Global Scholars Achieving Career Success Events Fall 2022

Maria Savva

Maria Savva, PhD, is Associate Professor and Director of the International Studies Program at LaGuardia Community College. She has published widely on the intercultural development of international educators, with additional research interests in cross-cultural identity formation and the international- ization of higher education. She holds a graduate degree in Comparative and International Education from Columbia University and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Education from UCL Institute of Education in London. Prior to joining academia, Maria taught in both primary and secondary schools in the United States and abroad. She is a New York State certified teacher and also holds Qualified Teacher Status in England and Wales. Her scholarly work is available at https://cuny.academia.edu/MariaSavvaPhD

Layachi El Habbouch

Layachi El Habbouch is Associate Professor of English Literature,Postconlonial Cross-Cultural Translation and Decolonial Communication at the Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Abdelmalek Essaadi University in Tetouan, Morocco. He got his MA on The Self and the Other in Ahmed Ben Kassim Al Hajjari’s Naser Eddine (1611) and Mohamed Ben Othman El Meknasi’s Rihlat Al Wazeer fi Iftikak Al Aseer (1692) from the University of Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah in Fes in 2008 .

He also got his PhD on Moroccan Professional Entertainers in Britain in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieeth Centuries from the same university in 2014. He is primarily interested in doing academic research on circus and performance studies both in the Global North as well as the Global South , with particular focus on Moroccan, North/African, Arabo-Islamic, Asian and Latin-American performance arts and sports. He is also keen on developing and producing, documenting and circulating, promoting and generating visual, archival, poetic and narrative discourses on circus and performance arts in order to bring into the fore the forgotten social micro- histories and neglected cultural memories of both western and non-western bodies beyond the modern taxonomist dynamics of power , ethnicity and race.

He is concerned with the literary and non-literary Anglo-American and Moroccan encounters in their historical dimensions, social implications and cultural affiliations as well. He is not interested in just Anglo-American archives, writings and discourses on Morocco, North-Africa and the Arabo-Islamic world, but also in the micro-histories and little-known narratives and voices of Moroccans , North-Africans, Arabs and Muslims in the Anglo-phone world, particularly Great Britain , America and Australia. He is similarly interested in cross-cultural translation in its postcolonial and decolonial implications beyond the conventional practices of such cultural translators as ethnographers, social schientists, photographers , filmmakers and area studies experts.

The ultimate aim is to communicate new empowering discourses of epistemic delinking, decolonial emancipation and pluriversal liberation beyond the scope of the classical universal tradition of humanism , liberal thinking and global modernity. Such a cross-cultural translation vision, where English and Arabic are brought together to enact translanguaging, seeks to exercise decolonial cultural dialogue through significant translation projects that put themselves at the service of scholarly intervention, epistemic empowerment and human freedom.

Nancy Genova

Ms. Genova has over twenty-eight years of public administration experience as health care administrator. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in Health Care Administration from Long Island University and a B.A. in Social Work and Fine Arts from Lehman College. Ms. Genova is currently full time tenured faculty at Hostos Community College in the Behavioral & Social Sciences Department’s Public Policy & Law Unit.

At Hostos she developed a concentration in Health Care Administration for the department. Prior to that she developed the Bronx CAPC Initiative a nationally recognized model of care where she served as the director of the program at the BronxCare Health System (formerly known as Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center,) for their Women’s HIV Services. She has been involved with women’s programs and been in the field of HIV/AIDS since 1993. She is considered a social activist by her peers, and has been acknowledged in a report issued by the NYS AIDS Advisory Council “Women In Peril HIV & AIDS The Rising Toll On Women of Color”.

She currently serves as President of the Board to 100 Hispanic Women National, Inc, and is on the planning committee of their yearly Mind, Body, & Spirit conference. She was appointed to the Human Rights Commission of Rockland County in April 2008 by the then county Executive Scott Vanderhoof where she served until 2019. She has been featured on Open on Bronxnet and numerous other shows. She’s received press coverage by Latina Magazine, CNN Business, the Daily News and other media including online media. The play that she authored “The Death of a Dream” had its off-Broadway debut in October 2009 at Roy Arias Theater and received numerous media coverage. The show was on college tour from 2010-12 throughout the United States.

She has also been the recipient of numerous awards; Manager of the Year from National Association of Hispanic Healthcare Executives, 25 Most Influential Bronx Women, Leadership Award from the Latino Social Work Coalition, and Healthcare/ Medicine Award from Latina 50+ to name a few. Nancy was recently named one on the Power of Diversity 100 Latino List; recognizing the Latino’s that are most politically influential making New York what it is. https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/power-list/power-100/power-diversity- latino-100.html

Brian J. Bowe

Brian J. Bowe is an associate professor of journalism and mass communication in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at The American University in Cairo. His research interests include media framing, representations of Muslims, and journalism curriculum design and assessment. He received his Ph.D. in media and information studies from Michigan State University, where he also completed the Certification in College Teaching program. Bowe is a veteran journalist, author, and educator whose work examines the interplay of journalism and culture. He has an extensive background in music journalism, writing books and liner notes. Bowe co-edited the book CREEM: America’s only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine and has written books about bands The Ramones, The Clash and Judas Priest. He worked as a newspaper journalist in Michigan and New Hampshire.

