Ms. Danielle Steider, Director
Ms. Danielle Steider (steider@msu.edu) coordinates the Less Commonly Taught Languages Program in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages at Michigan State University. She also supervises all MSU Fulbright FLTAs hosted by the College of Arts and Letters. Her prior experience includes ESL/EFL teaching and teacher training at Michigan State University and The Pennsylvania State University, and in Egypt with the Binational Fulbright Commission and Niger with the Peace Corps.
Mr. Matt Kanefsky, Director
Mr. Matt Kanefsky (kanefsky@msu.edu) is the Assistant Director of Language Instruction for French in the Department of Romance and Classical Studies. In addition to teaching language courses, he is responsible for creating curriculum for the Basic Language program and supervising the TAs and Instructors. Currently, he is overseeing the transition to a hybrid model of instruction. Prior to this, he had taught French at the high school level for over a decade.
Dr. Dustin De Felice, Director
Dr. Dustin De Felice (defelic5@msu.edu) is the Director of the English Language Center. He is also an Assistant Professor in the online Master of Arts in Foreign Language Teaching Program at Michigan State University, where he teaches courses on Language Concepts in Foreign Language Teaching, Second Language Acquisition, Language Teaching Methods, Language Program Development and Administration, Pedagogical Grammar, and Language Learning and Technology in Foreign Language Classrooms. He has more than a decade of experience in the fields of adult education, applied linguistics, and language teaching. He has taught in East Lansing, Michigan; Tampa, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; and Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Mr. Mark Albee, Director
Mr. Mark Albee (malbee@msu.edu) is the External Programs Coordinator, a student advisor, and instructor for the English Language Center (ELC). He has been working at the English Language Center since 2011, and he enjoys teaching all skills and working with students in all levels. He received his B.A. in English from the University of Florida and his M.A. in TESL/TEFL from the University of Birmingham. He spent six years teaching English at universities in South Korea, and he also taught at Hodges University in Naples, Florida.
Mr. Justin Van Ness, IIE/Fulbright Representative
Justin Van Ness has over seven years of experience advising U.S. and Visiting Fulbright Scholars, Fulbright Foreign Students, Fulbright Visiting Researchers, and F-1 international students. In addition to advising students, scholars, and professionals, he managed the International Fulbright Science & Technology Program for nearly two years and was an advisor and SEVIS Coordinator at DePaul University. He was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Madrid, Spain in 2006 and has been committed to international exchange ever since. He holds a MA in comparative politics from American University and a BA in world politics and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Justin is currently an advisor for the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program. He is based in IIE’s Chicago office.
Ms. Kit Bartels, ECA/U.S. State Department Representative
Kit Bartels directs and oversees the Fulbright Program for the Middle East and North Africa in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). She has worked for more than 14 years in the State Department and has been part of the ECA team since December 2013, serving first as Deputy Director of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board secretariat and then as the Bureau’s Chief of Staff before moving to the Fulbright Program Office in 2016. She has also served as an Arabian Peninsula analyst with the Diplomatic Security Service and as a Senior Program Officer focused on civil society development with the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Kit served previously as an officer in the United States Air Force, with assignments in Texas, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the state of Washington. She received two academic-year Foreign Language and Area Studies awards from the University of Arizona and completed her master’s degree in Near Eastern Studies in 2007. She also has a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from Miami University in Ohio.
Presenter Biographies
Ms. Mashael AlGana
Ms. Mashael AlGana (alganama@msu.edu) received her M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Texas Tech University and her B.A. in English from King Khalid University. She also worked as a teaching assistant at King Khalid University and taught English as a foreign language for five years. Mashael is currently a Ph.D. student in the Second Language Studies program at MSU. Her research interests include instructed SLA, computer assisted language learning, and input processing.
Mr. Adam Gacs
Mr. Adam Gacs (gacs@msu.edu) is an Educational Technology Specialist in the Center for Language Teaching Advancement and Instructor of German in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages at Michigan State University. He develops and teaches online language courses in First and Second Year, but also teaches face-to-face language classes and supports technology integration across the curriculum. He also mentors TAs transitioning to teaching online. His research interests include spoken corpora in language teaching and online language learning.
Dr. David Horner
Dr. David Horner (david.horner@gmail.com) has worked in various aspects of international education for nearly 40 years. He received two Fulbright education administrator grants to Germany and a year-long teaching-research grant to Hong Kong in 2003-04. He has held leadership positions in NAFSA: Association of International Educators, responded to requests from numerous colleges and universities to evaluate their international education programs, organized cross-cultural training programs for Michigan companies, American and international student groups, university employees and worked extensively with international students groups in his pre-retirement role as Director of the Office for International Students and Scholars at Michigan State University.
