Abu Dhabi University Professor Dr. Ghanem Al Bustami holds his PhD. Ed. Psychology and Development, MA Educational and Psychological Measurement, PG Diploma- in Special Education and Rehabilitation, BA Psychology. Dr. Ghanem works as professor of Psychology, Leadership and Sp. ED in many universities. Since 2005, Prof. Ghanem published more than 50 scientific research papers and 5 books and chapters. He also has presented more than 100 papers in many national and international conferences, led many projects and developed many manuals in different fields such as Psychology, Education, Capacity Buildings and Teacher Preparation programs, Special Education, Social Development and Early Childhood programs as well as Curriculum Development and Professional Development and Institutional Enhancement programs. He worked also as program director and Consultant in many international Organizations, World Bank, UNESCO, regional countries and governments. He currently works at ADU.

Anita Chawla has over 25 years of experience in edtech and currently works at Engageli as Managing Director of Partner Success and Strategy for the North America portfolio building enterprise solutions and processes with digital data strategies. She has architected and implemented educational systems with sustainable business models while serving in leadership roles at Pearson, Arizona State University and Purdue Online. She is a higher education business and operations leader, university revenue growth strategist with deep focus on technology, student experience, partnerships, and innovation. Born in the U.S., she completed her computer science engineering in India and also holds an MBA in Finance and Accounting at Arizona State University. She also serves on the Board of IACEE [International Association of Continuing Engineering Education] as VP of Member Engagement and Communication.

Dr. Rebecca Clothey is a professor and Head of the Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages at Drexel University. Her research interests include international higher education policy, community activism, and issues of ethnicity, equity and access. Most recently, her research has focused on the Uyghur diaspora community and their cultural resilience efforts through non-formal education venues. Her research spans China, Turkiye, and the United States. She has been a visiting scholar at Xinjiang Normal University in Ürümchi, China and Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkiye. Dr. Clothey has received grants for her research from Fulbright (one to China and one to Uzbekistan), the Spencer Foundation, NEH-ARIT, and from the Drexel Social Science Research Fund, among others. She has a PhD in Administrative and Policy Studies from the University of Pittsburgh School of Education.

Dr. Mohamed Fehtia holds various positions at Abu Dhabi University, including Director of the Al Ain Campus, Director of the Smart Learning Center, and Associate Professor of Special Education at the College of Arts and Sciences. He is also a Special and Inclusive Education Consultant, with expertise in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Assistive Technology and Communication Disorders. Dr. Fteiha has achieved the status of Senior Fellow (SFHEA) and Fellow (FHEA) and joined Abu Dhabi University's Al Ain campus in 2012. Dr. Fteiha served as an Associate Dean of Academic Affairs from February 2021- September 2022, Chair of the Education Department from Sep 2016 to August 2021, and as Al Ain’s Interim Campus Director from April 2016 to July 2019. Dr. Fteiha served as Director of the Dubai Campus from March 2022 till June 2023. Dr. Fteiha’s educational background includes an MA degree in Speech and Language Pathology and Communication Disorders from Jordan University, Jordan. Dr. Fteiha earned his Ph.D. (Honors) degree in Special Education from Amman Arab University for Graduate Studies, Jordan. Recently Dr. Fteiha earned Harvard Bok Higher Education Teaching Certificate. Dr. Fteiha is qualified in using SMART learning and Distance learning approaches.
Dr. Fteiha’s research interests revolve around special and inclusive education, assistive technology, teaching methods, working with families of children with disabilities (especially children with autism), inclusive practices and early intervention, communication disorders, autism, and special needs. He is also interested in using technology in education and teaching competencies. Dr. Fteiha has presented his research work at various local, national, and international conferences over the past two decades. Additionally, he serves as an editorial board member, a reviewer for several international journals, and a member of the UAE's National Scientific Committee for the 14th World Down Syndrome Congress, WDSC Dubai, 2021. Dr. Fteiha has received numerous awards for his contributions to society and institutions of higher education. These include the Teaching Awards from ADU, the Khalifa Award for Education, the Princess Haya Award for Special Education, and the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center TAMAYOZ Award for Health Care Professionals.

Aroutis Foster, PhD is the Interim Dean and a Professor of Learning Technologies in the School of Education at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. He was formerly the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Graduate Studies. He leads the Games and Learning in Interactive Digital Environments (GLIDE) Lab and is the founder of the Drexel Learning Games Network. He teaches and conducts research on the theoretical and practical applications of designed environments such as games and interactive digital environments to advance our understanding of learners’ knowledge, identity, and motivation in different settings including schools, workplaces, informal, and online environments. His broad research interests focus on the design of technology, computer-based learning environments, automated and personalized learning, technology integration, identity exploration, motivation, cognition, and learning. His research aims to explore the learning process including motivation to learn and learners’ identity change using immersive digital technologies, such as games. This includes model testing and development to integrate games and immersive technologies to support teachers and learners; the design of immersive and game environments to impact knowledge, identity change, and motivation to learn; and the investigation of the pedagogic, assessment, and motivational affordances of immersive digital environments for cognition, motivation, and behavior. Dr. Foster’s background is in educational psychology, educational technology, digital media, information technology education, and communications. His professional agenda has emerged from both his research and life experiences growing up in the Caribbean (Jamaica), and studying and living in New York City; East Lansing, Michigan; and Philadelphia. He serves on several editorial review and advisory boards for journals and organizations related technology and learning. He has published book chapters and journal articles about technology and learning. He has won awards for his work on technology and learning. He is a Phi Beta Kappa Member, a Mellon Mays Fellow, and the recipient of a Spencer Research Training Grant, and a NSF CAREER award.