Asrat Amnie

Dr. Asrat Amnie is an Assistant Professor at the City University of New York. He graduated with a Doctor of Education in Health Education (EdD) from Teachers College, Columbia University in the City of New York. He also graduated with a Master’s in Global Health (MPH) with Infectious Disease Concentration from Emory University and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) with Specialization in Healthcare Management from West Texas A&M University.

Dr. Amnie is an International Medical Graduate with many years of experience in clinical and public health practice. He earned a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Jimma University and graduated with a specialty in General Surgery from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia—his country of origin.

Dr. Amnie is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES®), a nationally recognized designation for advanced-level professional competence and experience in the field of health education and health promotion. He teaches Medical Terminology, Introduction to Community Health, Human Nutrition, Prevention of Substance Use and Abuse, Interpersonal Relations and Teamwork, Health and the Young Child, and Contemporary Health Issues.

Dr Amnie’s recent published work and research interests focus on the prevention of high-risk health behavior and the science of change in behavior, focusing on exploring novel approaches to effectively and positively influence health behavior at the individual, family, and community levels. He is a member of the American Public Health Association, Society for Public Health Education, and Teachers College of Columbia University Inducted Member of Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education

Yasmine Moataz Ahmed

Yasmine Moataz Ahmed is an assistant professor of anthropology and sociology at the American University in Cairo (AUC). Her research interests lie at the intersection of political anthropology, environmental justice, visual cultures, critical race studies and Middle East Studies. Over the past two decades, she has been engaged in ethnographic research that explores the contradictions and tensions associated with a set of “neoliberal experiments” on Egypt’s rural and urban lives. She is currently working on her first monograph Moving through Tangles: Farmers, Politics and the ‘State’ in the Aftermath of January 25th uprisings. This work-in-progress investigates the state, citizenship and collective rural politics in post-2011 Egypt. In examining political subject formation through both top-down and bottom-up processes, she argues that, contrary to orientalist stereotypes and abstractions about state-subject relations in Muslim-majority Arab states, religion and the secular prove crucial to vernacular conceptions of citizenship and political belonging. Her work contributes to an understanding of the ‘state’ and the ‘nation’ in the Arab world through an exploration of physical, spatial and temporal manifestations of power. Before joining AUC, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Arab Council for Social Sciences in Beirut, Lebanon.

Ahmed Abdou

Ahmed Abdou (Ph.D. Assistant Professor) received his B.Sc. degree in electronic engineering from Al-Quds University (Palestine) in 2004, M.Sc. degree in Electronic and communication engineering from Al-Quds University in 2008, and the Ph.D. in Automatic systems and Signals, Image processing, from Bordeaux 1 University (France) in 2014. His research interests are in the field of smart systems, signals and systems and signal processing for wireless communications. He got many awards and scholarship during his study and in his current job as an assistant professor in smart systems engineering in Palestine Ahliya university. He was the head of Electronic and communication department, Engineering Faculty, Al-Quds University and communication as well as the director of innovation department at Al-Quds University.

Linda L. Ridley

Linda L. Ridley is the CEO of EDGAR J. RIDLEY & ASSOCIATES, INC., focusing on strategic direction and business development. Linda leads research and development of pedagogical methodology to enhance productivity through behavior change. She is an expert trainer, focusing on workplace effectiveness through team building and group dynamics. Linda has conducted training for women entrepreneurs from companies and organizations throughout Southeast Asia. Linda has been designated an Expert Consultant by the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) out of Tokyo, Japan, and she services global clients, conducting workshops and training seminars in workplace effectiveness. Prior to consulting, Linda’s career spanned 20+ years in financial services – she is a former Director in Corporate and Investment Banking with Wachovia Securities, now Wells Fargo Advisors.

Having earned her Master of Business Administration from the prestigious and historic College of William and Mary, Linda is a full-time faculty member of the Business Department of City University of New York’s Hostos Community College, where she teaches introductory business and management courses. She is also an adjunct instructor at CUNY’s graduate School of Professional Studies. In the SPS program for a Master’s in Business Management and Leadership, Linda leads two courses, Organizational Behavior and Leadership and Managing Diversity in a Global Economy. After creating the curriculum for Managing Diversity in a Global Economy, Linda partnered with McGraw-Hill to compile and edit the textbook, now in its 5th edition, for use in the course.

