Imran Abbasi is currently completing his 6th year as Principal at Schalmont High School in Rotterdam, New York. Previously he was the high school principal at Voorheesville and a middle school assistant principal at Niskayuna. Prior to administration he taught middle school Social Studies in Albany City Schools as well as Bethlehem. He is currently a PhD student at the University at Albany in Educational Administration and Policy Studies. Lastly, he serves on the Capital Region GLSEN board and also on the Educator Advisory Council for GLSEN National.

     Alex Kumi-Yeboah is an Assistant Professor of Education in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, School of Education at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He specializes in the cross-cultural educational challenges and successes of Black immigrant youth with a specific emphasis on African immigrant students and diversity issues in online education. His research interests include mediating cross-cultural factors that impact the educational challenges and achievement of Black immigrant students in United States schools. He also studies cross-cultural collaboration and multicultural contexts in online education. His recent publications appeared in the Online Learning Journal and Teachers College Record.

      Jim Niedermeier is the Principal and Chief Academic Officer at Tech Valley High School in Albany, a regional public school in the Capital Region that focuses on project-based, student-focused, and 21st century learning. In that role, Jim has partnered with business, academic, and legislative leaders to create a truly innovative program. Previously, Jim was principal of Red Jacket High School in the Manchester-Shortsville Central School District in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. He is also a former director of instructional technology for Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES and a former secondary English teacher.  He was a recipient of the New York State Council of School Superintendents’ Raymond R. Delaney Memorial Scholarship in 2017 and is currently a doctoral student in Educational Leadership at the Sage Colleges. 

     Mark has been a professional in education for 24 years and currently works as the Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships for AdvancED. In this role he supports continuous improvement efforts with state department of education partnerships and post-secondary institutions. Previously Mark served 18 years in the positions from teacher to Program Coordinator to district-level administrator for Broward County Public Schools, Florida. In his final position, he was the head of the Office of School Improvement where he was also the system lead for continuous improvement and accreditation.Concurrently, Mark has experience working as a college/university adjunct professor (20 years), virtual schools adjunct instructor (5 years) and educational consultant (4 years). Mark continues to remain active with committee work and/or serving on the Board of Directors for education organizations.  Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the State University of New York College at Oswego, Master of Education in Exceptional Student Education degree from Florida Atlantic University, an Educational Specialist degree in Educational Leadership and Doctorate of Education in Child and Youth Studies degrees from Nova Southeastern University.

     Sepideh Yasrebi has been an ENL/EFL teacher for about 14 years. Formerly, she taught in Iran for almost nine years. She earned a CELTA degree (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) from Cambridge University in 2008. Being a CELTA teacher, she taught in many different places and countries (e.g., Dubai, Iran, Malaysia, US). In 2013, She did a second graduate degree in NY and earned an M.S.Ed. at Hofstra university which led to the NY state ENL certification. In 2015, she was hired as an ENL teacher in an elementary school in Sea Cliff, NY, and then she taught at Mott Hall Charter School in South Bronx, and MS216Q Middle School in Queens. In 2016, she was offered a full ride at Ualbany to be advised by the Distinguished Professor Dr. Istvan Kecskes. Since then, she has offered several graduate courses at UAlbany (e.g., ETAP 635, ETAP 501, ETAP 200, ETAP 598). She also does regular paper reviews for journal of Pragmatics. She worked as a research assistant with SUNY Research Foundation in summer 2017 and worked as a lecturer at UAlbany IELP department in the summer 2018.

     Stephanie Affinito is a literacy teacher educator in the Department of Literacy Teaching and Learning at the University at Albany in New York. She regularly teaches graduate courses on elementary classroom literacy instruction, literacy intervention and children’s literature. She has researched literacy coaching as part of her doctoral studies and focuses much of her current work on how technology and digital tools can impact teacher learning and collaboration. Stephanie recently published a book with Heinemann Publishing titled, Literacy Coaching: Teaching and Learning with Digital Tools and Technology.  She presents regularly at state and national literacy conferences on literacy coaching, teacher collaboration and reading, writing and learning through innovative technology..

     Colleen McDonald is a native of New York, educated in New York State public school system from kindergarten through graduation. She then continued in NY with her undergraduate and master’s degrees from the College of St. Rose in education and educational administration. During her NYS career, Colleen has worked as a special education teacher with BOCES and as both a special educator and an English teacher in a small rural public school in upstate New York. Colleen recently retired from a 32 year career in public education, yet continues to work on developing professional learning for educators to improve their professional practice, as director of the NEA GPS grant and the Classroom Academy residency, and writing competitive district grants.

     Alandeom W. Oliveira is an associate professor of science education at the State University of New York at Albany. He earned a Master’s degree in science education at Southeast Missouri State University (2002) and a PhD degree in science education at Indiana University Bloomington (2008). He has taught science education courses to teachers in Brazil and the US and has coordinated multiple professional development programs for school teachers, including Science Modeling for Inquiring Teachers Network, and Technology-Enhanced Multimodal Instruction in Science and Math for English Language Learners. His research interests include cooperative science learning, inquiry-based teaching, and classroom discourse and language use

    Dr. Jason Vickers is a full-time lecturer in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at the University at Albany, SUNY. He received his Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from University at Albany in Spring 2012. Prior to his position at Albany, he taught K-12 for 15 years in the public school systems in various states. His focus was on emotionally disturbed populations. He also taught oral English in China for three years. In his position at Albany, he has taught over 80 online courses including courses in integrating technology across the curriculum, online learning in both secondary and K-12 settings, theory of distance education, designing role playing games for the classroom, using multimedia in the classroom, and using media in the language classroom. His research interest lies mainly in self-assessment of students work in online settings.

    Stacy is a current student in the Curriculum Development and Instructional Design program at the University at Albany. She is also an eLearning Instructional Design manager at the CUNY Research Foundation, where she leads a team of talented instructional designers building and implementing online training programs for New York state employees. She also has experience designing, implementing, and managing K-12 and workforce educational programs in web and software development for children and adults.