Before coming to CIE I founded a non-profit organization, the Pentok Institute, to promote quality education for Tibetan girls. Together with my team, we raised millions in grants for the programs. We worked closely with ten public schools and 7,000 children in the communities. We provided “culturally relevant curriculum” and teaching practice via several programs during summer and winter holidays.

In 2022 Jacob became the Program Assistant Director with The Partnership for Worker Education (PWE), Office of Human Resources at UMass Amherst. In July 2023 he became the Director of PWE - a collaboration among UMass HR and the staff unions (AFSCME, USA, PSU) providing services for the roughly 4,500 UMass Amherst staff members.

My research interests focus on the relationship between online learning and culture, with the goal of developing effective instructional design practices to meet the needs of diverse learners.

Dr. Pempho Chinkondenji’s research focuses on school (re)integration of student mothers, pregnancy-related education policies, and the relationship between gender, education, and development in Southern Africa. With emphasis on African and African diaspora populations in primary, secondary, and higher education contexts, Pempho’s scholarship draws from interdisciplinary fields to address structural inequalities within educational policies and practices.

Ben is currently an Instructor in Political Science at Vassar College. His interdisciplinary scholarship draws from Black Studies, river and wetland ecologies, and critical cartographic methods. Through archival study and place-based approaches to research, his current project works towards disrupting disciplined climate change education through methodological deciphering of flooding and ongoing catastrophe.

He is interested in practices located materially outside or outdoors, in aesthetic engagement with affective elements that enliven what is put on the page. 

I am originally from Aceh, the most western part of Indonesia. I started my career as a volunteer at a local NGO, where I was involved in humanitarian assistance and an alternative education program for children affected by 30 years of armed conflict. Later, I joined the Henry Dunant Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, where I was involved in facilitating the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (2002–2003). My interest in working in the education and peacebuilding fields stemmed from those experiences.

Javid completed his degree in International Education at UMass Amherst in February 2023. His dissertation was titled, Accreditation of Teaching and Research Universities in Afghanistan: A Policy Implementation Analysis. The dissertation analyzes the historical development of quality assurance and accreditation systems in Afghanistan and some developing countries. During his doctoral program, Javid published four articles in peer-reviewed journal articles, an encyclopedia entry, and a media review.

Dr. Mariam Rashid is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research focuses on global refugee resettlement policies and practices, coloniality of displacement, and issues related to statelessness, nativity, and indigeneity within minority peoples of East Africa. Her work also critically engages with the discourse of diversity and inclusivity within higher education institutions.