Christine Galib is Senior Director, Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Ion, Houston’s tech and innovation hub. She is a systems thinker, educational leader, innovation ecosystem builder, founder, adjunct professor, and author with a non-linear, 15+ year career in helping others discover their creative strengths and develop their entrepreneurial and investor mindsets. Dr. Galib holds her AB from Princeton University, MSEd from the University of Pennsylvania, and EdD from Drexel University. She loves getting lost in a good book and can be found at christinegalib.com.

Dr. A. Lin Goodwin (葛文林) is the Thomas More Brennan Chair of Education at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development. Prior to joining Boston College, she was Dean of the Faculty(School) of Education at the University of Hong Kong (2017-2022) and Vice Dean at Teachers College, Columbia University (TCCU) in New York (2011-2017), where she also held the Evenden Foundation Chair in Education. Professor Goodwin served as Vice President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA)—Division K: Teaching and Teacher Education (2013-2016), and is a Senior Research Fellow of the Learning Policy Institute. She received the 2022 Spencer Foundation Mentor Award honoring her work with emerging academics and doctoral students. She is the recipient of several multi-million-dollar U.S. federal grants to support TR@TC, an innovative teaching residency program at TCCU that she designed and launched in 2009, a program that has prepared 13 cohorts—and counting—of exceptional teachers for NYC schools.

Heidi Hanania is a Doctoral Candidate at Drexel University, completing her dissertation titled “Exploring the relationship between expatriate higher education faculty and Emirati students' cultural differences and the effects on student performance in a UAE university.” After completing her Master’s in Special Education from George Mason University, she moved to the United Arab Emirates where she worked with students with disabilities in public schools for the past 5 years. Being both an expatriate teacher and Arabic speaker, she began to notice the gap between cultural knowledge that expatriate teachers had and the ways it affected local students, including both their participation and motivation. She decided to make this the focus of her research to help find ways to bridge the gap and increase cultural knowledge provided to expatriate teachers in hopes to provide a smoother transition.

Dr. Deanna Hill, PhD, JD, is Associate Clinical Professor and Director of the Education Doctorate (EdD) program in Educational Leadership and Management at Drexel University. Dr. Hill is a former director of Drexel’s Higher Education program and Capstone Coordinator for the Higher Education and Global and International Education programs. Prior to her work at Drexel, Dr. Hill was Senior Technical Assistance Consultant at the American Institutes for Research; Senior Policy Analyst at West Wind Education Policy Inc.; and Research and Evaluation Specialist in the Title I Division of the Georgia Department of Education. Dr. Hill also conducted research for a number of organizations, including the Center on Education Policy and the RAND Corporation. Dr. Hill’s research interests include education workforce policy issues; access and opportunity in higher education; and global diversity, equity, inclusion, and belongingness.

Valerie Klein, PhD, is Associate Clinical Professor and Director of the Teacher Education Program at Drexel University. Dr. Klein is a Co-Pi on several grants to support teacher residency partnerships with the School District of Philadelphia as well as an NSF-funded gNSF-funded ORCIDS project. The project brings together teachers, researchers and other math educators to focus on ways to engage more meaningfully with students online. After service as the Interim Associate Director for Drexel’s Teaching and Learning Center, Dr. Klein now serves as a faculty fellow and works with faculty to support the development of their teaching. Dr. Klein is published in The Mathematics Teacher and The Mathematics Teacher Educator journals. She teaches methods and pedagogy courses to pre-service and in-service teachers. She began her work at Drexel as part of the Math Forum and prior to that worked in the non-profit sector as a program evaluator supporting financial education efforts in Philadelphia for low- and moderate-income households and individuals.

Peggy A. Kong, EdD, is a clinical associate professor of education at Drexel University. Her research interests focus on family and school relationships in rural China and with immigrant families in the United States. Her recent work is focused on immigrant families and early childhood and the lives of Asians/Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is the author of Parenting, education, and social mobility in China: Cultivating dragons and phoenixes, co-editor of Rural education in China’s social transition (with Emily Hannum and Gerard Postiglione), and author of numerous journal articles and chapters. She serves on the editorial board of Frontiers in Education, and Chinese Education and Society. Currently, she serves on the board of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) and as the past-chair of the East Asia SIG for CIES.

