Olena (Helen) Aydarova

Interdisciplinary B, Suite 353

1120 S. Cady Mall, Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-1811

olena.aydarova@asu.edu
Cell: 517.802.8905

EDUCATION
PhD, Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education
2015
Michigan State University
Specialization: Comparative and International Education
Dissertation Title: Teacher Education Reform as Political Theater: Modernization Dramas
in the Russian Federation
Committee: Lynn Paine, Michael Sedlak, Avner Segall, Chantal Tetreault
(Anthropology), Alaina Lemon (Anthropology, University of Michigan)
Master of Arts, Linguistics
2005
University of South Carolina
Specialization: Sociolinguistics; Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language
Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature
Odessa National University

2003

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
2015 present
Postdoctoral Scholar, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State
University, Tempe, Arizona
2010 2015
Teaching Assistant, Department of Teacher Education, College of
Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
2007 2010
English Faculty, Emirates College for Advanced Education, Abu Dhabi,
the United Arab Emirates
2005 2007
English Instructor, College of Humanities and Sciences, Northeast Normal
University, Changchun, China
2000 2001
English Teacher, Elementary School Raduga, Odessa, Ukraine
AWARDS
2016
2014
2010
2003

Outstanding Dissertation Award, Division K, American Education Research

Association
CIES Eurasia Special Interest Group Best Graduate Student Paper Award
Honorable Mention, Comparative and International Education Society
International Participation Award, TESOL International
Bachelor Diploma with Honors, Odessa National University, Ukraine

PUBLICATIONS
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Forthcoming Aydarova, O. & Marquardt, S. Re-visiting the global imperative for teacher
education. Special issue of Forum for International Research in Education (FIRE)
on the role of comparative and international education courses in teacher
education curricula edited by Patricia Kubow and Allison Blosser.

Olena (Helen) Aydarova

Forthcoming Aydarova, O. Teachers plight and trainees flight: The perceived, lived, and
conceived spaces of schools. Special issue of Voprosy Obrazovaniya on teacher
recruitment, teacher retention, and teacher policies edited by Gita SteinerKhamsi and Elena Lenskaya.
2015
Aydarova, O. Global discourses and local responses: A dialogic perspective on
educational reforms in the Russian Federation. European Education, 47(4),
331-345.
2015
Aydarova, O. Glories of the Soviet past or dim visions of the future: Teacher
education programs as sites of historical becoming. Anthropology and Education
Quarterly, 46 (2), 147166.
2014
Aydarova, O. Universal principles transform national priorities: Bologna
Process and Russian teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 37(1),
64-75.
2013
Aydarova, O. The Best of the West or Look East: Imported teacher
education curriculum in the Arabian Gulf. Journal of Studies in International
Education, 17 (3), 284-302.
2012
Aydarova, O. Package, seal, and sell: Global flows and transformations in
teacher education. Global Studies Journal, 5(2), 171-182.
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters
Forthcoming Aydarova, O. Pedagogical peep show: The challenges of ethnographic fieldwork
in a post-socialist context. In Silova, I., Sobe, N., Kovalchuk, S., & Korzh, A.,
(eds.), Reimagining utopias: Theory and method for educational research in postsocialist contexts. Sense Publishers.
2016
Paine, L., Blmeke S., & Aydarova, O. Teaching in the context of globalization.
In Gitomer, D. & C. Bell (eds.), The handbook of research on teaching, (5th
edition). American Educational Research Association.
Other Publications
2011
Aydarova, O. Words unspoken, themes untouched. CIES Perspectives, 155.
Comparative and International Education Society Publications.
2011
Aydarova, O. Re-conceptualizing the microteaching simulation from a
sociocultural perspective. Teacher Education Interest Section Newsletter, 25 (1).
TESOL International.
2010
Aydarova, O. & McLaren, P. CamTESOL 2010 Report. Perspectives, 18 (2).
Dubai: TESOL Arabia Publications.
2010
Aydarova, O. Explorations in language learning beliefs. English in learning:
Learning in English: TESOL Arabia 2009 conference proceedings. Dubai: TESOL
Arabia Publications.
WORKS IN PROGRESS
Book Manuscripts
Aydarova, O. (in progress). Teacher education reform as political theater: Modernization dramas in
global neoliberal contexts.
Silova, I., Millei, Z., Aydarova, O., & Piattoeva, N. (eds). (in progress). Memories of (post)socialist
childhood and schooling.

