools. She earned a baccalaureate degree from the City College of New York. She received her Masters and Doctoral degrees from New York University. Dr. Soto Ruiz has served students in New York City at all grade levels. She has also assumed administrative positions at the district level in the Bronx and at the Central level. Among the numerous positions she has held are: Director of Bilingual Education, Chief Executive for Instruction and Superintendent for the Office of Monitoring and School Improvement. Dr. Soto Ruiz has shared her expertise by educating future teachers and administrators at Hunter College, the College of New Rochelle and New York University. She was appointed by Governor Pataki to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York and served as a member for a ten year period. She was Chair of the Board’s Committee on Academic Policy, Program and Research and Vice Chair of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs. She also worked on public school and university collaborative programs during her tenure as trustee. In 2002 Dr. Soto Ruiz joined the faculty of Touro College as professor and chair for the programs in school administration and restructured the program which prepares administrators for public and private school systems. During the academic year of 2009- 2010 Dr. Soto Ruiz assumed additional duties as acting chair of Bilingual/TESOL programs. Dr. Soto Ruiz retains a strong commitment to sharing her expertise to prepare students of diverse backgrounds to excel academically. She is currently Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and Chair of the School Leadership Program at the Touro College Graduate School of Education.

Dr. Bahar Otcu-Grillman has been faculty at Mercy College, NY since 2010. She is a Professor of TESOL/Bilingual Education within the Department of Literacy and Multilingual Studies. Between 2018-2023, she directed the Clinically Rich Intensive Teacher Institute in ESOL (CR- ITI ESOL) grant program and will continue to co-direct the program between 2023-2028. This year she is celebrating her 27 th year serving to higher education since she started as a Research Assistant in one of the finest universities in Turkey, Middle East Technical University (Ankara). She teaches bilingual education, ESL teaching methods, clinical practices, and linguistics. She has done teacher training in ESOL extensively and taught at various institutions of higher education in New York. She taught in Austria for Mercy College as a visiting professor in the summer of 2012.

Dr. Otcu-Grillman pursued her doctorate in International and Transcultural Studies department and earned her degree from the program in International Educational Development with a focus on Language, Literacy, and Technology at Teachers College Columbia University. Her dissertation mentors were Professor Emerita Ofelia García and Professor Emerita Jo Anne Kleifgen- influential and pioneering researchers in educational linguistics. She has studied the English language learners and educators in Turkey and the US, and Turkish Americans in the US. She researched extensively the development of English language learners’ pragmalinguistic features with a focus on requesting speech act. Within the Turkish American community, she took a language maintenance and discourse analytical approach and performed the linguistic ethnography of a community-based heritage language school in New York. Dr. Otcu-Grillman’s dissertation was published as a book entitled Language  Maintenance and Cultural Identity Construction (2010) and is the first case study of a Turkish community school in the US. Among many other publications, she co-edited Bilingual Community Education and Multilingualism: Beyond Heritage Languages in a Global City (2013), Interdisciplinary Approaches Toward Enhancing Teacher Education (2021), and Remaking Multilingualism: A Translanguaging Approach (2022). The latter publication is a tribute to Ofelia García and includes studies and personal narratives of researchers from throughout the world. Dr. Otcu-Grillman is now co-editing a new book entitled Mentoring and Reflective Teachers in ESOL and Bilingual Education to be published in the fall of 2023.

Dr. Otcu-Grillman has always been involved with service to her institution and scientific communities. She was the primary committee member in organizing the Dynamic Bilingualism Symposium that took place at Mercy College in 2015, the first and only symposium on the topic in the Westchester area. She has done pro-bono work at New York State Association of Bilingual Education (NYSABE) as a board member, a newsletter editor and an author. Between the years 2013-2017, she was the Turkish Language delegate and between 2013-2015, she was the Secretary of the organization. She authored numerous articles for NYSABE Bilingual Times. She has presented at many local, national, and international conferences to date. She has also collaborated with NYSTESOL and presented at the annual conferences. She is an established academic today thanks to her contributions to the field and her collegiality.

Leila Kubesch (pronounced lay. lah koo.beh.sh) is the 2022 National Teachers Hall of Fame inductee.

Motivated by her students; struggles, she earned her National Board Teaching Certificate, set high standards for herself and her students and proved that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things. Her story is one of resilience, determination, and commitment to excellence, inspiring others with the transformative power of education.

She empowers educator to develop leadership skills that include outreach and collaboration. She is an international; TEDx speaker, a multi-award-winning educator, and a thought leader who specializes in communication, from storytelling for healing to advocacy to grant-writing. Leila uses comedy and storytelling and her talks leave audiences feeling inspired and ready to take actions.

