Dear everyone,

I am delighted to have this opportunity to introduce our ICIS team to you!

Our chair for this year is Heidi Faust, an associate director of TESOL Professional Training Programs at University of Maryland Baltimore County, and our chair-elect is Maxi-Ann Campbell, who currently holds a position as a global academic fellow at New York University Shanghai, in Pudongxin District, Shanghai, China. Both Heidi and Maxi-Ann are dedicated educators and inspirational leaders who are committed to furthering intercultural understanding through their work and community engagement. We look forward to their participation in ICIS community leadership and development.

We sadly say good-bye to Austin Pack, our former community manager. Austin has been a wonderful team member to us and contributed greatly to the development of ICIS community. Now, as he steps down from his position to focus on other aspects of his life, we warmly welcome Sarah Adams as our new community manager. While studying for an MA in literature at the University of Delaware, Sarah began teaching and tutoring ESL students as a graduate instructor, and she found she loved these students so much that she quickly changed fields, studied Chinese, and moved China. She then studied for an MA in TESOL at the School for International Training, in Brattleboro, Vermont, and has most recently been teaching courses in intercultural communications and leading a weekly gender issues discussion group at Shantou University, in Guangdong province, China.

This newsletter has been co-edited by our two editors, Natalia Balyasnikova and Patriann Smith, two scholars interested in language and literacy with a focus on multilingualism and intercultural communication. Patriann, teaches courses in reading and literacy in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Please watch a short interview with Patriann here. Natalia is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia (UBC), in Vancouver, Canada. Through her research Natalia examines how adult immigrant learners experience intercultural communication as they acquire a new language. In addition to her research projects, Natalia works with seniors who take classes at UBC Learning Exchange, a volunteer-run ESL program in Vancouver.

Our ICIS team is here to listen to you, our community, help our community grow and we appreciate your continued support.

Natalia Balyasnikova

Natalia Balyasnikova is a doctoral student in language and literacy education at the University of British Columbia, in beautiful Vancouver, Canada. Originally from Russia, Natalia moved to Canada in 2013 to pursue her degree in TESL with a focus on intercultural communication. Natalia writes about her life as a graduate student and a newcomer to Canada in her blog: https://balyasnikova.wordpress.com/.