Linda is a 2015 recipient of the prestigious first-time case-writing award from The Case Centre out of Cranfield University in London, UK (only one of three U.S. professors, and one of 16 professors worldwide). The result of that scholarship was a business case study and teaching note for use by business professors worldwide. The case and teaching note, titled Symptomatic Leadership: The Impact of Changing Demographics on Global Business, was published by The Case Centre in 2016. Linda is also the author of a 2018 peer-reviewed paper in the Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice titled Symptomatic leadership in business Instruction: How to finally teach diversity and inclusion for lasting change. Finally, Linda is a contributing writer to the 2019 book, Developing Educational Technology at an Urban Community College, published by Palgrave McMillan.

A subject matter expert in leadership, team development, management, communication and negotiation, Linda has experience in business enhancement efforts including critical thinking and collaboration as well. She conducts workshops and training seminars for senior leaders, middle managers and staff. Her areas of focus include Leadership, Strategic Planning, Communication, Human Resources, Organizational Effectiveness, Women’s Leadership, Negotiation Strategy, Supply Chain Management, Decision Making, General Management, Administrative Professionals, Process Management, Project Management, and Information Technology Management.

Linda is a candidate for a doctorate in education from St. John’s University in Queens, New York.

Wendy Leynse

Wendy Leynse is an adjunct assistant professor of Anthropology at the Queens College campus of the City University of New York. As a cultural anthropologist, she has studied child socialization and food habits in France. She teaches courses in introductory cultural anthropology, culture and learning, and the ethnography of childhood. She has also taught courses in food studies, with a focus on school lunch, and courses in French language and culture. Her publications and conference contributions include articles and papers on the topics of food and place, children and food habits, school food, and school wellness programs. Dr. Leynse holds a PhD in Anthropology and French Studies from New York University, an MA in French Cultural Studies from Columbia, and a BA in French Linguistics from Cornell.

Asma Sbaih

Asma Sbaih from Bethlehem, Palestine . Currently, I am studying a Phd of Neuroscience in Spain, I have a Master’s degree in Engineering of information technology and BA in computer engineering from Al-Quds university in Palestine. Besides, I am working as a researcher in computational neuroscience projects based on deep learning approaches such as (autism disorder, Alzheimer, and most brain disorders) and as instructor at IT Department in Palestine Aliyah university which located in Palestine for six years, where I have been teaching successfully undergraduate classes such as: “ Image processing, Artificial intelligence, security Algorithm, database, machine learning. In addition, I got a fellowship for 10 months at forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany on brain data, neuroimaging, and machine learning and deep learning algorithms In particular, the deep belief network (DBN) approach. Also, I got a training in Italy at the “Istituto di bioimmagini e fisiologia” of the Italian national research” in 2017, the training was in data and methods of image analysis and processing using advance techniques such as principal components analysis and artificial intelligence algorithms and matlab. I published a lot of research related to Artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning, Internet of things, Augmented reality and Virtual reality in education.

Damyana Bakardzhieva

Damyana Bakardzhieva is currently associate professor of economics and associate chair at The American University of Cairo (AUC), Egypt. Her most recent position combines the academic responsibilities of associate professor of economics and sustainable development, and the service duties of Corporate Social Responsibility campus advisor at the International University of Monaco. In the past, she has held teaching positions at George Washington University and American University (Washington, DC), the University of Maryland (College Park, MD), the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (France), and Sofia University (Bulgaria). She is the author of a book on “Banking sector and economic growth in transition economies” and of numerous scientific articles on international trade and finance topics, and on macroeconomic policies in developing countries. She speaks English, French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Russian and Arabic.

Momen El-Husseiny

Momen El-Husseiny is an Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the American University in Cairo. He holds a PhD in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley with a designated emphasis in Global Metropolitan Studies and Anthropology. He is a registered architect in Egypt and a trained ethnographer. His scholarly work falls at the intersections of critical urban theory, cultural heritage, modernity and othering, extended urbanization, and the politics of development in the Global South. His work is published at the Journal of Architectural Education, International Journal of Cultural Policy, and others.

Lara Kattekola

A longtime composition instructor, Lara’s primary pedagogical interests involve teaching technical writing. Lara aims to help her technical writing students become culturally intelligent and agile communicators who prioritize and accommodate the cultural difference of their prospective target reading audiences.

Lara’s scholarly interests include literary and cinematic works by South Asian Diaspora writers and artists. In a 2020 article, “Negotiating the PostColonial Exotic through Subversive Third- Person Narration in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake,” Lara argues that Lahiri uses subversive textual strategies in her third-person narration to demonstrate her authorial self-consciousness of the touristic spectacle informing the postcolonial publishing industry. In another forthcoming article, “The Politics of the Possible in Gurinder Chadha’s ‘Quais de Seine,’ Lara reads Chadha’s short film as a critical dialogic response to Western discourses on the veil and argues that Chadha reimagines Paris as a global city space that promotes for its inhabitants a transient but collective identity founded upon the acceptance of incommensurable cultural values.

