Professor Habibah Ashari, PhD
Universiti Teknologi Mara
Malaysia
Habibah Ashari is currently a Professor of Education at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, Selangor. She has held several important posts at UiTM, namely as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for iLQAM (Institute for Leadership and Quality Management) and Director of INTEC (International Education College). Whilst at ILQAM, she was heavily involved in leadership and talent management training for the academic staff of UiTM. And at INTEC, her duties were primarily focussed on preparing government-sponsored students for studies abroad.
Habibah Ashari was also appointed the 14th Distinguished Tun Abdul Razak Chair at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio in 2011. She is the first professor from UiTM to hold this distinguished position, and is only the second woman chair-holder in its more than thirty years in existence. The Tun Abdul Razak endowed chair in Southeast Asian Studies was established in 1981, and is the first endowed chair established by a foreign government at any North American university. Habibah served a full three-year term until 2014.
She holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction and an MA in Applied Linguistics from Indiana University, and graduated from University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, with an honors degree in English and Chinese Studies. Habibah’s research interests are in TESL, higher education, adult education, and teacher education.
Habibah is a Certified Yoga Teacher (CYT), and currently teaches yoga to the UiTM’s Women’s Association. She is also a co-author of two cookbooks, Nostalgia Medan Selera and Medan Selera Odyssey.
Dr. John Poulsen
University of Lethbridge
Canada
John Poulsen (Ph. D. University of Calgary, MA University of London, England) is an Associate Professor at the University of Lethbridge in the Faculty of Education. His book titled: Shakespeare! for Readers’ Theatre, abridged and adapted Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet as well as Midsummer Night’s Dream into a readers’ theatre format. The second, that abridged and adapted King Lear, Richard III, Othello, and The Merry Wives of Windsor, was published in the fall of 2016. Both books are available through fiveriverspublishing.com.