Mr. Austin Kaufmann
Mr. Austin Kaufmann (akauf@msu.edu) is an English as a Second Language instructor and an Educational Technology Specialist at MSUs’ English Language Center. He received his M.A. in TESOL from American University (Washington, DC), and has taught English in Kyrgyzstan, Korea, Lithuania, and the United States. His interests include pronunciation instruction, materials creation, and the integration of educational technology into the classroom.
Mr. Matt Kessler
Mr. Matthew Kessler (kessle72@msu.edu) is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Second Language Studies program. Prior to joining SLS, Matt taught English in Thailand through a Fulbright grant, and before that, as an adjunct for Ohio University’s English Language Improvement Program. Matt earned his B.A. in English and M.A. in applied linguistics from Ohio University. His research interests include L2 writing, learner identity, and computer-assisted language learning.
Ms. Amy Kroesche
Ms. Amy Kroesche (kroesche@msu.edu) is an Academic Specialist with the English Language Center at Michigan State University, where she is an advisor and ESL instructor. She has done teacher training in the MATESOL program at MSU, and has also coordinated EFL teacher training special programs for the ELC with Panama Bilingue and Young Adult Literature/Reading programs sponsored by the U.S. State Department.
Ms. Debra Martinez
Ms. Debra Rousseau Martinez (rousse15@msu.edu) is a senior investigator in the Office of Institutional Equity at Michigan State University. Ms. Martinez previously served as an assistant prosecuting attorney with the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office from 2004 until 2015 where she was Unit Chief of the Special Victim Unit and specialized in reviewing and prosecuting cases of sexual assault and child abuse. Prior to her appointment as an assistant prosecutor, Ms. Martinez worked in private practice handling matters of criminal defense, education law, municipal issues, and family law matters. Ms. Martinez received her Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Central Michigan University, and received her Juris Doctorate from Michigan State University College of Law.
Mr. Francisco Morales
Mr. Francisco Morales (morale70@msu.edu) is a doctoral student in the Hispanic Linguistics program at the University of Florida. He also works as a Spanish Instructor in the Department of Romance and Classical Studies at Michigan State University. He received a Master of Arts in Applied Spanish Linguistics from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Ohio University. His research interests include sociolinguistics, language contact, language variation and change, and language teaching and technology.
Mr. Matthew Rynbrandt
Mr. Matthew Rynbrandt (rynbran1@msu.edu) is an Academic Specialist and the Listening/Speaking Course Coordinator at the English Language Center here at MSU. He received his MA in TESOL from MSU and spent extensive time in China and the United Arab Emirates before joining the English Language Center. His professional interests include mentoring new teachers and implementing effective assessment in the classroom.
Dr. Galen Sibanda
Dr. Galen Sibanda (sibanda1@msu.edu) teaches IsiZulu and coordinates the African Languages Program at Michigan State University. Other languages he sometimes offers are IsiNdebele, IsiXhosa, and ChiShona. His main research and teaching interests include the use of film in teaching African languages, distance education, assessment, and the phonology and morphology of Bantu languages. He has published and presented at conferences on different aspects of Nguni phonology and morphology, distance education, assessment, and using film in the classroom.
Dr. Koen Van Gorp
Dr. Koen Van Gorp (vangorpk@msu.edu) is a Language Assessment Specialist at Michigan State University and Head of Foreign Language Assessment at the Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA). His interests include task-based language teaching and assessment and multilingual education. He is involved in the professional development of teachers and developed task-based language curricula for K-12 education. Prior to joining CeLTA, he was director of the Certificate Dutch as a Foreign Language, a language proficiency test of Dutch, and co-director of the Centre for Language and Education (University of Leuven) in Belgium.
Ms. Carol Wilson-Duffy
Ms. Carol Wilson-Duffy (wilson77@msu.edu) is an Academic Specialist at MSU’s English Language Center. In addition to her background in teaching ESL, Carol also has more than 30 years of leadership and management experience. She has led the ELC special program team where she created educational programs for individuals and groups of students and teachers from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin and Central America, and parts of Africa. Carol also specializes in educational technology training and has Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) teaching experience in the U.S. and Korea, and by distance to remote areas in Micronesia. She is the web designer/editor for the journal Language Learning & Technology, Past President of Michigan’s Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages organization (MITESOL), and has served on TESOL’s Technology Advisory Board.
Transforming Theatre Ensemble
The Transforming Theatre Ensemble (TTE) provides an interactive learning experience that engages audiences in collaborative problem solving. Theatrical sketches are used as a focal point for dialogue led by a skilled facilitator. Based on Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, TTE creates a safe distance for an audience to reflect on and analyze problematic attitudes and behaviors, as a first step toward transformation.