Sara Rguig

Dr. Rguig Sara is currently an Assistant Professor of English at the National School of Applied Sciences (ENSATE), at Abdelmalek Essaâdi University in Tetouan – Morocco. She is member of SIGL Research Laboratory at ENSATE. She holds a Doctorate in Linguistics, communication, and translation from Abdelmalek Essaâdi University. Her fields of interest are critical discourse analysis, linguistics, soft skills, teaching methods and ICTs, and gender studies. She is an author of various works related to her fields of interest. Dr. Rguig appreciates and welcomes working and cooperating with others in different research areas.

Aicha Bouchara

Dr. Aicha Bouchara is a professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology in Tangiers, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Morocco. She obtained a doctorate degree in gender and media studies in 2013 and is a holder of the Cambridge English Certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages, Pass A, from Cambridge University. She has been teaching EFL and ESP for more than 10 years at different universities in Morocco. She has also been a member of Tanit, a multi-disciplinary research group on women at Moulay Ismail University in Meknes since 2009.

Her interests in teaching English language and in the field of gender studies impacted her research. Dr. Bouchara has published many articles and given several communications on gender politics in the Moroccan educational system, women and STEM fields, gender violence, the representation of gender in magazines, women and artistic production, the dynamics of gender relations in cinema and social networks, English language learning and distance education, etc. She has given many lectures on feminism and human rights, women’s status in colonial and post-colonial Morocco, and gender dynamics in Morocco. She is currently working on two different projects related to sexuality and freedom of choice as well as integrating the gender dimension and human rights values in TEFL in Morocco.

Taruna Sadhoo

Taruna Sadhoo, Campus Director of the Queens College CUNY Service Corps program has worked at Queens College since 2019. Currently, she is responsible for managing the CUNY Service Corps and Big Buddy programs within the Experiential Education Department.

Prior to joining the CUNY Service Corps team at Queens College, Taruna was the Senior Director of Community Engagement at UNICEF USA. Within this role, she was responsible for leading the development, management, and expansion of the organization’s community, youth, and volunteer mobilization strategies.

With a passion for international development and education, Taruna has taught in Guyana, Brazil, Ethiopia, and China.

Taruna also served as the Assistant Director of Student-Alumni Programs at Columbia University. Before working at Columbia University, Taruna spent three years at Queens College, City University of New York, as an academic advisor and coordinator of specialty advising – serving first-generation and non- traditional college students on campus.

In 2011, the City Council of New York presented Taruna with a Proclamation for devoting her career to the empowerment of women and children. She holds a Masters in Higher and Post-Secondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and a BA in Psychology from Queens College, City University of New York

Anna Alexis Larsson

Anna Alexis Larsson is a PhD candidate in Writing Studies at the Graduate Center, CUNY. She is the creator of the award-winning web application for private writing, BlabRyte.com, and is on the editorial collective of the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. Her research explores writing ecologies and procedural rhetoric as well as language diversity and literacies in transnational contexts. Her dissertation, Posthuman Lessons for Writing and Well-Being, draws from archival research on the work of anthropologist and cybernetics theorist Gregory Bateson to propose a revision of the ways well-being is constructed in the university.

Suzanne Strickland

Suzanne Strickland is a sociology professor at Queens College, The City
University of New York (CUNY). Professor Strickland comes to academia from a
distinguished career in government and politics, where she won numerous awards and
appointments for her pioneering work in the realm of welfare reform.
Her scholarship has focused more recently on development issues in Afghanistan
and the surrounding region, e.g., organizing investment funds to rebuild Afghan
economic sectors, and on studying Afghan immigrants in the New York City
Metropolitan Area—the densest Afghan community in the U.S.
She has conducted a comprehensive study of the Afghan community in Queens,
New York, examining cultural attitudes and challenges to assimiliation with an eye
toward making policy recommendations that would optimize community services. She
has also studied how young immigrants from this community become radicalized, and is
the only person not associated with law enforcement to be granted an interview with
young immigrants from this community serving time on terrorism convictions in federal
U.S. prisons. Her work in this arena is focused on crafting policy and programmatic
recommendations aimed at redirecting young immigrants from extremism and towards
productive activities that contribute to the societies in which they live.

Jill Carvajal

Jill Carvajal is an accomplished publishing executive with a vast array of experience in
international media and publishing. Ms. Carvajal began her career at News Corporation in retail
advertising, rising quickly to the role of General Manager of New York Post Digital. Carvajal
founded Front Row NYC where she worked with such clients as WME/IMG to start up a new
media division where she was founding publisher of The Daily Front Row
and fashionweekdaily.com for IMG's Fashion Week events. There she also launched media
assets for the U.S Open and for the Miami Open. Carvajal has represented clients such as The
LA Times, Chicago Tribune, The Daily Beast, V Magazine and Flaunt in similar regard. Her
international projects included the launch of Yue, a publication aimed at Chinese luxury
consumers for Jared Kushner’s Observer Media Group as well as Dufry World, a Brazilian duty
free luxury magazine for the owners of Hudson News and Dufry. Carvajal represents
sponsorships for Design Miami and Branded Cities.
Carvajal’s most recent projects include a focus on healthcare and cause marketing.
Carvajal’s entrée into healthcare marketing began with the representation of Bulletin
Healthcare, delivering the most important healthcare news to nearly one million members of
the nation's premier medical associations such as but not limited to the American Medical
Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Society of Clinical Oncology
via carefully customized, co-branded email news. Carvajal currently represents Columbia
University Medical Center, Department of Dermatology and VitreoRetinal Consultants, a
prominent ophthalmology surgery practice and leader of the Northwell Eye Institute with 8
locations in the New York Market.
Carvajal produces, writes and edits a podcast series called Schneps Connects,
podcasts.schnepsmedia.com, for the CEO of Schneps Media, focused on New York’s Economic
Recovery Post Covid including a NYC Mayoral Series for the 2021 Election.
Carvajal is an Adjunct Professor of Marketing and Advertising at the City University of New York,
Queens College Business and Liberal Arts Honors College and the Media Studies Department.

