PressOur Authors
Meet our authors. Write to them. Join their blogs. Visit their websites. Information for communicating with our authors, as well as a short bio, is provided below. Check back with us from time as we will be presenting more authors and additional contact information.
Dr. Rajai Al-Khanji is former Dean of Arts at the University of Jordan and current professor of English. His email is drkhanji@yahoo.com.
Dr. Gerd Brendel was born and raised in Germany, Gerd came to the U.S. when he was 17 being sponsored by an American military family from Puerto Rico. He was fascinated by the cultural diversity he experienced in the home of his sponsor. These personal experiences contributed to his interest in foreign languages and cultures and led him to pursue language and cultural studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels earning his M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies from the University of California , Irvine. Gerd has pursued these academic interests by teaching German and English in many different settings including California State University at Long Beach, the Ohio State University, the German Federal Center for Languages and the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. At the Defense Language Institute his continuing interest in promoting adult learners’ achievement of high levels of proficiency in foreign languages and cultures has focused on key aspects of effective foreign language programs. During the last five years, for example, he led the design and development of competency- and task-based student-centered learning materials in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hebrew, Korean, Kurdish, Russian and trained language teachers in providing effective feedback through some innovative formative and summative assessments. Throughout his career, Gerd has placed the study of writing as an effective tool and process in foreign language acquisition at the center of his own philosophy how adults achieve very high levels of proficiency in a foreign language. brendelg@sbcglobal.net
Donna Bain Butler teaches and designs intensive legal English programs for international lawyers (American University's Washington College of Law) and researches advanced proficiency in scholarly second language (L2) legal writing as a PhD candidate (University of Maryland College Park). She has been co-editor of Teaching and Learning to Near-Native Levels of Language Proficiency: Proceedings of the Fall Conferences of the Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers.
Donna can be contacted at dbbutler@wcl.american.edu.
Melina Champine is a journalist living in Ohio. Her email is champine@suite224.net.
Bella Cohen is a teacher of Russian, educational administrator, proficiency tester, and diagnostic assessor. She can be reached through MSI Press (info@msipress.com).
Dr. Inna Dubinsky, International Broadcaster, Voice of America, Russian Service, since 1993. Currently, Mrs. Dubinsky serves as the Senior Editor, Russian Service. For ten years, December 1997-November 2007, she was the Host of the daily live one-hour radio call-in show Talk To America and Special Correspondent of VOA's Russian Service. She is also the Treasurer of the Third Century Foundation (TCF), a non-profit organization in the United States. TCF takes as its mission in supporting the "people-to-people" contacts that will underpin the U.S.-Russian relationship into its third century and is named in recognition of the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States. Inna Dubinsky can be contacted via email inna_dubinsky@yahoo.com
Dr. Rajai Al-Khanji is former Dean of Arts at the University of Jordan and current professor of English. His email is drkhanji@yahoo.com.
Dr. Gerd Brendel was born and raised in Germany, Gerd came to the U.S. when he was 17 being sponsored by an American military family from Puerto Rico. He was fascinated by the cultural diversity he experienced in the home of his sponsor. These personal experiences contributed to his interest in foreign languages and cultures and led him to pursue language and cultural studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels earning his M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies from the University of California , Irvine. Gerd has pursued these academic interests by teaching German and English in many different settings including California State University at Long Beach, the Ohio State University, the German Federal Center for Languages and the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. At the Defense Language Institute his continuing interest in promoting adult learners’ achievement of high levels of proficiency in foreign languages and cultures has focused on key aspects of effective foreign language programs. During the last five years, for example, he led the design and development of competency- and task-based student-centered learning materials in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hebrew, Korean, Kurdish, Russian and trained language teachers in providing effective feedback through some innovative formative and summative assessments. Throughout his career, Gerd has placed the study of writing as an effective tool and process in foreign language acquisition at the center of his own philosophy how adults achieve very high levels of proficiency in a foreign language. brendelg@sbcglobal.net
Donna Bain Butler teaches and designs intensive legal English programs for international lawyers (American University's Washington College of Law) and researches advanced proficiency in scholarly second language (L2) legal writing as a PhD candidate (University of Maryland College Park). She has been co-editor of Teaching and Learning to Near-Native Levels of Language Proficiency: Proceedings of the Fall Conferences of the Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers.
Donna can be contacted at dbbutler@wcl.american.edu.
Melina Champine is a journalist living in Ohio. Her email is champine@suite224.net.
Bella Cohen is a teacher of Russian, educational administrator, proficiency tester, and diagnostic assessor. She can be reached through MSI Press (info@msipress.com).
Dr. Inna Dubinsky, International Broadcaster, Voice of America, Russian Service, since 1993. Currently, Mrs. Dubinsky serves as the Senior Editor, Russian Service. For ten years, December 1997-November 2007, she was the Host of the daily live one-hour radio call-in show Talk To America and Special Correspondent of VOA's Russian Service. She is also the Treasurer of the Third Century Foundation (TCF), a non-profit organization in the United States. TCF takes as its mission in supporting the "people-to-people" contacts that will underpin the U.S.-Russian relationship into its third century and is named in recognition of the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States. Inna Dubinsky can be contacted via email inna_dubinsky@yahoo.com
Dr. Madeline Ehrman is a retired educational administrator from the Foreign Service Institute, U. S. Department of State. Her email is ehrmanm@aol.com.
Dr. Ekaterina Filatova is a highly respected Russian psychologist, specializing in the area of personality. Her email is filarina@front.ru (or, filarina@inbox.ru).
