Editor’s note: In this piece, TIRF Trustee Anna Krulatz and her colleagues Rai Farrelly, Zuzana Tomaš, Kristen Lindahl, and Tamrika Khvtisiashvili highlight a session at a recent presentation that took place during the 2025 TESOL Convention, designed to honor TIRF Trustee MaryAnn Chrisitson.
The Teacher Education Interest Section (TEIS) of the TESOL International Association hosted an academic session for the 2025 Annual Convention in Long Beach, CA. In collaboration with the TEIS Chair, Grazzia Mendoza, the panelists Rai Farrelly, Kristen Lindahl, Tamrika Khvtisiashvili, Zuzana Tomaš, and Anna Krulatz, organized the session around the theme of mentoring in honor of Dr. MaryAnn Christison (MAC), who was an influential professor during their doctoral studies at the University of Utah. The presentation was entitled “Exploring the Critical Role of Mentorship in TESOL.” Kendi Ho (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa), also one of MAC’s mentees, sponsored a bouquet of beautiful flowers for her mentor.
MAC has a long history as an English language teacher, teacher educator, language program administrator, mentor, and researcher. She has served TIRF for 24 years, currently in a role as a co-chair of TIRF’s Research Advisory Committee (RAC) and Doctoral Dissertation Grant (DDG) program. She is a Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at the University of Utah and a former TESOL President (1997). In 2024, she received the Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award from the Graduate School at the University of Utah, and the panel was convened to honor this incredible accomplishment.
The five presenters examined the transformative power of mentorship in language teacher education and its impact on undergraduate students, pre- and in-service English language teachers, doctoral students contributing to TESOL knowledge generation, and the broader TESOL community. The panel emphasized collaborative practices and the transformative power of mentorship to forge mutual understanding, creativity, inclusive and engaging learning environments, and socially just learning spaces. The panelists explored crucial characteristics of mentorship such as non-hierarchical relationships, individualized support, dialogic practices, and identity development and reconciliation. They also illustrated the profound impact of mentorship with personal examples and vignettes featuring MAC’s impact on their own transition from being mentees to becoming mentors, both in their professional and personal lives.
Ying Zhang of the University of Utah, one of MAC’s current doctoral students, concluded the session with a poem in MAC’s honor:
I first reached out, a curious mind,
Drawn to the rubric you’d designed.
A simple question, a spark, a start—
You welcomed me with an open heart.
“Research what you truly love,” you said,
“Let passion be your guide.”
With freedom to wander, to question, to explore,
You unlocked in me a scholar’s core.
When milestones came, we raised a toast—
At the best Chinese restaurant in Salt Lake, we celebrated most.
Your wisdom, your guidance, your light so true,
Have shaped not just my work, but me too.
For all you’ve given, for all you do,
I am forever grateful to the one and only you.
Thank you so much, dear Dr. Christison!
