MIDTESOL Board

2024 Conference Chair

TBD

2024 Conference Program Chair

TBD

Exhibitor Coordinator

Carolyn Heacock, Kansas

Carolyn Heacock is an Academic Program Associate/Lecturer at the University of Kansas where she coordinates the English for Academic Purposes program for KU’s Academic Accelerator Program. She earned her M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Kansas and teaches in KU’s intensive English program, short-term programs and English for Academic Purposes program. Her professional interests include EAP materials development, content-based language instruction and online instruction. When not working, she enjoys hiking and biking with her husband and pursuing her interest in fiber arts.

Communications Director / Chair

Vicki Anderson, Nebraska

Dr. Vicki Anderson is the director of the undergraduate and graduate ESL/ELL/TESOL teacher preparation programs at Concordia University Nebraska (in Seward, NE) and chair of that institution’s Department of Intercultural Studies and Modern Languages. Vicki received her PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University (Bloomington, IN) and her MA in TESOL/Linguistics from Ball State University (Muncie, IN). She has taught English in a variety of K-12 and university contexts in Chile and France, as well as in Intensive English Programs at Indiana University and Ball State; she currently trains and leads teams of students every summer to China to run ESL summer camps. When not working, Vicki enjoys cooking and hiking and drinking espressos on the front porch with her husband and two teenaged sons.

MIDTESOL Journal

Jeanne Beck, Iowa
Co-Editor

Jeanne Beck is a Ph.D. student in the Applied Linguistics and Technology (ALT) Program at Iowa State University and an EL coordinator/teacher at St. Cecilia School in Ames, Iowa. She has an M.Ed in TESOL education from the University of Missouri and an Ed.S in education administration from William Woods University, also in Missouri. Jeanne has previously taught EL learners, English Language Arts, and technology in Missouri; EL teacher trainees and university students in South Korea, and high school EFL students in Japan via the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. She was a graduate intern with WIDA in summer 2022 and previously served as an Edtech Interest Section Co-Chair for Midtesol from 2018-2019. Her research interests include second language assessment, CALL, teacher training, Project-Based Learning, and EL policy. 

Ananda Muhammed, Iowa
Co-Editor

Ananda Astrini Muhammad is a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Linguistics and Technology at Iowa State University. She has an M.A. in TESL/Applied Linguistics from Iowa State University and a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Universitas Hasanuddin, Indonesia. She has taught in EFL and ESL settings to English language learners of varying ages and backgrounds. She is currently the Graduate Assistant for Multicultural Student Success and STEM Scholars programs at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Iowa State University. Her research interests include second language assessment, language learning materials development, and teacher professional development. You can connect and find more about her work here.

Shamini Shetye, Missouri
Editorial Assistant

Shamini Shetye is an EdD student in Applied Linguistics and TESOL in the Teachers College of Columbia University, and a doctoral fellow in the Community Language Program. She is an active part of Columbia University’s ALTESOL (Applied Linguistics and TESOL) Language and Technology Research Group, and she chaired the conference committee for the 2023 AIRiAL (Artificial Intelligence Research in Applied Linguistics) held at Columbia University Teachers College.

Editor, Marketing – Membership

Shaeley Santiago, Iowa

Shaeley Santiago is passionate about advocating for English Learners (ELs) and partnering with teachers to improve student outcomes. She taught secondary ELs in Central Iowa for nearly 15 years before becoming an ESL instructional coach. Currently, she is the EL coordinator for Ames Community School District in Ames, Iowa. Shaeley is an avid reader. She reads YA and children’s books with a particular interest in multicultural subjects. She is also a big fan of Twitter as a means for personalized professional learning for teachers.

Editor, Marketing

TBD

 

Editor, Marketing – Social Media

TBD

 

Editor, Newsletter

TBD

 

Editor, Website

Melissa Lowery, Kansas

Melissa Lowery first started building websites in 1996 when she decided to learn HTML “just because”. Since then she’s built websites and managed online presences for small businesses, celebrities, important causes, and family members. She assisted in managing a federal grant providing ESL endorsement to in-service teachers for six years and completed several courses in TESOL from Emporia State University, in addition to undergraduate degrees in History and English and an M.A. degree in English Literature. Melissa is a freelance writer, specializing in corporate supplier diversity and issues pertaining to minority business enterprises.

