Joan Kang Shin, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Education at George Mason University and the Academic Co-Coordinator of the Teaching Culturally & Linguistically Diverse & Exceptional Learners (TCLDEL) program. Dr. Shin specializes in teaching ESL/EFL to young learners and teenagers and has provided professional development programs and workshops to English language teachers in over 100 countries around the world both online and in-person. She is also an expert in online TESOL education and conducts research on building international virtual communities of practice for English teachers. In 2016, Dr. Shin was named one of the 30 Up and Coming Leaders of TESOL by TESOL International Association. Over her career she has won over $8 million in grants and contracts to develop professional development programs for teachers. At Mason, she is currently Principal Investigator for a project called “Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) Global Online Courses and MOOCs” through the OPEN Program funded by the Department of State and administered by FHI 360. Through this award, she has led the development of MOOCs and online courses focused on providing PD to English language teachers worldwide. She has also received numerous grants as an English Language Specialist for the Office of English Language Programs (OELP) in the U.S. Department of State and has conducted EFL teacher training programs with hundreds of teachers in Brazil, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Laos, Libya, Morocco, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela, Vietnam, and the U.A.E. She has reached audiences of up to 2,000 through online webinars and digital videoconferencing. This year, she was named as one of the top 30 English Language Specialists by the U.S. Department of State in recognition of her lasting impact on the Specialist Program and on the field of TESOL.

Dr. Rebecca Kanak Fox, Ph.D. is Professor of Education, and Division Director of the Advanced Professional Teacher Development and International Education (APTDIE) in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She also is the Professor in Charge of the Ph.D. in Education Specialization in Teaching and Teacher Education. Bilingual in French, she taught French for many years prior to her career in teacher education. In addition to her teaching and administrative roles at the university, she is an active researcher with over 100 publications, a co-authored book and one in progress, and over 200 scholarly presentations and teacher professional development workshops conducted in national and international contexts. Her areas of research focus on educator professional development and critical reflection, international-mindedness and intercultural competence, and second language acquisition research in global settings. She is the recipient of the 2010 Mason Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2010, she was also recognized by the French government and awarded Chevalier des Palmes Académiques for her service to education and France. Dr. Fox has held several international grants and directed multiple international teacher education professional development programs (see Past Performance section for details). She is past chair of the NorthEast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL). She serves as one of five national auditors for American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) for CAEP (Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation), serves on the editorial boards of several journals and was recently elected to the Board of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).  

Anna S. Evmenova, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Division of Special Education and disAbility Research. Dr. Evmenova teaches master and doctoral courses in special education, assistive technology, and research methods. Her research interests include the use of assistive/instructional technology for cognitive development and access to academic instruction for learners with various abilities and needs; Universal Design for Learning (UDL); and effective online teaching and learning. Development and research of technology-based interventions and effective online learning environments for academic settings is the primary focus of her work. She has acquired more than $12 million in external funding to support her design research endeavors. Dr. Evmenova has been recognized for the use of UDL in her own teaching by the 2016 GMU Teaching Excellence Award for Technology-Enhanced Teaching and 2018 GMU Online Teaching Excellence Award. Since 2015, Dr. Evmenova has been regularly teaching an Online Teaching Initiative, an asynchronous online course developed to prepare CEHD faculty and instructors to be effective in online learning environments. Finally, Dr. Evmenova also has a strong interest in international education. She has conducted numerous workshops on inclusive education and UDL for international teachers from all over the world. Her invited presentations were conducted in Pakistan, Argentina, Cameroon, and Kyrgyzstan. Recently she has served as a Co-PI on the project funded by US Department of State, FHI-360 that has produced Teaching English to Young Learners course in multiple formats: online course, facilitated and unfacilitated MOOC. Dr. Evmenova has helped to develop the course, taught the online course format several times, and supported the collection and analysis of research data. 

