PennTESOL East Board of Directors

Melissa Toomey

President

Melissa Toomey joined the Penn-TESOL East board in 2020. This year, she headed up the PTE Website Committee and assisted with revisions and additions to our community’s website. Further, she is an Assistant Professor of English at Temple University who teaches Composition and Rhetoric as well as Literature courses both to native and non-native speakers of English. She is dedicated to finding new methods of praxis to help international students succeed and thrive at the University. Her current project includes using technology and digitality as a substantive and pragmatic genre to help forge the path to meaningful language learning for ELL students. 

Bill Albertson

Vice President 

Bill Albertson joined the PTE Board in January 2022. He is a faculty member at the Drexel University English Language Center where he teaches various ESL courses at all levels as well as introductory courses in Linguistics. Bill is passionate about bridging academic life at the English Language Center with that of the university at large, often running courses with components that involve English language students and domestic students working together on projects related to communication and culture

Leslie Kirshner-Morris

Secretary

Leslie Kirshner-Morris currently teaches at Community College of Philadelphia. Her years of experience with the School District of Philadelphia have given her a unique perspective on the needs of English Learners K-12+. She is focused on supporting students to bridge a successful transition from high school to college and career readiness. Her lifelong passion for getting to know her students has led to her deep commitment to TESOL ADVOCACY both in the United States and abroad. 

Harrington "Kit" Crissey 

Treasurer & Publisher Liaison

Harrington E. Crissey, Jr., has been a member of PennTESOL-East since its inception in 1981 and a board member for well over the past twenty years. He has taught ESL to adults for forty-six years but has been retired from full-time teaching since February, 2013. He worked for adjunct programs at Temple University, the Nationalities Service Center, Arcadia University and Saint Joseph's University and now does part-time teaching and substitution work for various institutions. 

Holli Goldenberg

Past President

Holli Goldenberg joined the Penn-TESOL East board in 2017 as a board member and became Vice President in 2019. She is an English as a Second Language teacher at Woodrow Wilson Middle School within The School District of Philadelphia. Holli is excited about connecting with fellow educators and helping to advance the learning of Philadelphia area ELs. During her tenure on the board, she has helped to plan and facilitate multiple large scale conferences. She thrives in the areas of logistical planning as well as communication. Holli enjoys taking improv classes as well as trying new restaurants in the Philadelphia area. 

Rob Sheppard

Member-at-Large

Rob Sheppard joined the PennTESOL-East board in 2019. Rob has been in English language teaching in various contexts for 15 years and currently serves as assistant director for curriculum and instruction at the Center for American Language and Culture at Temple University. His work focuses mainly on curriculum development in adult education, and his recent writing has focused on interculturality, advocacy, and program design in adult ESOL. He founded Ginseng English, an online English school, in 2016. Apart from his work, Rob loves hiking, traveling, reading, and live music. 

Dr. Roger Gee

Membership Committee Chair

Roger W. Gee is the PennTESOL-East membership chair. He has been involved with PTE for nearly 40 years in a variety of board positions, including President. He is a Professor at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, where he is the Program Coordinator of the TESOL and Literacy Program. His professional interests include second language vocabulary and the use of corpora in teacher education. In his free time, he enjoys reading Latin American literature, skiing, and riding his new bike. And playing with his (almost) two-year old granddaughter!

Larissa Goulart

Member-at-Large   

Larissa Goulart joined the Penn-TESOL East board in 2022. Larissa worked as an English Language Teacher for 9 years before joining Montclair State University as an Assistant Professor of Linguistics. Her work focuses mainly on L1 and L2 undergraduate writing and the applications of corpus linguistics tools to the development of pedagogical materials for the English as a Foreign/Second language classroom. Apart from her work Larissa enjoys knitting, traveling and playing board games.

Muhammed Khan

Member-at-Large   

Muhammad Khan has been a member of PennTESOL since 2014 and he joined as a board member in 2019. As a board member, he led the first virtual International Conference. Thereafter, he instituted professional development programs, which invited interest from educators globally. He was selected by the U.S. Department of State for the prestigious Virtual English Language Educator Program. He was also the Featured Virtual Educator for 2022-2023. He is a full-time professor at the Community College of Philadelphia. He has a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Lancaster University, UK. Additionally, he is the recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholar Program (2013-2014). With over 25 years of experience as a teacher educator, his interests include corpus linguistics in teaching ESL, the development of professional peer-to-peer networks and language education programs.

Valeri Harteg
Member-at-Large

Valeri Harteg joined the Penn-TESOL East board in 2023. Valeri worked as an English language teacher in both Guatemala and the US before moving into the role of Education Program Manager at HIAS Pennsylvania, a Philly-based non-profit that provides refugee resettlement and immigration legal services. During her 7 years with HIAS PA, Valeri coordinated and often taught English language classes for newly arrived refugee adults and children and chaired a collaborative group of representatives from community-based organizations and the School District of Philadelphia that focused on school to family communication and advocacy. While she now works in language access in Berks County, she remains connected to the refugee-serving community in Philadelphia. Apart from her work, Valeri enjoys running, reading, drinking good coffee, and spending time with her husband, son, and loveable cat, Simba.

Ann Feldman

Member-at-Large

Ann Feldman has just joined PennTESOL East after having made a move back to the US after living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico for five years. She has had twelve years’ experience as English Language Learner director for Milford and Waltham Public Schools in Massachusetts as well as logging time as Director of Supplemental Services/Instructional Support Specialist for Boston Public Schools’ Office of English Language Learners. Her work encompassed developing a district dual language learning school, overseeing programming and compliance in district schools, mentoring teachers, and creating successful family outreach initiatives. For three years leading up to her international move, she worked as the Director of Professional Learning for TESOL’s international affiliate in Massachusetts (MATSOL). In that capacity she developed and taught courses focusing on supporting English learners for state teachers and administrators. She was a longstanding member of MATSOL’s Board of Directors and organized and facilitated MATSOL’s Massachusetts English Learner Leadership Council (MELLC) for many years. She looks forward to continuing her work in this field in the state of Pennsylvania. Her hobbies include studying jazz piano, watercolor painting and choral singing.