We are pleased to announce the addition of three new colleagues to TIRF’s Board of Trustees and the the re-election of three current Trustees. We will first highlight the newly elected Trustees and then report on the continuing Board members.
Dr. Christine Coombe, Dr. Hanan Khalifa, and Ms. Mina Patel have all been elected to serve three-year terms as TIRF Trustees. Biographical statements for each of them follows here:
Dr. Christine Coombe has a PhD in Foreign/Second Language Education from The Ohio State University. She is currently an Associate Professor of General Studies at Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Men’s College. Christine has published over 60 books in various topics in TESOL/ELT. Dr Coombe serves as the editor of Language Teaching Research Quarterly (2017 to present) and as the Editor of the Scopus-indexed Q1 Brief Reports section of the Asia TEFL Journal (2016 to present). Christine has lived and worked in the Gulf for the past 32 years. She is the recipient of the 2002 Spaan Fellowship for Research in Second/Foreign Language Assessment; 2002-03 TOEFL Outstanding Young Scholar Award; the Chancellor’s Teacher of the Year Award (2003); the British Council’s International Assessment Award (2013); and was named to TESOL’s 50@50 and the US DOS 30@30, both of which recognize professionals who have made significant contributions to the TESOL profession within the past 50 and 30 years, respectively. Christine is the 2018 recipient of the James E. Alatis Award, which recognizes exemplary service to TESOL. She has served the profession on the TESOL Board of Directors as Convention Chair for Tampa 2006 and was TESOL International Association President (2011-2012). Christine’s research interests include: testing/assessment, teacher effectiveness, research methods in ELT, TBLT, leadership and management in ELT as well as teacher professionalism.
Dr. Hanan Khalifa (PhD, University of Reading; MA, University of Cambridge; and MSc, Alexandria University & Lancaster University) is an award-winning international expert in education, assessment, and impact evaluation. She has recently joined MetaMetrics, Inc. to lead a Pan Arab initiative, namely, the development of the Arabic Lexile Framework and its constituent parts. Previously, she spent 20 years at Cambridge University Press and Assessment heading up teams and divisions working on test validation, technical research, publications, capacity development for ALTE courses’ participants, impact evaluation, education reform, partnerships, and business to government projects. Throughout her career, Hanan advised ministries of education and examination boards on language education in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Central and South America. Her academic work has benefited masters’ programs in various countries, leading to winning awards in educational innovations and for adoption by key English language testing organizations. Hanan started her career as a university lecturer before leading national assessment reform in her home country, Egypt, working with international development organizations such as USAID and DfID.
Ms. Mina Patel is Head of Research – Future of English at the British Council. Her background is in English language teaching and training. She has worked in the UK, Greece, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia as a teacher, trainer, materials developer, and project manager for ELT projects and has extensive experience working with ministries of education in East Asia. Mina has presented at numerous national and international conferences on ELT-related topics. Her academic interests lie in the areas of language assessment literacy, teacher education and development, and qualitative research methodology. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA) at the University of Bedfordshire, UK. Most recently, Mina has co-authored Future of English: Global Perspectives.
As for the continuing Trustees, we are excited to note that Dr. Anna Krulatz (below left), Dr. Suzanne Panferov Reese (below middle), and Dr. Spiros Papageorgiou (below right)have all been re-elected to serve three-year terms on TIRF’s Board. They have each made exceptional contributions to the Foundation’s work throughout their time with TIRF, and we honored to have them ongoing commitment to our mission.
Please join the TIRF community in welcoming our new Trustees to the Foundation’s Board and congratulating the continuing Trustees on their re-elections!
