Maureen T. Matarese

1. American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) 2001-present, 2. Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée (AILA) 2001-present, 3. TESOL 2002-present, 4. American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2007-present, 5. Discourse and Narrative Analysis in Social Work and Counseling 2007-present, 6. Communication, Medicine, and Ethics (COMET) 2007-present, 7. International Society for Language Studies (ISLS) 2008-present, 8. NYS TESOL 2008-present

Institutional linguistic ethnography examining how “reading” and “literacy” are discursively positioned by professors and students in two community college developmental literacy classrooms. (in IRB proposal stage for Spring/Summer 2011 data collection), Co-investigator on sociolinguistic project Ghanaians in New York City: Language use and resources with Dr. Mabel Asante, examining the use of Ghanaian churches in NYC for bilingual language maintenance., Co-investigator on qualitative project exploring possible benefits of taking a Language & Culture course for students also taking college-level developmental skills courses. (2010-2011, to be presented at AAAL 2011), Dissertation Research:, Institutional linguistic ethnography exploring the one-on-one discourse between six shelter caseworkers and sixteen homeless clients in a New York City shelter over nine months, particularly in light of new NYC policies that consequently shaped practice and the talk used in practice.

Maureen Matarese is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY. A graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University with a doctorate in International Educational Development (Language, Literacy, and Technology), she has focused her work around issues of sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and literacy in multicultural, institutional settings. She has taught on the graduate level at Teachers College and at Long Island University, teaching courses in Sociolinguistics, TESOL, and Bilingual Education, and on the undergraduate level she taught Freshman Composition at North Carolina State University, and she teaches Academic Critical Reading and Language & Culture (LIN100/ANT115) at BMCC. She also taught ESL, Literacy, and GED Preparation in a transitional homeless shelter in Washington Heights, where she worked for many years. Professor Matarese's research focuses on sociolinguistics and discourse analysis. She has conducted sociolinguistic research in North Carolina, West Virginia, the Bahamas, and in New York City, and she has conducted qualitative research on teacher response techniques (particularly when students use nonstandard dialect features in their writing). Discourse analysis, and specifically institutional linguistic ethnographies, are her area of expertise. In this vein, she has conducted research on caseworker-client interaction in a New York City shelter. That study speaks to the ways in which institutional hierarchies and their policies are enacted in everyday practice by street-level bureaucrats who negotiate between the needs of the client and the needs of the administration/policy. This research additionally speaks to the ways in which language diversity (Spanish language) were addressed in everyday practice by individual caseworkers. This research has implications for both policy and practice, as well as for street-level bureaucrats of other institutional types (e.g. school teachers). She is currently working on a linguistic ethnography in Academic Critical Reading classrooms. Professor Matarese has published within and outside the field of (socio)linguistics and has presented at many national and international academic conferences where her work has been well received. In all facets of her work, she has worked with linguistic minorities (and/or minoritized languages/dialects), and she continues to be interested in exploring the relationship between institutions, talk, policy, and practice.

Trent Batson

AAEEBL, Sakai

Directing professional association for the ePortfolio community, AAEEBL. Editor of Campus Technology's Web 2.0 newsletter. Research, writing and consulting regarding ePortfolio enterprise strategy.

English professor at Michigan State, George Washington University, Gallaudet University, Carnegie Mellon; academic technology director at Gallaudet and University of Rhode Island. Communications Strategist, Office of Educational Innovation and Technology, MIT. Editor, Campus Technology web 2.0 newsletter. Chair of the Board, The Open Source Portfolio Initiative. Director, Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning.

Patricia E. O'Connor

Modern Language Association, International Society of Language and Social Psychology, Society for the Study of Narrative Literature, Educators for Community Engagement

Patricia E. O'Connor, Ph.D., holds her doctorate in sociolinguistics. At Georgetown University she is an Associate Professor in the Department of English. O'Connor was a member of the Visible Knowledge Project from 2000-2005. She is a former Senior Research Fellow of the Center for Social Justice, and former Associate Director of the Georgetown University Writing Program. For over 20 years she directed GU Prison Outreach Programs. She also has served as faculty advisor for GU students' Demeter Educational Project for Women in Substance Abuse Recovery from 1995-2006. In December 2004 O’Connor was named a Mitsubishi Unsung Heroine for her work in substance abuse treatment centers and prisons.Currently, Dr. O’Connor is researching life stories of those in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse, interviewing those in treatment centers about their experiences of addiction and about their hopes for recovery. O’Connor has been Co-Director of the Georgetown University Service Learning Institute and founding member and chair of the national service faculty Educators for Community Engagement (formerly the Invisible College). Her research on narratives of prisoners explores the language of violence and speakers' claims about those acts. This research directly stems from her 20+ years of teaching and service in the District of Columbia's area prisons and jails. Her publications appear in the Journal of African American Men, Pragmatics, Tex , Discourse &Society, Pre/Text and in several edited volumes. Her book on prison discourse, Speaking of Crime: Narratives of Prisoners (2000), is available from University of Nebraska Press. O'Connor is also co-author of Literacy Behind Prison Walls (1992). On Georgetown’s campus, O'Connor teaches courses in "Theory and Practice of Writing," "Prison Literature," "Narrative Discourse," “Narratives of Violence,” “Working Class Literature,” “Appalachian literature,” “Persuasive Writing,” and first-year English courses in “Critical Methods: Narratology.” She has also taught for Georgetown at its new School of Foreign Service in Qatar (2005-06, 2008).

Lutfi M Hussein

-American Dialect Society, -Linguistic Society of America, -International Pragmatics Association, -Language in the New Capitalism, -Middle East Studies Association, -Modern Language Association, -National Council of Teachers of English

Lutfi M Hussein is Professor of English at Mesa Community College.