Kirsten Beck

Dr. Kirsten Beck is an Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Arabic in the Department of Classical, Middle Eastern, and Asian Languages and Cultures at Queens College. She teaches courses in the Arabic language, Middle Eastern history, and Islamic literature. Her research interests include medieval Arabic literary anthologies, udhri (tragic love) poetry, and early Islamic science writing. She holds a B. A. in Mathematics and Middle Eastern & South Asian Studies from Barnard College, an M. A. in Religious Studies from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Arabic Literature from the University of Texas at Austin.

Nicolle Fernandes

Dr. Nicolle Fernandes is an Associate Professor and Director of the Nutrition and Culinary Management Program within the Health Sciences Department at LaGuardia Community College. She received her Ph.D. in Nutrition from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas and worked on d-δ-Tocotrienol-mediated cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human melanoma and prostate cancer cell lines. She completed her postdoc at Nestlé Nutrition R&D Centers in Hopkins, Minnesota and worked in the Aging Care platform. Dr. Fernandes is a Registered Dietitian through the Commission on Dietetic Registration, the credentialing agency for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in the Unites States and in India through the Indian Dietetic Association. She was a practicing Dietitian in India and began teaching there in 2003 at the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition in Dadar, Mumbai. Her research interests include impact of nutrition in cancer, obesity, falls and fracture in the geriatric population, herbs and spices, culinary nutrition, hunger, food insecurity and sustainability in the food arena.

Lamees Fadl

Lamees received her M.A degree in Comparative literature from Cairo University.
Her teaching career started in Egypt in 2003, where she was a university ESL
instructor. Her teaching career continued after moving to NYC, where she teaches
at The City University of New York, CUNY. She teaches Arabic language and
literature LaGuardia Community College, John Jay College and Brooklyn College.
Lamees is the Arabic language editor of Otherness, the online students' magazine
of the Education and Language Acquisition Department at LaGuardia Community
College. She was an Instructor at Temple University for one academic year, where
she was teaching several Arabic courses for different levels. Lamees presented in
major conferences and contributed to many seminars and webinars such as ACTFL
Arabic SIG, NECTFL, NEMLA, and NYSED/ NYSDOE World Languages
Conference. Besides, she is a member and co-translator of the Future Language
Educators Recruitment Project FLERP, which is logistically supported by ACTFL.

Rochell Isaac

Rochell Isaac is an Associate Professor at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, in the English Department. She earned her PhD from Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in African American Studies in 2010. Isaac teaches composition, literature, and interdisciplinary courses at LaGuardia including contemporary and survey courses in African American Literature: Art, Politics, and Protest. Her research interests are interdisciplinary: literature and theory of the African diaspora, post-colonial literature, Black feminist theory, socio-political trends with an emphasis on race and gender, Humanism, and cultural studies.

Olivera Stankovic

My name is Olivera Stankovic. I come from a small country called Montenegro (it used to be one
of the six republics of former Yugoslavia) located in Southern East Europe. We had a lot of
rivers, lakes, many mountain peaks, and the Adriatic Sea. I used to be an English teacher there
before I moved to the USA in 2007. I finished my MA in English and Communication at the
State University of New York in Potsdam. I participate regularly on numerous conferences and
webinars. I enjoy networking and working on my self-growth as an academic. I love to write
academic papers and poems about life. I have two new scholarly works in preparation for
publishing and I have written sixty-five poems, in English and Serbian. Hopefully, I will publish
them shortly. One of my favorite authors is Theodore Dreiser. I published my first academic
article called "The Language of Clothes in Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie” a few years
ago. I am a big fan of Semiotics (the study of signs and symbols). I plan to go for a Ph.D. in
English and expand my research Interpolation of Mass Culture and Successive Consumption of
Material things in Our Society by applying the Semiotic approach. I am multilingual. I speak five
languages and understand more than ten. My biggest passion is traveling, making new friends,
and learning about their cultures. I also like various sports. I love skiing, playing basketball,
tennis, badminton, biking, and hiking.
Besides writing and sports, I love teaching. It is a rewarding and appealing profession. I am an
Adjunct for English Composition at New Jersey City University and Adjunct Lecturer in

Communication Studies at LaGuardia Community College in NYC. Also, I teach English
courses (fully online) for Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, where I lived for a couple of
years. Recently, I became engaged with COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) at
LaGuardia Community College. It is one of the best pedagogical experiences I have ever had. So
far, I have implemented five COIL projects in two years and a half.
New projects in this field are coming up. I am looking forward to collaborating with many
professors and students across the globe.

