Dr. Derek Furr is Dean of Teacher Education and a literature professor in the Master of Arts in Teaching Program at Bard College. He also teaches for the Bard Prison Initiative and the Institute for Writing and Thinking. He is the author of three books – Recorded Poetry and Poetic Reception from Edna Millay to the Circle of Robert Lowell (Palgrave 2010), Suite For Three Voices (Fomite 2012), and Semitones (2015). His works have been published in Jacket2, Twentieth Century Literature, and Raritan. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Virginia. Before coming to Bard College, he was an English Language Arts teacher and reading specialist in the Charlottesville City Schools. You can contact him at furr@bard.edu

Dr. Rana Surkhi is the Director of the Masters of Arts in Teaching Program and a founding faculty member at Al-Quds Bard College. In her current role, she also works closely with the Al-Quds Bard College Center for Teaching and Learning, conducting outreach to West Bank and Jerusalem schools to expand the reach of MAT pedagogy through professional development programs. She received her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from the Universitat de Barcelona. Her current research focuses on paths to empowering Palestinian school teachers as reflective practitioners. You can contact her at rsurakhi@staff.alquds.edu

Elizabeth Davis Alibaeva is an Assistant Professor of the MAT Program and Assistant Director of the Institute of Education at the American University of Central Asia. She develops mentoring materials and teaches in the graduate teaching program of the American University of Central Asia. Additionally, she collaborates with Bard and Al Quds MAT program professors to co-deliver a Teaching Lab course for a combined student group from AUCA and Al Quds. She also works with teacher mentors to support MAT students, which contributes to her work of developing teacher mentoring materials with the Institute of Education at AUCA.

A secondary English teacher since 2004, Elizabeth taught for six years in a public school in the United States and at two schools internationally – nearly two years in Guatemala and eight years in Kyrgyzstan. She also served in various roles in K-12 administration, including principal and assistant director, for seven years, focusing on teacher support and development. She holds a master’s degree in teaching reading and writing from Asbury University. You can contact her at davis_e@auca.kg