ITBE Board Election 2017

2017 Election Candidates for the ITBE Board

Voting will be open through Wednesday, May 10th.

Vice-President

Sarah Mikulski

Sarah Mikulski currently works at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, as both the Language Lab Coordinator and an adjunct faculty member of the ESL Department. She began her career in TESOL in 1999 as a Peace Corps volunteer in Poland, where she taught English as a foreign language at the high school level after earning her B.A. in English Literature from the University of San Francisco. In 2005, she earned her M.A.T., Secondary Education/Language Arts, at Northeastern Illinois University, where she later returned to complete her ESL endorsement. She has also worked as a substitute teacher in Illinois Township High School District 211, as an ESL instructor at both Solex College and Ivy College, and as an examiner for an ESL testing company. Her academic interests include the optimal use of instructional technology for language learning and the use of humor, storytelling, and stress reduction techniques in the classroom to lower a student’s affective filter and increase knowledge retention. She has been an ITBE board member since 2015.

Member-at-Large (Vote for Three)

	Maria Alanis Maria Alanis has dedicated her educational career to teaching linguistically and culturally diverse learners. Her 27-year career as an educator has included multiple roles in PK-12 public and post-secondary education in Illinois and in Texas. She has taught English as a Second Language, dual language, transitional bilingual education, and special education and was an adjunct professor of ESL and bilingual education at the University of St. Thomas. She served as the Director of ESL/Bilingual Education for Champaign CUSD #4 since 2005. Maria holds a M.Ed. in ESL and Bilingual Education from the University of St. Thomas (Houston, Texas) and a B.S. from the University of Houston. Maria is a member of Habitat for Humanity’s Development Committee, Altrusa International, and the Latino Partnership of Champaign County. Maria’s passion to develop safe spaces, to advocate, and to facilitate authentic outreach, support, empowerment, and inclusion of marginalized stakeholders was the impetus to found Xenia, a non-profit organization in Champaign County (xeniaxcell.weebly.com).
	Allison Lewis Allison Lewis is an adult ESL instructor at Richard J. Daley College and at Pui Tak Center. She received a B.A. in English and Secondary Education from Wheaton College, and she received an M.A. in Linguistics/TESOL from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She first developed an interest in teaching English language learners when she was in college and did one-on-one tutoring of refugee students. She began teaching adult ESL in 2012. She has taught ESL to students of all levels and also has experience in curriculum development, materials development, and training ESL tutors.
	Dr. Akiko Ota Dr. Akiko Ota is the director of the ESL program at Governors State University. She attained an M.A. TESOL, an M.S. Education (Postsecondary, Adult, and Continuing Education), and Ed.D. on Educational Leadership: Postsecondary Education from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. She has been teaching in English in the United States and Japan across the full spectrum of instructional levels (literacy to college transitional ESL) for various student populations and institutions for more than eighteen years. In addition to her expertise in teaching English, she specializes in international student research and teacher and student services personnel training in U.S. higher education. On her free time, she enjoys taking photography, Zumba, and good coffee at local coffee shops.
	Juan A. Rios Vega Juan A. Ríos Vega jriosvega@fsmail.bradley.edu Dr. Ríos Vega is an assistant professor at Bradley University, Department of Teacher Education, where he teaches undergraduate courses in the area of English as a Second Language (ESL). Before moving to Peoria, Illinois, Dr. Ríos Vega worked in North Carolina in middle, high, and college as an ESL instructor for over 16 years. He earned a B.A. in English and Education from University of Panama; M.A., Curriculum and Teaching with Emphasis in ESL from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Women’s and Gender Studies Certificate from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Ph.D., Philosophy in Educational Studies, Cultural Studies Concentration from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dr. Ríos Vega has developed extensive research on Latino/Latina students in education. In 2015, Dr. Ríos Vega published his first book Counterstorytelling Narratives of Latino Teenage Boys: From Vergüenza to Échale Ganas, where he unpacks how socio-historical issues in education shape Latino/Latina students’ academic success. Dr. Ríos Vega has also published articles in co-edited books, Ni Latino, Ni Hispano: A Journal of Resiliency and Social Justice (2015) and From Panama to Academia: A Testimonial of Struggle and Resiliency (2016). He is a member of the American Educational Studies Association (AESA), American Educational Research Association (AERA); Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL), and Critical Race Studies in Education Association (CRSEA).