Faculty and Staff

Administration

Carol Olausen (MA), Director, ACE

Carol Olausen's career in education involves over 18 years of teaching experience emphasizing project-based inquiry and experiential learning, with the past 7 years spent working with college-bound adults in the field of ESL as both an instructor and administrator. Her research interests include crisis management and related support programming for international students, as well as examining models for effective and authentic cross-cultural integration and communication as a means of fostering globalization and cultural competency.

Office: Bachelor Hall 162C.
Email: olauseca@MiamiOH.edu
Phone: 513-529-8528

Eun Chong Yang (Ed. D), Associate Director

Eun Chong Yang earned a master’s degree in Multicultural Literature for Children, Xavier University, and a doctoral degree in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), University of Cincinnati (UC). For 14 years at UC and from 2014 at Miami University, she has assisted visiting scholars, international instructors and teaching assistants, and ESL college students and immigrants with language acquisition, cultural adjustments, and teaching strategies. Her expertise includes curriculum development, assessment, and teacher training in ESL. With a specific focus on intersubjectivity and ethnomethodological conversation analysis, her research interests include second language assessment, negotiation/expectation/interpretation in proficiency interviews, and examiner training.

Office: Bachelor Hall 162D.
Email: yange2@MiamiOH.edu

Instructional Faculty

Talk to your ACE instructors if you are having difficulties with your academic work—they will be glad to help you! If you are having personal difficulties, then you can certainly ask them for advice, too, and they can direct you to the appropriate support services on campus.

Jessica Downey (PhD), Assistant Teaching Professor, ACE

Jessica Downey is Assistant Teaching Professor in the American Culture and English program, where she has worked since 2011. She holds a B.A. in German Studies and Spanish Language & Literature, an. M.A. in Literacy & Second Language Studies (Adult TESOL), and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership (Thesis: Advancements in teaching languages interculturally: A global analysis of scholarly impacts upon contemporary intercultural language learning and teaching).

Dr. Downey has given numerous presentations at flagship conferences, worked as a business translator and medical interpreter, and collaborated for over a decade with professors of cross-cultural psychology to develop interdisciplinary programming that cultivates cultural and linguistic competencies among all students. She loves to learn new languages, is familiar with dozens of international and intranational cultures, and is actively researching language teacher ideologies, transcultural pedagogies, and multilingual intergroup relations.

Office: Bachelor Hall 160H.
Email: jessica.downey@MiamiOH.edu

Ebru Dirsel-Duffield (Ed.D), Associate Teaching Professor, ACE

Ebru Dirsel-Duffield earned her doctoral degree in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) at the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include ESL teacher education, non-native English speakers, second language acquisition, and cross-cultural adaptation.

Office: Bachelor Hall 162A.
Email: duffieed@MiamiOH.edu

Irena Kola (PhD), Associate Teaching Professor, ACE

Irena joined ACE in 2013, after over 15 years of teaching extensively in the area of EFL/ESL communication for graduate and undergraduate students. Her teaching philosophy stems from the belief that students perform best when they are trusted with challenging projects and study in an inclusive environment that stimulates free, yet respectful exchange of ideas. Irenas research interests focus on Second Language Writing, Second Language & pedagogies, and cultural communication, with a focus on the integration of international students in the US academic culture and their representation in the media. She pursued her graduate work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she completed her MA in TESL and her PhD in Educational Policy Studies, specializing in the Internationalization of Higher Education and how it has promoted English as a lingua franca.

Office: Bachelor Hall 160D.
Email: kolai@MiamiOH.edu