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Olena (Helen) Aydarova

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Aydarova, O. (revise & resubmit). A better life is over there: Divergent chronotopes in
English language teacher education in the Russian Federation. TESOL Quarterly.
Aydarova, O. (revise & resubmit). What truly matters: Discursive contestations over
educational reforms in the United Arab Emirates. Comparative Education Review.
Aydarova, O. (in preparation). Transformations of teacher knowledge and potential directions
of social change: Educational reforms in the Russian Federation. Harvard Education
Review.
Millei, Z., Silova, I., Piattoeva, N., & Aydarova, O. (in progress). The politics of bows: Subject
formation and agency in childhoods under (post)socialism.
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2016
New Scholars Travel Merit Award for Publication Workshop, Comparative and
International Education Society ($400)
2015
Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Graduate School, Michigan State
University ($6000)
2014
Research Development Fellowship, College of Education, Michigan State
University ($3500)
2014-2015
Teacher Education Endowed Fellowship, College of Education, Michigan State
University ($3000)
2014-2015
Alternate for the American Dissertation Fellowship, American Association of
University Women
2013-2014
Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, U.S.
Department of Education ($22100)
2014
Conference Travel Fellowship, Graduate School, Michigan State University
($650)
2013
Summer Research Laboratory on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia Associate,
University of Illinois Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Center ($800)
2013-2014
Alumni Fellowship, College of Education, Michigan State University ($5000)
2013
New Scholars Dissertation Mentoring Workshop Travel Grant, Comparative
and International Education Society 2013 Annual Meeting ($350)
2012-2013
Alumni Fellowship, College of Education, Michigan State University ($5000)
2012
Summer Research Fellowship, College of Education, Michigan State University
($6000)
2012
Research Enhancement Fellowship, College of Education, Michigan State
University ($3000)
2011
LATTICE Fellowship, Michigan State University ($750)
2011
Summer Research Development Fellowship, College of Education, Michigan
State University ($5000)
2002-2003
FREEDOM Support Act Undergraduate Scholarship, Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, administered by IREX ($20,000)
FUNDING APPLICATIONS UNDER CONSIDERATION
2015
American Association of University Women Short-Term Publication Grant
(under review)
2016
Education International Global Response Grant (under review)
2016
George F. Kennan Fellowship, Kennan Institute, Washington, DC (under
review)
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Olena (Helen) Aydarova

PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS
Papers Presented (selected)
2016
Aydarova, O. Down to the foundations to build a new world: Teacher education
reform as political theater. Paper presented at American Educational Research
Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
2016
Goodwin, L., Aydarova, O., Boveda, M., Caldas, B., Hayes, N., Warner, C. Myths
about teacher preparation: Dismantling common misconceptions about our work and our impact.
Dialogue session presented at American Educational Research Association Annual
Meeting, Washington, DC.

2016
2016
2015

2015
2015

2015
2015
2015

2014
2014

2014

Aydarova, O. Global transformations in teacher education: New masters, new agendas,

and new alternatives. Paper presented at Comparative and International
Education Society, Vancouver, BC.
Aydarova, O. Discussant for the panel Taking stock and looking forward: Visual
methods for comparative and international educational research. Comparative and
International Education Society, Vancouver, BC.
Aydarova, O. Teacher education reform as political theater: Modernization dramas in
the Russian Federation. Invited poster presented at the Council of Anthropology
and Education Invited Session, American Anthropological Association Annual
Meeting, Denver, Colorado.
Aydarova, O. The dawn of the new era or the twilight of the old: Contestations over
teacher knowledge in the Russian Federation. Paper presented at the European
Educational Research Association Conference, Budapest, Hungary.
Apol, L., Aydarova, O., Riggs Stapleton, S., & Tirtowalujo, I. Reaching for the
unsayable: Straddling different worlds in conducting difficult research. Paper
presented at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.
Aydarova, O. Teacher education reform as political theater: Modernization dramas in
the Russian Federation. Paper presented at the American Education Research
Association Division K Graduate Student Seminar, Chicago.
Aydarova, O. The old and new masters: Russian teacher education at the crossroads of
social change. Paper presented at the Comparative and International Education
Society Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
Aydarova, O. Teacher education as object, subject, and instrument of social change:
Russian experiments to create a neoliberal subject. Paper presented at the 36th
Annual Ethnography in Education Research Forum, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Aydarova, O. Real fictions and fake truths: Multi-sited ethnography of teacher
education reform in the Russian Federation. Paper presented at the American
Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
Aydarova, O. English for pleasure or English for money? Foreign language teacher
preparation in the Russian Federation. Paper presented at the Association for
Slavic, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies Convention, San Antonio,
Texas.
Aydarova, O. Weaving together strands of becoming: Ideological, historical, social, and
cultural. Paper presented at the 15th International Bakhtin Conference,
Stockholm, Sweden.