Jered Borup is an Associate Professor in the Division of Learning Technologies at George Mason University. In his current position, he is the Co-Academic Program Coordinator of the Learning Technologies in Schools Master’s and Certificate programs that are devoted to improving teacher practices in online and blended learning environments. Previous to earning his Ph.D. at Brigham Young University, Jered taught history at a junior high school for six years. He has also taught online and blended courses since 2008. He is a leading researcher in the field of K-12 online and blended learning and has published the free online book, K-12 Blended Teaching: A Guide to Personalized Learning and Online Integration (https://edtechbooks.org/k12blended).

Dildora Khakimova is an International Ph.D. student in International Education and Graduate Research Assistant at George Mason University. She obtained her bachelor's and master's in psychology at the National University of Uzbekistan, named after Mirzo Ulugbek. In 2012 she defended her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, Akmeology. In 2018 Dr. Khakimova was awarded the scientific title of Docent in Developmental Psychology by the Supreme Attestation Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan. From 2010 to 2018, Dr. Khakimova worked at the National University of Uzbekistan as a Teacher, Senior Lecturer, and Associate Professor. From 2013 to 2015, Dr. Khakimova has provided systemic research of the Palliative Care System in Uzbekistan as UNAIDS Specialist in Advocacy and Palliative care for people living with HIV/AIDS. From 2015 to 2017, she coordinated the WHO Guideline's adaptation on HIV Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Care for Key Populations. Currently, Dildora Khakimova assists the WHO Uzbekistan team as a consultant in coordination and discussion of the renewal of the governmental decrees on HIV/AIDS with specialists, stakeholders, and NGOs.

Woomee L. Kim, MATESL, is a Doctoral Candidate at George Mason University, specializing in International Education and Interdisciplinary Studies. Ms. Kim’s dissertation research topic is on Global Online Teacher Professional Development and expects to complete her PhD in 2022. She earned her MA in Teaching English as a Second Language from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2001 and has taught in secondary and higher education institutions, both within the United States and abroad, including South Korea and Myanmar. She is a certified secondary English teacher from the state of California since 2009, and earned a preliminary administrative credential in 2013. Since Ms. Kim’s PhD studies began in 2016 at George Mason University, she worked as a graduate research assistant to Dr. Joan Kang Shin. She earned her Teaching Online Certificate in 2017. Participating as a team member in multiple grant projects funded by the US Department of Defense and US Department of State under Dr. Shin’s leadership, she gained experience in development and facilitation of online teacher professional development courses, including two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Currently, Ms. Kim is a project team member for English Speaking Nation Program for Uzbekistan, sponsored by the Embassy of the United States, Tashkent, and English for Media Literacy for Education MOOC, sponsored by the US Department of State’s Online Professional English Network Programs and administered by FHI360. She is actively involved in development and delivery of both programs. Ms. Kim also has been working as an online instructor for Teaching English to Young Learners, Global Online Course, which is an 8-week asynchronous professional development joined by English educators from more than 80 countries since 2017.

Hyunsun Chung is a Ph.D. candidate in International Education and Teaching and Teacher Education at George Mason University. She had a M.A. degree in English Literature from University of Virginia and taught as a Korean language instructor in the US. She also taught pre-service English teachers for Korean secondary schools for 9 years and developed various learning materials and lessons. Currently, her research area is FL/WL teacher education and language teacher professional identity formation.

Kelley Webb is a doctoral candidate at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia with a primary specialization in International Education and a secondary specialization in Teaching and Teacher Education. She has a Master of Arts in Education degree with a focus on Curriculum and Instruction for Teaching Foreign Languages and holds a postgraduate professional teaching license with an endorsement for PK-12 Spanish language instruction. She is a former Spanish teacher outside of Richmond, Virginia and international English teacher in Medellín, Colombia. She has been a graduate research assistant for the past five years and is currently completing the final stages of her dissertation for defense. Her research explores intercultural competence and its development and integration in world language education. In her work as a graduate research assistant, she has worked for three federally funded programs to develop and facilitate professional learning for teachers in person and online. Kelley is an active member of the world language teacher professional organizations in the U.S. and regularly presents at conferences. She also serves as the Secretary of the Teacher Development Special Interest Group (SIG) for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) for the 2021-2022 term.