Dr. Drew S. Fagan, University of Maryland, College of Education
Short Bio: Dr. Drew Fagan is a scholar, teacher, and advocate for multilingual learners and their educators. Having been in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) field for about 25 years, his professional philosophy is that for multilingual learners to be successful, all stakeholders connected to these learners must come out of their siloes and collaborate. Thus, his work bridges primary, secondary, and higher education academes across disciplines, departments, ministries, and boards of education, policymakers, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations. Currently, Dr. Fagan is Clinical Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education at the University of Maryland. He also is the developer and director of the university’s new doctoral program in School System Leadership- TESOL and Dual Language Education Specialization. Prior, he was an ESOL teacher and teacher educator in primary, secondary, higher, and adult education settings across the United States, Japan, China, Spain, and Mexico, and was the first English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Fulbright Fellow to the Slovak Republic. Dr. Fagan has given academic and professional presentations across the globe, has authored numerous publications in research and practitioner-oriented outlets, professional associations, and governmental agencies, and has helped lead coalitions in creating bills on multilingual learner equity and getting them successfully passed into law in the United States. He was the 2022-2023 President of the Maryland TESOL Association and the 2023 Teacher of the Year for the TESOL International Association and National Geographic Learning. Link to bio: https://education.umd.edu/directory/drew-fagan
Prof. Dr. Hayati AKYOL, Gazi University, Education Faculty
Dr. Hayati Akyol completed his PhD at the University of Pittsburgh, United States of America. In 1996, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at Gazi University Faculty of Education, Department of Classroom Teaching. In 2000, he was appointed as Associate Professor in the field of Turkish Education and in 2009 he was appointed as Professor in the Department of Classroom Teaching. Having served as Dean of the Faculty of Education at Düzce University and Gazi University, Akyol is currently a faculty member at Gazi University Faculty of Education, Department of Classroom Teaching and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of Classroom Teacher Educators. Link to bio: https://avesis.gazi.edu.tr/hakyol
Prof. Dr. Zekeriyya ULUDAĞ, Professor Emeritus
Dr. Zekeriyya Uludağ completed his PhD in History of Philosophy at Atatürk University. He worked as a faculty member at Ondokuz Mayıs University, Faculty of Education, Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance. He was appointed as Associate Professor in Philosophy of Education in 1997 and Professor in the same field in 2008. He retired in 2021 from the last department he worked at the same university, Philosophical Social and Historical Foundations of Education.