Renee Feather has taught English at Georgetown University’s Center for Language Education and Development since 1996. She earned her M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from American University and has experience doing teacher training in American University’s TESOL graduate program, the Georgetown/Sungkyunkwan Certificate Program in South Korea, and the English for Life Program in Panama. For the last two years, Renee has been a recruiter for the State Department’s English Language Fellow Program vetting applicants from the North East region of the United States.

She has been active in professional organizations serving as WATESOL’s Higher Education Interest Group Co-Chair and as Special Interest Group Liaison on the Board of Directors. Renee currently serves Program Chair on the Board of Directors at Language ETC, a non-profit language school serving the immigrant community of Washington D.C. Prior to her teaching career, Renee spent over 20 years directing various departments at Verizon Corporation, a  Fortune 100 Company.

Suhanthie Motha received her Ph.D. in TESOL and Teacher Education from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor. She has designed and taught graduate classes in Second Language Acquisition, Research and Theory in Second Language Education, Trends and Issues in Second Language Education, Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Teaching for Cross-Cultural Communication, Psycholinguistics, Teaching as a Profession, and Embracing Diversity in Learning Communities. Dr. Motha’s research explores the complexity of identity, language, and pedagogy in second language learning. Her published work includes articles in TESOL Quarterly, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, TESL Canada Journal, and Educational Practice and Theory in addition to several book chapters, and she serves on the editorial review board of TESL Canada Journal.

Sigrun Biesenbach-Lucas, PH.D., Applied Linguistics, Georgetown University 1994, has extensive teaching experience and has taught English as a Second Language (ESL) as well as Linguistics at Georgetown University and at George Washington University. Before joining the Center for language Education and Development (CLED-EFL) faculty at Georgetown in 2006, she taught in the TESOL Teacher Training Program at American University. In 2006, she was recognized as a World Teacher Honoree for outstanding teaching by TESOL.  Dr. Biesenbach-Lucas has conducted extensive research, focusing on how technology, specifically email, affects language use and pragmatic differences between native and non-native speakers of English in student-professor interaction.  She is a member in several professional/academic organizations, among them TESOL and AAAL, and she is the Local Chair of the 2008 AAAL Convention, to be held in Washington, D.C. 

Dr. Biesenbach-Lucas has presented at numerous international, national, and local conferences and has published in Language Learning & Technology, Computer Assisted Language Learning, and the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, among others. She is the Reviews Editor and a Member of the Editorial Board at Language Learning & Technology, a peer-reviewed academic journal, as well as a site reviewer for the Commission for English Language Program Accreditation (CEA).

Jessica Lee is an Ed.D candidate in the Curriculum and Instruction program at The George Washington University. Her areas of research interest include student beliefs and attitudes in second and foreign language learning and issues related to NNES teachers. She is currently working on her dissertation that examines the challenges NNES teachers face in the teaching profession and their pedagogical approaches in the ESL classroom. Jessica completed her M.A degree in Curriculum and Instruction in Denver, Colorado. She has experiences in teaching both ESL and EFL contexts. She is currently working as a research associate in the Department of Teacher Preparation and Special Education at The George Washington University. She has been an active member of WATESOL's NNEST caucus group since last spring.    

Gloria Park teaches graduate courses in TESOL and Teacher Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. She also teaches adult ESL courses at Montgomery College. Her research interests focus on NNEST issues, teacher identity, and multicultural education.