Sherri L. Manson is an Executive Administrator, and she works closely with the Interim Dean and Associate Deans in the Office of the Dean in the School of Education. Sherri joined Drexel in 2009. She began in the Office of Equality and Diversity as the Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinator to Program Administrator and then transitioned to the School of Education in 2011. Currently, she has been the Co-Chair of SoE’s Critical Conversation in Urban Education (CCUE) since 2016 (and a member since 2012). She was a Co-PI on an awarded Rapid Research Racial Equity grant from the Office of Research and Innovation at Drexel. She was invited to join The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, and Leadership (IDEAL) Charter Team and has been a member since 2019. In addition, she was one of four Co-Chairs on the SoE Dean’s Equity Leadership Team that focus on issues of systemic and structural racism in our school in 2020 and over the year laying out a transformation plan within the school to ensure that we sustain a diverse and inclusive community that maintains anti-racism throughout all of our systems. And, she is the Chair of the LeBow BRIDGE Advisory Council – which is a learning community that supports underrepresented business students in LeBow College of Business. Ms. Manson received a B.A. degree from Sweet Briar College and a M.B.A. degree from Keller Graduate School of Management.

Young-Min Park is the Associate Director of Global Partnerships at Drexel’s Office of Global Engagement. In this role, he is responsible for promoting and overseeing the Global Classrooms (often referred to as COIL) at Drexel University. He has over 12 years of experience in International Higher Education, in various areas of global student mobility such as study abroad and international admissions. His primary focus throughout his career has been in global experiences for students in higher education. Young-Min holds a M.A. Intercultural Studies from Nazarene Theological Seminary and M.A. Religion from Yale University.

Dr. Joyce Pittman is a researcher, Drexel University professor Emerita and former EdD Educational Leadership & Management Program Director. Since 2011 during an inaugural event sponsored by the New York Times, Schools for the Future initiative, she was recognized as a notable voice in the future of education. She is a notable worldwide UNESCO member and visionary leader in the international education community. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator for Global-Teach Connect, a Title VI funded partnership that focuses on exploratory educational research, curriculum development and leadership to address assessing and evaluating educational issues related to teaching diverse learners.

Dr. Pittman’s life-wide mission includes collaborating with a diverse network of private sector and government supported organizations. Her career started as a K-12 classroom teacher and expanded to Director, Educational Testing Service (ETS), Director of Educational Reform Research for United Arab Emirates, Ministry of Education, Assistant to the Provost on Academic Affairs (Center for Teaching and Learning Technologies-CTLT, United Arab Emirates University, Professor/Director Professional Development and Leadership Professor Abu Dhabi University and founder of the Comprehensive Educational Reform and Technology Initiative (CERTI), funded by the US Department of Education. These are just a few of her many educational leadership initiatives.

Notably Dr. Pittman is a motivating speaker who has directed many educational projects, in education research, policy and practice in the Middle East, South Africa, Spain, and other European countries. She is the recipient of scholarly and leadership awards including the National Digital Equity and Education Award from SITE, Society for Information Technology in Education, US Department of Education, Ministries of Education and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and was nominated for the International Global Educator Award in 2022.

Bruce A. Levine, J.D. is Clinical Professor of Education Policy in Drexel University’s School of Education, where he teaches courses in the Education Policy and Ed. D programs. He currently directs the Education Policy program and the MS in Education Improvement and Transformation. Prior to joining the Drexel faculty, he was associated with leading organizations in the fields of law and consulting; his career included law practice as a litigator and counsel for tax-exempt and non-profit organizations; strategy consulting for businesses, not-for-profits, and economic development and workforce development organizations; and executive management of two start-up companies. Bruce’s research interests currently include examining the relationship of the US education system and workforce development; community school models in K-12 education; civic education and civic literacy; best practices in linkages between the private sector and the US education system; legal issues in K-12 and higher education; and the impact of school building design on education and community outcomes.

Zabeth Teelucksingh currently leads the Global Philadelphia Association, a non-profit designed to raise awareness of Philadelphia as a global city, including the World Heritage City and the Sustainable Development Goals Projects. With more than 25 years of international business, B2B, and non-profit experience, Zabeth is highly skilled in all aspects of Marketing, Communications and Branding with a global vision. She serves on several boards including Philadelphia250, U.S. Global Leadership Coalition Advisory Committee, Temple CIBER Business Grant and the Alliance Francaise. Born in Carthage, Tunisia, Zabeth was educated in the UK, graduating from Lancaster University in the UK with a triple major in Philosophy, Politics and History. She studied French Civilization at the Sorbonne in Paris and holds an Executive Diploma in Social Impact from The University of Pennsylvania and in Design Leadership from The Weitzman School both from The University of Pennsylvania.

Global Philadelphia Association: Global Philadelphia Association (GPA) was created to assist —and to encourage greater interaction among— the many organizations and people who are engaged in international activity in the Greater Philadelphia Region, to promote the development of an international consciousness within the region, and to enhance the region’s global profile. GPA is the originator of Philadelphia's World Heritage City status, maintaining relations with the OHWC and related heritage programming.

Tyler Zimmerman is leveraging his background as a higher education professional to enable more engaging and pedagogically-informed virtual learning experiences at Engageli. He has a passion for student success and uses a student-first approach to tackling contemporary issues in adult learning contexts. He is based in Portland, Oregon but is originally from Anchorage, Alaska.