GSC Steering Committee

Laxmi Prasad Ojha

Co-chair (GSC representative on EC & FFAL)

Laxmi is a PhD student in Curriculum Instruction and Teacher Education at Michigan State University. His prior experiences include working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Minnesota State University, Mankato, Lecturer at Department of English Education, Tribhuvan University, Nepal and teaching in K-12 contexts in Nepal. Laxmi also served Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association (NELTA) as secretary, membership secretary and member. His research interests include multilingualism, language ideologies, bilingual education, language policy, TESOL, and teacher education. His current projects include investigating family language policy and identity in transnational families, teacher agency in language policy appropriation, and social media as a site for youth activism and promotion of minoritized language and culture in multilingual contexts. As a co-chair on the GSC steering committee, Laxmi's responsibilities include co-planning and co-leading Steering Committee meetings, overseeing the graduate student events at the AAAL conference, collaborating with the AAAL conference planning committee, and attend AAAL conference and business meetings. He can be reached at ojhalaxm@msu.edu.

Svetlana Koltovskaia

Co-chair (GSC representative on PAEC)

Svetlana Koltovskaia is a Ph.D. candidate in TESOL and Applied Linguistics at Oklahoma State University (OSU). Her research interests include computer-assisted language learning, L2 writing, and intercultural pragmatics. Svetlana has held several administrative and leadership positions both at International Composition Program (ICP) and Writing Center (WC) throughout her studies at OSU. She has been an Assistant Director of the ICP, Vice President of TESLing Student Organization, Program Chair of TESOL & Applied Linguistics Spring Forum as well as WC Multilingual Specialist, WC Online Supervisor, and WC Multilingual Students Inquiry Group Co-leader. Apart from that, Svetlana also teaches graduate and undergraduate courses to domestic and international students, including Grammar (ENGL 4013), Technical Writing (ENGL 3323), Research Writing for International Graduate Students (ENGL 5695), and Composition II (ENGL 1223).  Svetlana is a former Fulbright FLTA who taught Russian at Marshall University, West Virginia. Svetlana holds M.A. in TESOL from Central Michigan University and M.A. and B.A. in Foreign Languages and Literature from Mirny Polytechnic Institute (Yakutia, Russia). She can be reached at skoltov@okstate.edu.

Xiao Tan

Secretary  (GSC representative on FFAL & Diversity Sub-Committee Leader)

Xiao Tan is a PhD candidate in Writing, Rhetorics, and Literacies at Arizona State University. She has taught writing in a number of contexts, including as a graduate teaching assistant at ASU, a part-time instructor at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and an intern at United Nations Office at Geneva. She also serves as the Assistant Director of the Second Language Writing program at ASU and the Chair of Research Support Committee at WAC Graduate Organization. Her current research interests include multimodal writing, second language writing and teacher education. Her dissertation project is designed to help L2 students develop academic language and literacy through multimodal projects. As secretary of the GSC, Xiao’s jobs involve facilitating GSC meetings, co-planning conferences and events, and leading the Diversity Subcommittee. In her leisure time, Xiao enjoys painting and running. Her email address is xtan42@asu.edu.

Lupe Rincon-Mendoza

Member-at-large  (Event Planning Sub-Committee Leader)

Lupe Rincon-Mendoza is a PhD candidate in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the Pennsylvania State University. Her previous professional experience is working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at California State University, San Bernardino, and as Lecturer at the University of La Verne. At Penn State, she assists in the dissemination of scholarship in conjunction with the Migration Studies Project, and also teaches in the ESL writing program. Lupe has also held various service roles, which include being a member of the Graduate Alliance for Diversity and Inclusion (GADI), and in graduate-student led search committees for the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Her research interests include academic socialization, sociolinguistics, and sociocultural theory. Her dissertation focuses on determining how interactions shape how graduate students in the Humanities are socialized into their profession, and how they use language to think collectively with others in seminar and extra-curricular professional development activities. She can be reached at gzr28@psu.edu.

Nathan Thomas

Member-at-large  (Newsletter Sub-Committee Leader)

Nathan Thomas is a PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics and a postgraduate teaching assistant in TESOL at the UCL Institute of Education. He also works on several funded research projects within the institute and as a Course Tutor in Applied Linguistics for Language Teaching at the University of Oxford. His research interests are wide ranging but current projects mainly relate to language learning strategies, self/other-regulation, and English medium instruction. He has published on these and other topics in leading academic journals such as Applied Linguistics, Applied Linguistics Review, ELT Journal, Journal of Second Language Writing, Language Teaching, System, TESOL Journal, and TESOL Quarterly. He is also a regular reviewer for these and other top journals in the field as well as a frequent conference presenter, having given more than 50 presentations in 14 countries around the world. Before moving to the UK for his doctoral studies, Nathan completed an MSc Teaching English Language in University Settings, MEd International Teaching, MA Applied Linguistics, BA English, and various teaching certifications, all while working full time for 10+ years in China and Thailand. He considers this practical experience crucial for guiding his scholarly work.

Oksana Moroz

Member-at-large (Social Media Sub-Committee Leader)

Oksana Moroz is a Mama PhD Candidate and Teaching Associate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania; she is a Ukrainian international student in the Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD program. Her research interests include gender and teacher identity, digital identities of students, issues of accents and language ideologies, and teaching with Wikipedia. Oksana was a Muskie Intern and Fulbright scholar from Ukraine interning at Intensive English Communication Program at Penn State University. She is also interested in gender identity performance and culturally relevant pedagogies. Oksana’s professional expertise include teaching Composition I and Composition II courses, English as International Language to multilingual students, Grammar courses to international students and private tutoring classes. She has experience as a social media manager working for Tribal DDB in Kyiv, Ukraine. She can be reached at o.moroz@iup.edu.