Global Education Professional Learning Series Presents: Cross-Cultural Collaboration: How EPPs Can Foster Relationships with International Partners

• Christina Wright-Fields, Marist University
• Renata Castillo, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
• Jancileidi Hübner, University of Passo Fundo
• Alina Slapac University of Missouri-St Louis
• Karen Collett, University of the Western Cape
• Tara Mathien, University of Florida

The Global Education Faculty Professional Development Series is supported by the Longview Foundation.

Martinez-Alba is the assistant dean in the college of education at Towson University and the co-chair of the Committee on Global Diversity at AACTE. She focuses her scholarship and service initiatives on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), such as social-emotional learning for multilingual learners globally. It is reflected in her book, Social-Emotional Learning in the English Language Classroom: Fostering Growth, Self-Care, and Independence (an international bestseller). Other books by Alba include English U.S.A. Every Day, which has sold over 7,000 copies around the world, and Wordless Books: So Much to Say! (also an international bestseller). Most recently, she edited two books sponsored by the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) with the support of the ATE Diversity Committee, Antiracist Teacher Education: Theory and Practice and Antiracist Teacher Education: Counternarratives and Storytelling, which feature a wide range of authors.

Renata Castillo, Ph.D.

Castillo has been a professor in the education program at USFG since 2010 and coordinator of the program since 2021. She received her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from New Mexico University and includes critical literacy, bilingual education, and social justice education among her research interests.

Karen Collett, Ph.D.

Collett is a senior lecturer in the discipline of school leadership and management in the educational studies department at the University of the Western Cape. She has worked in the area of school/teacher development through NGEO’s and higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa and Namibia. She has a particular interest in teacher well-being, school leadership development and the development of schools as thinking and learning organizations. She was the South African coordinator and co-initiator of an Erasmus Plus partnership focused on teacher well-being and language diversity in collaboration with partners in HEI’s and schools in Norway, Denmark, and Ireland. A recent research interest is in the area of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and the development of student academic literacies.

Jancileidi Hübner, MA

Assistant Professor, Language Department
University of Passo Fundo
Hübner is an assistant professor of the language department in the Institute of Humanities, Science, Education and Creativity at the University of Passo Fundo in the south of Brazil. Prior to her work in higher education, she taught elementary and high school students for 17 years. This broad expertise in teaching English as an additional language has influenced her research interests which are focused on teacher education and the preparation of future English teachers. Her research also focuses on innovative multicultural and international initiatives to promote the internationalization of Brazilian schools and universities. She holds a Master of Linguistic Studies degree from UFFS and a specialist degree in Language, Technology and Education from UFMG.

Tara Mathien, Ed.D.

Mathien is a clinical assistant professor of early childhood education and an affiliate of the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. She also serves as the unified early childhood program coordinator for the college’s department of special education, school psychology, and early childhood studies (SESPECS). She has an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction Leadership from Northern Illinois University. Her specific research interests include early childhood education teacher preparation, mentoring, field experiences, career commitment, and retention. Other research interests include comparative education and international models of early childhood pedagogy. In addition to her work at the University of Florida, she serves as program advisor for KiddieLand Bilingual Child Care Program in Zurich, Switzerland http://www.kiddieland.ch/team/.  Mathien is the co-author of journal articles and a book chapter and is an active presenter at both local and national/international conferences focusing on early childhood education as well as teacher preparation.

Slapac is an associate professor of action research, curriculum and instruction at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). Her research interests include teacher preparation and development with a focus on global and multicultural education, (participatory) action research, collaborative online international learning (COIL), culturally and linguistically responsive teaching, and transformative pedagogy. She has been collaborating with educators from China, Norway, Romania, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, and USA on research and teaching. Slapac has been an UMSL Global Fellow, an UMSL Inquiry Circles Fellow on global competency and a member of the AACTE Global Education Faculty Professional Learning Community. She published two co-edited books: Handbook of Research on the Global Empowerment of Educators and Student Learning through Action Research (Slapac, Balcerzak & O’Brien, 2021) and Beyond Language Learning Instruction: Transformative Supports for Emergent Bilinguals and Educators (Slapac & Coppersmith, 2019) (IGI Global). Currently, she is working on a third co-edited book, Encouraging Transnational Learning Through Telecollaboration in Global Teacher Education in collaboration with Dr. Cristina Huertas-Abril (to be published in 2023).

Christina Wright Fields, Ph.D.

Wright Fields is a higher education scholar whose research agenda focuses on historically marginalized students’ experiences both in K-12 and postsecondary education contexts, issues pertinent to student access and academic success, social justice and activism, and the influence of teacher and student cultural identities within the classroom. Wright Fields possesses over a decade of experience with supervising student and professional staff, developing student affairs and academic affairs partnerships, overseeing college preparation programs, creating innovative multicultural and international initiatives, and developing cultural competency courses and workshops. Wright-Fields is co-chair of the Committee on Global Diversity at AACTE, a Longfellow fellow, and a member of AACTE’s Global Education Faculty Professional Learning Community.