 Notable achievements:

 2022 National Teachers Hall of Fame Inductee, 

 2021 NEA Horace Mann Award recipient, 

 2020 National Family Teacher of the Year,

 2020 Ohio Teacher of the Year and 

 2019 Human and Civil Rights Award recipient.

Approach to speaking:

Leila's background as a trained comedian from Second City gives her a unique edge in crafting engaging and entertaining talks that leave a lasting impression on her audience. By using comedy and storytelling, she connects with her audience on a deeper level, even when discussing serious issues. She does not read a script or stand behind a lectern and prefers a hands-free mic that allows for mobility. She uses slides to share real-life case studies and documentaries in photography of her teaching and students. Attendees will receive a QR code allowing them to download the entire presentation, minus the photos of her students.

Dr. Denise Furlong holds an Ed.D. in Literacy Education with a concentration in educating English learners from Rutgers University.  She is currently an Assistant Professor and the Director of Advanced Studies for Reading Specialists & ESL at Georgian Court University in New Jersey.  She has nearly 25 years of experience in teaching multilingual learners and coaching their teachers in a variety of K-12 educational settings.  In addition to K-12, Dr. Furlong has also enjoyed the opportunity to work with adult English learners at the university level and within various community environments. Her book, Voices of Newcomers: Experiences of Multilingual Learners, has been honored as an outstanding teacher resource for multicultural education and is the 2023 recipient of Delta Kappa Gamma’s Educator Book Award.

Aramina Vega Ferrer, Ph.D., is a long-time Bronx resident and former associate professor of Literacy and Multilingual Studies in the School of Education at Mercy College where she prepared teacher candidates for advanced certificates and the Master of Science program in Teaching Literacy. She views the teaching and learning of reading and writing as complex processes best examined through a sociolinguistic lens that takes into account the cultural and linguistic experiences of students and their families in the home. Her areas of research and expertise are: sociolinguistics, second language acquisition and learning, bilingualism, multiculturalism, family literacy, and community engaged scholarship.     

Dr. Ferrer served as chair of the Department of Literacy and Multilingual Studies at Mercy College and founding director of the School of Education (SOE) Bronx Parent Center at the Bronx campus. The SOE Bronx Parent Center opened in 2012 as a first-of-its-kind faculty-developed and faculty-led initiative working with Bronx families and educators to increase student achievement in Pre-K–12, and ensure college access. In addition, Dr. Ferrer has over 30 years of K-12 teaching and leadership experience in the development and implementation of innovative instructional programs for culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. She began as a Junior High School Teacher of Spanish and English as a Second Language, went on to become a curriculum specialist as a District Supervisor of Bilingual Education, and culminated her tenure in the New York City school system as an Elementary School Principal in the Bronx. Dr. Ferrer holds a Ph.D. in Language, Literacy and Learning from Fordham University, an M.S. in Ed. in Bilingual Education from City College, and a B.A. in Spanish from Herbert H. Lehman College.

Dr. Ferrer is also actively engaged in educational and community leadership as a Trustee of Woodlawn Cemetery and Chair of the Woodlawn Conservancy, and member of the Board of Advisors of the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and its Education Committee. She previously served as Secretary/Treasurer and Trustee of NYBG, Vice-Chair of the Lehman College Foundation, Trustee of the New-York Historical Society, and New York City Landmarks Commissioner representing the Bronx. A member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, Fordham University Chapter, Dr. Ferrer was a U.S. Department of Education Doctoral Fellow at Fordham. She has received numerous professional and civic awards, among them the Lifetime Achievement Award from Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, the Alumni Achievement Award from Lehman College, Distinguished Educator Award by the New York City Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Educator of the Year Award for Creative Leadership and Vision in Education by the Association of Teachers of New York, and the Governor’s Outstanding Hispanic Women Achievers Award. Dr. Ferrer was elected to the New York State Board of Regents by the New York State Legislature on March 2, 2021, for a 2-year term, and reelected to a five-year term on March 1, 2023. She represents Judicial District 12 (The Bronx). In her role as Regent, she serves on several committees and workgroups and is Co-Chair of the Cultural Education Committee, which develops and recommends policies related to cultural education. The Office of Cultural Education oversees the State Library, State Museum, State Archives, Summer School of the Arts, and the Public Broadcasting Program. Regent Ferrer also serves as a member of the NYS Graduation Measures Blue Ribbon Commission’s Subcommittee on Program Requirements and Learning Experiences.