Salaheddin Abu Yahya

Salaheddin Abu Yahya, currently is a lecturer in the chemical Engineering Department at
JUST. Prior to that, he was working as a professional lecturer In the Institute of Applied
Technology In Abu Dhabi Polytechnic-UAE for a couple of years. Eng. Abu Yahya worked as
lab instructor in the chemical Engineering Department at the Petroleum Institute/ UAE from
August 2008-January 2016. From Feb 2008 –June 2008, he worked as Lab instructor at the
chemical Engineering department at American University of Sharjah (AUS)- UAE. He worked
as academic assistant in Qatar University (QU)/Qatar from Feb 2007-Jan 2008. Abu Yahya
worked for two years as teacher assistant at CRU (College of Requirements Unit) at United
Arab Emirates University, Al Ein-UAE since November 2004.
Abu Yahya is responsible for teaching many Chemical Eng. Core courses and labs as well
as updating, preparing, renewing, and evolving these courses /labs regarding . i.e.
Numerical Methods for Chemical Engineering, Unit Operation, Engineering Economy,
Engineering Thermodynamic, Process Simulation using Aspen HYSYS, heat and mass
transfer Lab, process control lab. ..etc.
Beside his academic work, Mr Abu yahya has participated in many researches at different
countries, i.e. (JUST, Jordan), crystallization kinetic (Twente university, the Netherlands),
Water desalination (Bremen university, Germany), corrosion (AUS, UAE) and Introduction to
Aspen Capital Cost Estimator, EEE1011, ASPENTECH-HOUSTON, TX / USA.
Mr.Abu Yahya is an active participant in many projects granted by European Union
/Erasmus+. i.e. Innovation for the leather industry in Jordan and Egypt/ INNOLEA” In
Portugal, “MEDDACER” project for European credit hour system in France..etc.

Osama Alshogran

Dr. Osama Alshogran is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical
Pharmacy at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Jordan University of Science and
Technology (JUST). Dr. Alshogran finished his bachelor’s of Pharmacy and the
masters of Clinical Pharmacy from JUST. He got his PhD degree in Clinical
Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Dr.
Alshogran has joined the faculty of pharmacy in JUST as an Assistant Professor
in 2015. Dr. Alshogran has served as an Assistant Dean of Experiential Training
and is currently acting as a chair of the Clinical Pharmacy Department.
Dr. Alshogran’s current research has been focusing on pharmaceutical care and
outcomes and clinical pharmacokinetics, with a special interest on the setting of
kidney disease. He has published around 30 articles in international peer-
reviewed journals.

Mohammad Nazzal

Dr. Nazzal is an associate professor of occupational therapy, at the Department of
Rehabilitation Sciences at JUST, and holds a PhD in Occupational Therapy from
Texas Woman’s University. He is the JUST-CRS project coordinator; an Erasmus
Plus project co-funded by the European Union between 2016-2021, with main aim of
establishing the first master program in Clinical Rehabilitation Sciences in Jordan and
the Arab World. For more info: https://crs.just.edu.jo/Pages/default.aspx . Research
interests include: Occupational participation among people with disabilities in the
community, development of community-based rehabilitation initiatives in Jordan and
qualitative research methodologies.

Mahmoud Alwidyan

Mahmoud Alwidyan is an assistant Professor in the paramedic program at Jordan
University of Science and Technology (JUST). He is currently the vice director of the
Consultative Center for Science and Technology, and the director of Linking with Industry.
Dr. Alwidyan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from JUST. Also, Dr.
Alwidyan holds a master’s degree in Emergency Health Services from the University of
Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), USA. Dr. Alwidyan holds a PhD in disaster science and
management from the University of Delaware, USA. His current research interests include
disaster health, EMS/Paramedics roles in disasters, and reporting to work during disease
outbreaks.

Basil H. Amarneh

Dr. Basil H. Amarneh earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati in 2002. Since then he
worked as a professor at the University of Cincinnati, then he moved to Jordan in 2005 to work
at Jordan University of Science and Technology. Between 2005 to 2010 Dr. Amarneh took part
in the Syrian Health Modernization Phase I. In Jordan he served as a department head for the
Community and Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Department, he also served as the Director of
Accreditation and Quality Assurance for the university until 2009. In 2011, he worked at the
Psychiatric Mental Health Department at King Saud University. In 2012 served as the Head of
the School of Nursing at Fatima College of Health Sciences/ United Arab Emirates until 2015. In
2015 returned to Jordan University of Science & Technology. In 2016, he established and
worked as the Director of Institutional Research and Strategic Planning until 2018. Dr. Amarneh
chaired the committee that established the risk management plan for JUST University, he also
established the electronic strategic action plan balanced scorecard system for the university
strategic plan follows up. Currently, Dr. Amarneh chairs the university annual report committee
and serves as the secretary for the central committees of strategic planning and university
achievements at the university level. Dr. Amarneh works as a consultant with the Eastern
Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET) to establish common courses for the region.
Currently, Dr. Amarneh teaches courses at graduate and undergraduate level, in mental health,
counseling, biostatistics, epidemiology and data management.

