Executive Board

2023-2024
NYS TESOL Executive Board

Shawwna Sweet is honored to serve as the 2024 President of NYS TESOL.  She has previously served as NYS Regional Co-Chair for Buffalo-Rochester Region and VP of Finance.  Shawnna works as the Director of Multilingual Education for the Greece Central School District.  This role allows her to serve the district in the areas she is most passionate about: English as a New Language, World Languages, and Bilingual Education, along with Translation and Interpretation Services.

She began her career in education as an ESOL teacher in Greece, where she taught students in grades K-12, Adult ESOL and GED.  Additionally, she spent ten years as an adjunct faculty member at Nazareth College, working with graduate students in the TESOL and International TESOL programs.

Prior to returning to Greece Central in 2022, Shawnna served as a specialist with the Mid-West RBERN at Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES, where she worked closely with NYSED's Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages and local school districts to support multilingual learners.  She currently serves on the NYSED World Language Content Advisory Panel, NYSED Seal of Biliteracy Task Force, and NYSED ELL Graducation Task Force.                                         

She holds a B.A. in English with a minor in Secondary Education from St. John Fisher College, and M.S. in TESOL from Nazareth College, and Advanced Certificates in School Building and District Leadership from the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester.        

Contact Shawnna at pres@nystesol.org

Dr. Christine E. Seebach, a native New Yorker and staunch multilingualism advocate, with 26 years in the field of education. Her tenure spans New York City and suburban K-12 districts, and colleges, where she excelled as a teacher, professor, and linguist. Specializing in high school Spanish and elementary and adult ESL, she’s empowered learners at all levels. Dr. Seebach’s global engagement includes an internship in Caracas, Venezuela, and studies at the Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. She volunteers with the TESOL International Association. She’s been President of NYS TESOL, and is a board member of the New York State Council of Educational Associations (NYSCEA). Academically, she holds a Bachelor’s in Spanish Secondary Education, a Master’s in TESOL K-12, post Master’s certificate in School Building and District Leadership, and a Doctorate in Education. Committed to enhancing education with ease, empathy, equity, excellence, empowerment, enrichment, and enjoyment, Dr. Seebach’s mantra guides her work.

Contact Christine at pastpresident@nystesol.org

Christine Passarelli graduated from CUNY Hunter College with a BA in Elementary Education and Language Arts.  She started her career teaching in East Harlem, NY in 2003.  She currently teaches at PS22 in Staten Island, NY. At the very start of her time in the classroom, it became evident to her that the school system was filled with diverse students from various linguistic and ethnic backgrounds.  She knew from the very first time that she stepped into a classroom that she was meant to become an educator of English Language Learners.  She continued her studies at CUNY Hunter College and obtained an MA in TESOL Education.   

Contact Christine at vpadvocacy@nystesol.org.

Nicole Bell is Coordinator at Mid-West Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network, which serves English language learners and bilingual education programs in New York state. Previously, she was a professional development specialist at Mid-West RBERN. Nicole has classroom experience both as a music educator and English as a New language teacher. Nicole is very committed to family engagement practices with multilingual learners and their families. She continues to spend her summers working with the Oswego Migrant Education summer program as lead teacher/program coordinator.  Additionally, her interest areas include culturally responsive teaching, bilingual techniques in the classroom, the Latinx student experience, and migrant education. Nicole is a lifelong learner with an undergraduate and master's degree from Nazareth University and is currently pursuing her Ed. D. in the leadership for diverse learning communities program at Molloy University, where her dissertation is focused on equitable family engagement of Latinx students. Nicole loves ALL things conferences and is excited to be a part of the planning for the next few years. 

Contact Nicole at vpconference-elect@nystesol.org

Dr. Hyunjin Jinna Kim is a Postdoctoral Associate at Stony Brook University. She previously taught English as a Foreign Language in South Korea for three years in a K-5 setting. She also taught English as a Second Language, academic composition, multicultural education, teaching methods and assessment, and teacher preparation practicum in higher education for five years.
Jinna earned her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Ewha Womans University in South Korea. She received her MA in TESL from Penn State University and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an ESOL and Bilingual Education specialization from the University of Florida.

Contact Hyunjin at vpfinance@nystesol.org

Sandra Vargas-Ortega has been an educator for over 17 years throughout New York City and Puerto Rico. Dr. Vargas-Ortega holds a Ph.D.  in Second Language Acquisition Research, a MA in TESOL, a BA in Early Childhood Education and an AS in Computer Science.  She has been privileged to work with students, teachers, and administrators in a variety of different settings.  In her current capacity as an English as a New Language Teacher/ coordinator,  she serves students and families of diverse cultural backgrounds, implements ENL programming,  modifies and adapts curriculum, and manages compliance data.  

Contact Sandra at  vpcommunications@nystesol.org

Graduating from the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) with a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration, Dr. Song is currently an Associate Professor of TESOL and a proven effective professional in the field of applied linguistics with an aggressive research agenda of language teaching. In addition to his teaching role as an Associate Professor of the graduate TESOL program at Nazareth University, he has also served as Executive Director of the English Language Institute and Director of International Recruitment. Prior to his role at Nazareth University, he worked in Salsbury University (MD) as a TESOL faculty and Founding Director of the English Language Institute. Apart from university faculty and administrator roles, Sam also had 10 years of working for a non profit organization (International Council for Education Development) based in Twin Cities, MN. With ICED, he was President chiefly responsible for designing and organizing conferences for international teacher educators.

Contact Sam at vpmembership@nystesol.org

Christian Perticone is the Center Director for ELS in Manhattan. Formerly, he was the Director of Language Programs at MSCT, a nonprofit that serves the South Brooklyn community. He also served as the Chairperson of the Language Studies Department in one of Manhattan’s largest college ESL programs. He entered this field when he taught EFL in Madrid, Spain. He earned his TESOL Certification at Teachers College, his MFA from Arizona State University, his BA from the University of Rochester, and he is currently studying Project Management and Nonprofit Management with the Harvard Extension School. He has presented on the intersectionality of Hip Hop and pedagogical practices, and he is interested in better approaches to leadership and administration. He has presented at several conferences, including the Annual HipHopEx Conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Reimagining Education Summer Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University, and several NYS TESOL Conferences. 

Contact Christian at vpoutreach@nystesol.org