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Olena (Helen) Aydarova

2014
2013

2013
2013
2013

2012
2012
2012
2012

2011
2011
2011
2011
2010

2010

Aydarova, O. When global reforms encounter kvass patriotism: Tensions and

contradictions in Russian teacher education. Paper presented at Comparative and
International Education Society 2014 Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada.
Aydarova, O. In search of the Russian soul: Struggles of becoming amidst educational
modernization reforms in the Russian Federation. Paper presented at New Scholars
Dissertation Workshop, Comparative and International Education Society, New
Orleans, Louisiana.
Aydarova, O. "What is good for them may not be good for us": Contesting visions of
quality in Russian educational modernization. Paper presented at the Comparative
and International Education Society, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Aydarova, O. English language teacher education and the global/local nexus in the
Russian Federation. Paper presented at the American Association for Applied
Linguistics 2013 Conference, Dallas, Texas.
Aydarova, O. Glories of the Soviet past or dim visions of the future: Teacher education
programs as sites of historical becoming. Paper presented at the 2013 Annual
SOYUZ Symposium "Authoritarianism and Beyond: Lessons from Postsocialist
Societies," New York, New York.
Aydarova, O. Globalization and teacher education. Paper presented at the Fifth
International Global Studies Conference, Moscow, Russia.
Aydarova, O. Tensions and contradictions of Russian educational reforms. Paper
presented at American Educational Research Association 2012 Annual Meeting,
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Aydarova, O. Global imperative for teacher education re-visited. A roundtable paper
presented at American Educational Research Association 2012 Annual Meeting,
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Roue, B., Aydarova, O., and Kennetz, K. Gendered identities, cultural beliefs, and the
teaching force in the United Arab Emirates. Paper presented at American
Educational Research Association 2012 Annual Meeting, Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada.
Aydarova, O. Educational reforms in the United Arab Emirates: Ideological becoming
through discursive contestations. Paper presented at Comparative and International
Education Society Eastern Regional Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Aydarova, O. Imported teacher education curricula in the United Arab Emirates.
Paper presented at the Comparative and International Education Society Annual
Meeting, Montreal, Canada.
Aydarova, O., Kennetz, K., & Roue, B. Contextualizing genre-based approaches to
writing in a teacher education program. Paper presented at TESOL International
Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Aydarova, O. & Solomon, E. Semantic portrait of a word: A project to develop
vocabulary. Poster presented at TESOL International Convention, New Orleans,
Louisiana.
Glew, M., Aydarova, O., & Yuliantoro, D. Internationalizing teacher education at
Michigan State University: The Global Educators Cohort Program. Paper presented
at Midwest Regional Comparative and International Education Society
Conference, Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Aydarova, O. & Roue, B. Re-visiting subject knowledge courses in teacher education.
Paper presented at the TESOL International Convention, Boston,
Massachusetts.
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Olena (Helen) Aydarova

2010
2010

Aydarova, O. & Roue, B. Subject knowledge courses in teacher education. Paper

presented at TESOL Arabia, Dubai, UAE.
Aydarova, O. & Roue, B. Possible selves in practicum experiences. Paper presented
at TESOL Cambodia, Cambodia.