Ayat Bouzieh

Dr. Ayat Bouzieh is an Assistant Professor at Institute of Nanotechnology in Jordan University
of Science and Technology (JORDAN) (Jan. 2019–now). She worked as a researcher at Hamdi
Mango Center for Scientific research in The University of Jordan (JORDAN) (Sep. 2013 – Jan.
2019). She obtained her PhD degree in material science and applied physical chemistry from The
University of Jordan in 2018. She obtained her Master degree in Applied Physical Chemistry
from The University of Jordan in 2008. She is author or coauthors of approximately 30 scientific
papers published on international Journals. Adding to that, as a researcher, she was and still
involved in many research projects that are funded institutionally, governmentally and
internationally. Also she was attended many international and national conferences, workshops
and symposiums that were focused on scientific research purposes.

Anya Spector

Dr. Spector is an Assistant Professor of Human Services at Stella and Charles Guttman Community College. Her research focuses on the emergence of professional identity in community college human services students, and the practices of psychosocial health providers working at the intersection of substance use and HIV. Dr. Spector specializes in qualitative research from a community engaged participatory approach. Her pedagogy is grounded in critical consciousness and the work of Paolo Freire as well as Kolb’s experiential learning theory. She teaches courses in human services professional practice and social welfare policy. She also teaches a course in ethnography, and a course in urban health, an entry level public health course. For the Global Fellowship program, Dr. Spector will be partnering with a university in Jordan to integrate a collaborative project with Health and Human Services Policy, an entry level course on the history, development, and implementation of social welfare policies in the United States

Kristina Baines

Kristina Baines is a sociocultural anthropologist with an applied medical/environmental focus. Her research interests include indigenous ecologies, health, and heritage in the context of global change, in addition to publicly engaged research and dissemination practices. In her teaching, she encourages students to engage with the public and their communities through their own co-production and dissemination of knowledge. She is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York (CUNY), Guttman Community College, affiliated faculty at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, Department of Community Health and Social Sciences and the Director of Anthropology for Cool Anthropology.

Karen G. Williams

karen g. williams, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Guttman
Community College. Her research focuses on the carceral state and the aftermath
of mass incarceration. Specifically, her scholarship examines how the
institutionalization of evidence-based practices has ushered in a new wave of
governance, one that synthesizes punitive power with systems of care within
prisons. Dr. williams is a 2021 Mellon/ACLS Community College Faculty Fellow. She
is currently working on her manuscript, The Science of Incarceration: Care,
Coercion and Consent. In addition to her work on the criminal justice system, Dr.
williams has studied mindfulness and Buddhist philosophy at Spirit Rock Meditation
Center in California and at Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts. She brings
mindfulness and meditative practices to her research and teaching to build
compassionate engagement and to recognize the interconnectedness of all things.
When she is not teaching or writing, she can be found knitting or coaching junior
roller derby under the name of BackAlley Dred.

Samuel Finesurrey

Professor Samuel Finesurrey teaches at Guttman Community College and collaborates with
young people as oral historians, amplifying multi-generational knowledge of immigration,
struggle and activism in New York City. Finesurrey earned his Ph.D. in Cuban History in 2018
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with concentrations in Oral History and
U.S. Foreign Policy. Since then, working with youth organizers, housing justice activists,
community college and high school students, Finesurrey has launched a range of youth-led
participatory oral history projects, centering youth voices on topics ranging from housing equity,
to immigration, to youth services, to racial justice. Facilitating participatory inquiries, Finesurrey
works with young people to design, co-construct, archive and publish about testimonies from
people in their social networks including ancestors, activists, peers, and community members. In
each project, young people facilitate and contribute testimonies voiced as counter-stories, that
challenge mainstream historical narratives by animating a history of the present through working
class, immigrant, and youth lenses. In 2020 Finesurrey received the ACLS Mellon Community
College Fellowship to continue digitizing these works, while also producing an anthology of
student collected oral histories, which will be edited in collaboration with undergraduates. For
more on this work please visit samuelfinesurrey.com.

Eldar Sarajlic

Eldar Sarajlic is a social and political philosopher. He has a Ph.D. degree from the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest. His research interest is in theories of personal identity, liberalism, parenthood ethics, autonomy and authenticity, and critical thinking and reasoning.