Dr. Geri Henderson is the Department Chair of English at LCC International University in Kleipeda, Lithuania. Prior to that, Dr. Henderson was a professor of English at New York Institute of Technology in Amman, Jordan, and before that, at the University of Nebraska. Geri's research interests are in the ares of Medieval Mysticism and International Education for foreign language learners. She grew up in Jamaica, has also lived in Boston, Tulsa, Nebraska, Jordan and now Lithuania. She enjoys playing and listening to music when she isn't reading, writing, or teaching. She may be reached at gerhen@gmail.com.
Vicki Hoskins, B.A., M.A. is an American who has lived in Jordan for twenty-two years. She has taught English as a second language for twenty years. She has two children who live with her in Amman. She is currently an instructor of English as a second language at New York Institute of Technology in Amman, Jordan. Her email is vicki3000@hotmail.com
Elaine Rippey Imady comes from a small town on the Hudson River which her Dutch ancestors pioneered in the 18th Century, but in 1960 she left it all behind and went to live in Damascus with her Syrian husband, Mohammed Imady. They met as students at NYU, fell deeply in love and never looked back. She became interested in Mohammed's faith and, in 1956, converted to Islam. In Damascus they lived in the same building with her husband's family for seventeen years and she learned Arabic and much more from her in-laws who welcomed her with open arms. Over the years she taught music and English and stood by her husband as he rose in the government ranks, eventually becoming an important cabinet minister. He held the post of Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade for twenty-three years during which time Elaine and Mohammed traveled often and met many world leaders. Her first book, called Postscripts from Palisades, was about her mother and was published in Syria by Dar Tlas and in the USA by the local historical society of her hometown as well as by iUniverse, Inc. Now, after more than fifty happy years of marriage, Elaine and her husband are blessed with a close-knit family of three children and their spouses, eleven grandchildren and four great grandchildren - all living near them in Damascus. Elaine may be reached at greenpalisades@yahoo.com. Elaine also has a web page, http://elaine-rippey-imady.com/books.
Dr. Omar Imady is a professor of political science in Amman, Jordan and a poet of long-standing from Damascus, Syria. You can find a fuller biography here: http://omarimady.com/Personal/Dr.OmarImady.htm. (And yes, he is the son of Elaine Imady.)
Dr. Amal Jasser, a Jordanian who is currently the director of The English Language Institute (ELI) at New York Institute of Technology in Bahrain. She has taught Applied Linguistics at Jordan University of Science and Technology in Jordan. She is interested in teaching English as a foreign/second language. She can be reached at amal.j7@gmail.com
Dr. Betty Lou Leaver is a highly published author in the area of foreign language studies. Her special areas of interest are distinguished levels of proficiency and learner variables (learning styles, strategies). She may be contacted by email at Leaver@aol.com.
Shenan (CB) Leaver is a graduate of special education in Virginia, California, and Ohio. He has written a very special and very funny book about his mother who is, yes, Betty Lou Leaver. He loves to receive email from readers. He can be reached at cbleaver@yahoo.com.
Dr. Elizabeth Mahlou wishes to remain anonymous, but using her pseudonym, she is willing to communicate with readers who enjoy (or not) her book, Blest Atheist. She is now hard at work on a follow-up book, Tending God's Sprinklers. She can be reached by email at Elizabeth.Mahlou@gmail.com. She also maintains a website for her books at www.freewebs.com/elizabethmahlou/ and a blog for Blest Atheist at www.blestatheist.blogspot.com.
Dr. Richard Robin is a professor of Russian at George Washington University. His email address is rrobin@gwu.edu.
Dr. Yasir Sakr, a practicing architect since 1983, is an international consultant in architectural design and planning, who already won top awards of several design competitions. He is currently an urban development strategist leading multi-disciplinary teams of international consultants in the urban re-development of the central area of Holy City of Makka, KSA . Prior to his current assignment, he held the position of assistant professor at the Department of Architecture at the Jordan and Petra universities. He holds his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, Master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Bachelor's degree from the University of Jordan. Sakr was a visiting scholar at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and the American Archaeological School in Jerusalem. Professor Sakr has lectured and published widely on architectural education, design theory, and history.
Boris Shekhtman is president of the Specialized Language Training Center in Rockville, Maryland and co-founder and operational director of the Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers. He has also taught at the Foreign Service Institute, whjere he earned the Una Cox Chapman Award for teaching excellence, and at Howard University. He has lectured extensively in the US and England. He may be contacted by email at sb@mysltc.com or through his website, www.mysltc.com.
Fernando Ustman is a consulting psychologist in Colombia. He holds a master's degree in transpersonal psychology from the South American School of Transpersonal Psychology as well as an MBA from the University of Phoenix. He specializes in levels of consciousness, holotropic respiration, dynamic meditation, and archetypal psychology – applications that improve the quality of life. He can be contacted by email at fernandoustman@hotmail.com and his website is at https://www.xing.com/profile/NelsonFernando_UstmanSosa
Dr. Mahmud Wardat is department chair of English at Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan. His email is mwardat2001@yahoo.com.
Yalun Zhou is a PhD candidate of Curriculum & Instruction focusing on second language and culture education. A native speaker of Chinese, Ms. Zhou is passionate in second/foreign language acquisition. She investigates linguistic and sociolinguistic variables of language learners at different ages and different acquisition stages. Her research interests include teaching/learning foreign languages to advanced levels of proficiency, early second language literacy, biliteracy, and heritage language learning. She may be reached by email at yalunzhou@yahoo.com.