INVITED TALKS
2016
Aydarova, O. Globalization and Education. Guest lecture for ENG 606 Advanced
Studies in English Education: Youth, Identity, and Education in a Global
Context, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.
2015
Aydarova, O. Teaching English abroad. Guest panelist for Bilingual Education
undergraduate course, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State
University, Tempe, Arizona.
2015
Aydarova, O. Russian teacher education reforms in the context of global educational
transformations. Invited foreign expert address at the All-Russian Conference on
Teacher Education Modernization, Moscow.
2015
Aydarova, O. Teacher education reform as political theater. Guest panelist for
TE923 Comparative Perspectives on Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher
Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.
2014
Aydarova, O. Challenges and contradictions of conducting ethnographic fieldwork in a
post-socialist context. Guest speaker for TE939 Alternative methodologies for
conducting 'difficult' research, Michigan State University, East Lansing,
Michigan.
2014
Aydarova, O. Professional teacher preparation in the United States and liberal arts
education. Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.
2014
Aydarova, O. What you see from the margins: Observations on cultural differences.
Novosibirsk Military Institute, Novosibirsk, Russia.
2014
Aydarova, O. US teacher education: Tensions, contradictions, and current dilemmas.
American Center, Moscow, Russia.
2014
Aydarova, O. Publishing in international journals. American Center, Moscow,
Russia.
2013
Aydarova, O. How to publish a manuscript in an international journal. Herzen State
Pedagogical University, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
2013
Aydarova, O. Second language teacher education in the United States. Herzen State
Pedagogical University, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
2004
Aydarova, O. Ukraine: A Sociolinguistic Portrait. Guest speaker for LING540
Languages and Nationalism, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South
Carolina.
Panels Organized
2015
The paradoxes and complexities of K-12 education for the knowledge economy.
American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO.
2015
Teacher education practices and policies in post-socialist contexts. Comparative and
International Education Society Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
2014
Language policies, issues, and struggles in post-Soviet contexts. Association for Slavic,
Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies Convention, San Antonio, Texas.
2014
Becoming, coming to know, and coming to be: Explorations in theory and educational
practice. The 15th International Bakhtin Conference, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Olena (Helen) Aydarova

Workshops Organized
2016
Internationalizing teacher education: Creating curriculum spaces for global content.
Workshop organized with Sheila Marquardt, Bevin Roue, Rachel Ayieko, and
Amal Ibourk at Comparative and International Education Society Meeting,
Vancouver, BC.
2015
Memories of (post)Soviet /(post)socialist schooling and childhoods. Workshop
organized with Silova, I., Millei, Z. & Piattoeva, N. at Comparative and
International Education Society 2015 Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
2014
Memories of (post)socialist schooling. Workshop organized with Silova, I., Fimyar,
O., Piattoeva, N., Millei, Z. at Comparative and International Education Society
2014 Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Integrating STEM, Literacy, and Language to Prepare All Teachers to Teach English
Language Learners: iTeach ELLs
U.S. Department of Education
Mari Koerner, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, Wendy Kerr, Principal Investigators
Research Team Member, January 2016 present
Arizona State University
The grant pursues four objectives: (1) reform PreK-8th grade teacher preparation to
address the need for highly qualified general and special education teachers for ELLs;
(2) redesign math and science methods courses to include instructional strategies that
promote language and literacy development; (3) redesign course assignments to use
problem-based learning (PBL) pedagogy and design principles supporting teacher
candidates application of knowledge and skills in real world classrooms; and (4)
integrating and understanding evidence-based practices and scientifically-validated
research for teaching and learning of ELLs, including data-driven decision to improve
differentiated instruction.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Graduate Michigan State University
TE808 Inquiry into Classroom Teaching and Learning instructor of record for an online
masters level course on action research for teacher learning and for improving teaching
practices
Undergraduate Arizona State University
BLE408 Structured English Immersion for Linguistically Diverse Students a course that
prepares students in the elementary program work with English language learners in
their classrooms
Undergraduate Michigan State University
TE250 Human Diversity: Inequality, Power, and Opportunity in Social Institutions
instructor of record for the course on the issues of diversity, multicultural education,
and social justice in American schools.
TE301 Learners and Learning in Context: Elementary Literacy instructor of record for
the course on foundations of elementary literacy instruction and assessment
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Olena (Helen) Aydarova