Jian Zhang

Dr. Jian Zhang earned an MS in Computer Information Systems and a Ph.D in Physics from Northeastern
University in Boston in 2007. Dr. Zhang’s research interests recently focus on algorithms, quantitative
modeling and machine learning. Dr. Zhang teaches physics and computer science courses (C++
programming, Matlab) at BMCC as an Adj. Asst. Professor.

Khushmand Rajendran

Khushmand Rajendran, an Associate Professor of Human Services at BMCC, has many years of experience in longitudinal data analysis on trajectories of neurobehavioral problems in children (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/18AwOzhTp8Rks/bibliography/48005158/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]). She is also an educator with interest in open educational resources, and in teaching social policy and practice classes.

Yan Yang

Hi, I’m Yan Yang and I’m an assistant professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College
(CUNY) where I teach art history. I was born in China, raised in the US and my primary interest
is in Japanese art history and how to teach students to apply the skills of observation and analysis
necessary in art history to their lives beyond the classroom.
I am currently in search of a hobby that I can list them on bios like this. I used to say my hobby
is reading about culture, traveling the world and taking photos, but all three have proved useful
in my teaching, so I am not sure they count as hobbies anymore!

Deniz Gokcora

Deniz Gokcora has an MA degree in Teaching English as a Second Language and a Ph.D. degree in Second Languages and Cultures Education from the University of Minnesota. She has worked as an ESL instructor at various colleges, a faculty developer at the Defense Language Institute, and an assessment coordinator at the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA). Her research interests are teacher education, literacy and assessment, online literacy, and second language learning. She has been an active researcher in distance learning and has used collaborative online international projects in her classes.

Driss Oubaha

Driss Oubaha is an assistant professor at Ecole Normale Supérieure, Department of
languages, Abdelmalek Essaadi university, Tetouan. He has been teaching English for more
than a decade. His field of research is education, issues in higher education and state and
politics in which he authored and co-authored many research articles. He participated in many
national and international conferences on education , media and communication. He worked
as a part time professor at Ibn Toufail University, Kenitra and Moulay Ismail University,
Meknes.

Jaouad El Habbouch

Jaouad El Habbouch holds an MA in English Language and
Literature and a PhD in Postcolonial Cultural Studies. He is currently an Assistant Professor
of English Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies at the Faculty of Letters and
Humanities, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tetouan, Morocco. Dr. El Habbouch is the
author of “Decentering Globalization: World-Literature, Terror and the Postcolonial” (Taylor
and Francis, 2018). He is also a creative writer and cultural translator. He is currently writing
his autobiography and translating two important books: The End of the Cognitive Empires:
The Coming of Epistemologies of the South by Boaventura de Sousa Santos and Postcolonial
Thought and Social Theory by Julian Go. Since 2005, he has been involved in three
international collaborative projects: Morocco-Exchange Cross-Cultural Program (2005-2010),
Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and Global Scholars Achieving Career
Success (2020-2021).

Tameka L. Gillum

Dr. Tameka L. Gillum is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at The American University
in Cairo. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and both her
masters and Ph.D. in Community Psychology from Michigan State University (Go Green!). Dr. Gillum has
over 20 years of research experience in exploring and addressing intimate partner violence/dating
violence (IPV/DV) within racial/ethnic minority and sexual minority populations, development of
culturally specific prevention and intervention efforts, health clinic based IPV interventions, and the
mental health effects of IPV/DV victimization. Among other accomplishments, this work earned her
the Outstanding Research Award from the national Institute on Domestic Violence in the African
American Community (IDVAAC). Dr. Gillum is a community psychologist who conducts community-
based research utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods. Her most recent research involves
investigating IPV in Kenya, East Africa and among African immigrants in the U.S. In her free time, she
enjoys traveling, hiking, dancing, cooking/baking and eating good food, listening to good music, reading,
and watching football!

Nellie El Enany

Nellie has experience in teaching a range of subjects, including in human resource management, organisational behaviour, entrepreneurship and innovation, entrepreneurial leadership, critical issues in management, corporate social responsibility, global leadership, and international business, both at the undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA levels. She has developed and revamped a range of curricula and has recently developed and delivered a new program on entrepreneurial leadership for critical global issues part of the College Bound: AUC initiative. As a dedicated educator, Nellie embeds internships and international course connects into her curricula and uses a range of innovative learning and teaching pedagogy including arts-based learning, student produced podcasts and drama-based learning.

Nellie’s research interests centre on issues of identity, including identity construction, stigma, legitimacy and identity work. She examines these concepts in various settings including among entrepreneurs, the poor, refugees, and in the corporate world. Reflecting her passion for teaching and learning, her research also extends to the student learner identity and experiential and action learning pedagogies, including drama-based pedagogy and the use of podcasting for learning and assessment. Nellie has a keen interest in positive mental health which extends to her teaching practices, work with youth both at The American University in Cairo (AUC) and externally, and in her consulting work with corporates.

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Welcome to the GSACS Virtual Student Conference and Career Workshop 2022!

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December 7th, 2022

Career Success Workshop

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