Rules and Resolutions Chair

Souheil Mansouri, Missouri

Soheil Mansouri joined Webster University in 2018 having taught previously at Florida State University. He earned his master’s degree in Foreign and Second Language Teaching with a focus on TESOL, and his doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction specializing in Foreign and Second Language Education from Florida State University. His research interests include heritage language learning, motivational factors in maintaining heritage language, and second language pragmatics with a focus on speech acts. He has also served as the proposal writer, principal investigator, and director of the Webster STARTALK Grant funded by the NSA, and the co-director of Webster’s NPD grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Mansouri has more than 20 years of teaching experience between the United States and Iran, including EFL instruction in elementary schools, ESL adult instruction at the university level, and TESL courses for both pre-service and in-service teachers seeking TESOL certification.

Socio-Political Concerns and Professional Standards Chair

Adrienne Johnson, Missouri

Dr. Adrienne Johnson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at Missouri Western State University, preparing both undergraduate and graduate teachers to teach English language learners.  Adrienne earned her Ph.D. in Linguistics (Second Language Acquisition) from the University of Kansas following 8 years teaching K-12 English language learners in rural and inner-city public schools in South Korea, Chicago, and Michigan.  She has taught in EFL, ESL, bilingual, sheltered, and dual language environments and is always learning.  Originally from Colorado, when she is not teaching, you can find her running, biking, swimming, playing with her kids, and just enjoying being active outdoors.

Awards Committee Chair

Andrias Susanto, Iowa

Andrias Tri Susanto is a double degree Ph.D. student in Applied Linguistics and Technology as well as Human-Computer Interaction at Iowa State University. He holds a Master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. He has been involved in the world of teaching English since 2007 with students from various academic backgrounds and teacher training since 2014. His main interests include English computer-assisted language learning (CALL), and oral communication, as well as virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) for second language learning.

Member-At-Large: Iowa

Brianne Arnold, Iowa

Brianne Arnold is an Iowa native and in her 7th year of teaching middle school ELL. She received her BA in English literature and a minor in linguistics in 2013 from The University of Iowa. She then went on to join Buena Vista University where she received her 5-12 ELA teaching license in 2014. In 2017, she was named Buena Vista’s Honor Graduate for the Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction program and received her ELL Endorsement. For the past 4 years, she has been dedicated to providing targeted, hands-on professional development to her district’s teachers and advocating for her student’s needs. She is currently an ELL teacher in the Linn-Mar School District. She is an avid reader of YA literature and loves to recommend contemporary books to students and staff. Outside of school, her passions include digital art, bird photography, and rabbit rescue.

Member-At-Large: Kansas

Diana Mendoza, Kansas

Diana Mendoza is the Director of ESOL & Diversity at Dodge City Public Schools – USD 443 and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regents.  Ms. Mendoza attended Kansas State University where she earned a B.S. in Elementary Education and a M.S. in Educational Leadership. She has continued her education at Kansas State University where she is currently seeking an Ed.D. in Curriculum & Instruction. Ms. Mendoza began her career with USD 443 over twenty years ago, first as an ESOL Data Specialist, then as a classroom teacher, ESOL instructional coach, and now as director. In her role, she works with teachers to develop best practices for working with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse students and is an advocate for the diverse population of students and families in her community as well as across the State of Kansas. She has served on key educational state committees such as the KSDE ESOL Educator’s Professional Learning Cohort, the English Learner Assessment Writers Committee, the Migrant Education Comprehensive Needs Assessment Committee, and the Migrant Education State Delivery Plan Committee.

Member-At-Large: Missouri

Debra Cole, Missouri

Debra Cole graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning in August 2022. Her dissertation was on the effectiveness of Co-teaching for Multilingual Students. She is currently using her new skills as a researcher with the UMSL charter school grant, assigned to enact translational research with two charter schools in St. Louis City. She is also a Specialist with the US State Department’s English Language Program and just returned from presenting a four-week English teacher training event in the Kingdom of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf in cooperation with the US Embassy.

She holds certifications in School Administration, Elementary and Early Childhood Education, Middle School ELA, German, Spanish, and ESL. She has over 25 years of experience in language education having taught German, Spanish, and ESL in Illinois and Missouri. She also worked as a MELL Instructional Specialist for six years before joining the Hazelwood central office team as the Coordinator for Immigrant and English Language Learner Education.

Member-At-Large: Nebraska

Dr. Madina Djuraeva, Nebraska

Dr. Madina Djuraeva is an Assistant Professor of ESL, Bilingual and Biliteracy Education. Her research focuses on sociocultural, educational, economic, and politico-historical discourses of becoming and being multilingual, with implications for multilingual learner education and teacher preparation. Her work has been published in Applied Linguistics, World Englishes, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, International Multilingual Research Journal, and Language Policy. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and her M.A. from the English Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. A polyglot (Uzbek, Tajik, Russian, Kazakh, Korean, and Spanish) and a former Fulbright recipient, she is originally from Bukhara, Uzbekistan.