TE302 Learners and Learning in Context: Secondary Literacy instructor of record for the
course on literacy instruction in content areas for secondary pre-service teachers
TE494 Practicum in TESOL course assistant for the course on assessment and
practicum in TESOL. Arranged placements and monitored students progress assisting
teachers in ESL programs in local schools
Undergraduate Emirates College for Advanced Education
Teaching Practicum
English Morphology and Semantics
Genre and Text Analysis
Functional Grammar
Phonetics and Phonology
Academic Reading and Writing
Undergraduate Northeast Normal University
Oral English
Academic English Writing
Business English
OTHER PROFESSINAL EXPERIENCES
2013
Miske Witt and Associates Inc., St. Paul, MN
Research Intern - collected, analyzed, and prepared a report on
international organizations treatment of issues related to child-friendly
schools, gender inequality in education, and the teaching profession
2006-2007

Business Essentials, Changchun, China

Educational Coordinator - organized and conducted professional
development for foreign English language teachers working in Chinese
colleges and universities

2004

University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Graduate Student Assistant - coordinated and organized events in the
cultural immersion program for Fulbright scholars in the US

2003-2005

International Friendship Program, Columbia, SC

ESL Instructor taught English as a volunteer in a program for
immigrants and refugees

INTERNATIONAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL INITIATIVES

2013 2014
Organized an international online undergraduate student research
conference Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century in collaboration
with Minnesota State University, Novosibirsk State Pedagogical
University, and Herzen State Pedagogical University
2012 2013
Organized a semester-long project Cross-Cultural Dialogue:
Sociopolitical Context of Schooling in Russia and in the US for students
at Michigan State University, Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University,
and Herzen State Pedagogical University
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Olena (Helen) Aydarova

LEADERSHIP
2015 present
2010 2012
2009 2010
2008
20062007
2006
20042005
20042005

Comparative and International Education Society Board of Directors

Graduate Student Representative
Coordinator for Constructing Global Communities of Learners a
comparative and international education scholarly community under the
supervision of Dr. Maria Teresa Tatto
Subject Team Leader, Emirates College for Advanced Education, Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Instructional Materials Writing Team Leader, Emirates College for
Advanced Education, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Mentor Teacher, Business Essentials, Changchun, China
Head Teacher, English Summer Camp, Changchun, China
President, International Friendship Student Organization, University of
South Carolina, Columbia, SC
Coordinator, Syntax Reading Group, University of South Carolina,
Columbia, SC

SERVICE
NATIONAL-LEVEL PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
2016
Committee on revising the constitution and by-laws, Comparative and
International Education Society
DEPARTMENT COMMITTEES MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
2012 2013
Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education Chair Advisory Board,
Department of Teacher Education
2012 2013
Global Educators Cohort Curriculum Planning Team, Department of
Teacher Education
2011 2013
Global Educators Cohort Program Faculty Advisory Board, Department
of Teacher Education
2011 2012
Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education Program Steering
Committee, Department of Teacher Education
MANUSCRIPT REVIEWER
American Educational Research Journal
International Journal of Educational Development
Critical Studies in Education
Teaching and Teacher Education
European Education
Global Studies Journal
CONFERENCE SUBMISSIONS REVIEWER
American Educational Research Association Division K
Comparative and International Education Society
TESOL International
MEMBERSHIPS
American Educational Research Association
Comparative and International Education Society
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Olena (Helen) Aydarova

American Anthropological Association
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
American Association for Applied Linguistics
TESOL International
LANGUAGES
Bilingual in English and Russian;
Ukrainian (advanced);
French (intermediate);
Mandarin Chinese, Spanish (beginner)
REFERENCES
Lynn W. Paine (Dissertation Director)
Professor of Teacher Education
Assistant Dean for International Studies
517 Erickson Hall
620 Farm Lane
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517.355.3266
painel@msu.edu
Michael W. Sedlak
Professor of History of Education &
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
College of Education
207 Erickson Hall
620 Farm Lane
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517.432.1260
msedlak@msu.edu
Avner Segall
Associate Professor
Associate Chair of Graduate Studies
Department of Teacher Education
361 Erickson Hall
620 Farm Lane
Michigan State University,
East Lansing, MI 48824
517.432.4874
avner@msu.edu

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