Soontira Sutanont is a lead visual designer in the Center for Teaching Innovation. She works with collaboratively with the media team and colleagues across the CTI to develop sophisticated graphic designs that enhance the visual identity of projects & programs while creating a unified brand through which to promote our services. She comes to us with over 20 years of experience in design and marketing, including 7 years at other units across Cornell. Originally from Bangkok, Thailand, Soontira has lived in Indiana, Arizona, Texas, Germany, and Ithaca. She holds an MFA in graphic design from Indiana University.

Dr. Jayasri Srinivasan is an Instructor with the International Teaching Assistant Program (ITAP) at the Center for Teaching Innovation. In addition to teaching ALS 5780, she conducts assessments with the ITAP team. Jayasri holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Botany and Zoology from Bangalore University, a master’s degree in Life Sciences from the National Center for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India and a doctorate in Pharmacology from Cornell University. In addition to a postdoctoral stint at Cornell, she has also taught a lecture and several laboratory courses at Ithaca College, and an English as a second language (ESL) course at Tompkins County Community College (TC3).  In addition to her academic interests, Jayasri volunteered as a mental-health counselor for the Empathy, Assistance and Referral Services (EARS) peer counseling program at Cornell for several years and enjoys learning new languages.

Carolyn Keller is a communications strategist in the Center for Teaching Innovation. She works collaboratively with her CTI colleagues to create a storytelling culture at CTI, and to promote CTI’s innovative teaching & learning projects and practices with the broader Cornell community. Before joining CTI, Carolyn taught English and creative writing at Binghamton University, and English for Speakers of Other Languages at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. She has a PhD in English from Binghamton University, and a M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, and loves to write and travel.

Jolene Dieffenbach provides executive support and communication assistance for the Center for Teaching Innovation. She joined Cornell University following nine years in the financial services industry, where her focus was on business development, community engagement, customer service, project management, and schedule coordination.  She holds an associate degree in humanities and social sciences from Corning Community College, and a bachelor of science degree in organizational management from Keuka College.

Mia is the event specialist in the Center for Teaching innovation. She assists in planning and coordinating all the logistical elements of meetings, workshops, conferences, and functions. Mia previously worked in Cornell’s Alumni Affairs and Development on their event management team, which managed VIP-level events. She interfaced and directed events for then-first lady Hillary Clinton, Desmond Tutu, and Janet Reno to name a few. She also helped plan and coordinate presidential events, as well as annual on-campus alumni events. After she left Cornell to raise her family, she created and ran a very successful childcare business for 16 years. She received her associate’s degree in early childhood from Champlain College and her bachelor’s in health education from Ithaca College. 

Leslie Williams provides support for the Center for Teaching Innovation initiatives, including faculty programming, GET SET programming for graduate students, future educators, and teaching assistants and the International Teaching Assistant Program. She holds an associate degree in liberal arts, social science from Tompkins Cortland Community College, a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a clinical concentration from Ithaca College and a master’s degree in business administration from LeTourneau University. Prior to joining the center, Leslie worked for the Advocacy Center, formerly known as the Task Force for Battered Women/Child Sexual Abuse Project. While there, she served as director and instructor for domestic violence education. 

Kelly Chan is the manager of the Creative Technology Lab.  In this role, he assists instructors in integrating technology with their teaching and oversees the student Creative Technologists. Before joining the Center, he worked with Cornell Information Technology in the instructional labs group operating closely with the CU Library, then with the course technologies team in Academic Technologies. Kelly is originally from the Boston area and came to Ithaca to earn his bachelor’s degree from Cornell. He has been here ever since. 

Lisa Sanfilippo is a teaching support specialist who works with courses in the College of Arts & Sciences on the Active Learning Initiative (ALI). She surveys students, organizes small group discussions about their learning, and observes in the classroom in order to understand the student experience as courses transition to a model that incorporates research-based and innovative teaching methods. She works closely with instructors, providing them with student feedback and assessment support as they undertake these changes. Before joining ALI, Lisa worked for Cornell assessing the service needs of military families. In the years prior, she worked as a data analyst and archivist at the Chapin Hall Center for Children, a children’s policy research center at the University of Chicago. Lisa holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in sociology from SUNY Buffalo. 

Jody Gabler is an Instructor with the International Teaching Assistant Program (ITAP) at the Center for Teaching Innovation. She specializes in teaching oral English communication and pronunciation and enjoys working with multilingual graduate students in ALS-5780 and ALS-5790. She also conducts English Language Assessments with the ITAP team. Jody has more than 15 years of English language teaching experience and has held teaching positions at Georgetown University, Tompkins Cortland Community College, Minnesota Literacy Council, and the International Language Institute in Washington, DC. She was the lead teacher for the Summer Program for English and Culture within Cornell’s Master of Engineering program and worked as a pronunciation tutor in Cornell’s English Language Support Office. Jody holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota and a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from American University in Washington, DC.

Radmila Veshcherevich is an instructor with the International Teaching Assistant Program (ITAP) at the Center for Teaching Innovation. In addition to teaching ALS 5780, she conducts assessment with the ITAP team. Mila has twenty years of college teaching experience and has taught English grammar, speaking, writing, and Russian at Cornell, Ithaca College, Elmira College, Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3), and SUNY-Cortland. Mila holds an M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Linguistics from Novosibirsk State University.