Director

Professor Najoua K. Hotard, Ph.D.

President Professor Najoua Hotard, the institute director, is a native of Tunisia. She completed her graduate studies at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Tunis, University of New Orleans, and Louisiana State University. She conducted her doctoral research in the area of International Relations/Middle Eastern Studies, French Literature, and Business. She started the French Advanced Language and Literature of the College Board Advanced Placement program in High Need Schools (inner city of Baton Rouge) in 1993. Professor Hotard taught the College Board Advanced Placement French Language and Literature as well as Arabic Honors classes. She is currently the adjunct professor in charge of the Arabic program at Tulane University. Dr. Hotard is one of the national readers for ETS who grades advanced literature essays. She is also the Arabic adjunct professor at Tulane University in New Orleans. As a highly qualified professional, Najoua Hotard served the local public school system in many capacities. She served on the committees, which developed grades, 9-12 foreign language curriculums, and she also worked on the LA State Foreign Language Standards and Benchmarks. Professor Hotard developed the Arabic language curriculum for the public school systems in Louisiana. She served as a Diversity trainer for the Office of Strategic Initiatives at LSU. She works closely with Teach Baton Rouge Summer Institute as a Teacher Advisor, Content Seminar Leader, and co-Director. The institute trains professionals from the community to teach in high need/inner city schools. Najoua Hotard's work as an interpreter and translator with the Military Intelligence and U.S. Department Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program allows her to bring community resources to students. Dr. Hotard is a National Endowment for the Humanities Scholar (Writing Africa: Comparative African and European Palavers and Perspectives, summer 2004), and one of the recipients of National Geographic Grant for a project entitled "Strengths in Diversity." She presents workshops in different school districts around the United States dealing with diversity issues in the classroom and workplace. Her presentations in professional foreign language organizations deal with innovative and effective methods to teach foreign languages which address various learning styles. Dr. Hotard has been a major advocate for Equity Education Program implemented by the College Board. She has been one of their speakers at the yearly Equity Conferences.

Co-Director and Lecturer

    A professional artist for over 25 years, Troy Hotard describes himself as a Post-Modern Renaissance artist because he has mastered a wide variety of media and techniques. These include everything from, oil paint, watercolors, and mixed media to graphite, stained glass, and bronze casting. Troy Hotard can also work in various styles ranging from photorealistic to impressionist to total abstraction. Recently, Troy has concentrated on his main passion: Scuba Diving. Through this new genre artwork, he hopes to raise awareness and educate the public about the beauty and fragile nature of the ocean's coral reef systems, and the sheer wonder of discovery through scuba diving. To him, the ocean represents the last frontier to be explored and protected. Troy Hotard is bringing a representation of this modern vanishing wilderness to the general public. He is a passionate supporter of several organizations that seek to protect the world's reefs and marine ecosystems, such as the Reef Check Foundation, Dive for the Cure, and Save the Manta. It is Troy's hope that his donations of original paintings to these organizations will help raise awareness regarding the vulnerability of the world's reefs as well as stressing the urgency of safeguarding the underwater world, which is crucial to our own survival.

    As an educator, Troy Hotard is an Artist in Residence for the East Baton Rouge Parish Gifted and Talented Program. For the last 7 years, Troy's innovative approach to art education has earned him the College Board Sponsored Katrina Scholarship and certification in Teaching Advanced Placement Art History at the Art College in Chicago. His method incorporates higher order thinking skills implemented by his design of unique interdisciplinary units. His travels throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, North Africa, the Middle East and the Far East has afforded him the possibility to assemble a unique slide collection that enhances his lectures and presentations. Many examples of his work can be seen in his hometown of Port Allen, Louisiana where he designed the logo for the West Baton Rouge Parish Recreation Department as well as logos for several other local businesses, including numerous public murals. The West Baton Rouge Parish Library and the West Baton Rouge Parish Museum both house permanent collection.

    
Visiting Lecturers(more to come!)

Dr. Pavel Samsonov

      Dr. Pavel Samsonov is another supporter committed to the Institute of Critical Languages and cultural Exchange’s mission. He serves currently as Assistant Professor of Educational Technology and Educational Leadership, at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. He is working with Dr. Najoua Hotard and the ICLCE to develop innovative technological instructional and assessment strategies to teach world languages and the cultures associated with them based on ACTFL’s standards and guidelines. His expertise will implement the building of a data base related to a variety of standard-base assessment materials meeting different learning styles. His contributions to the adaptation of technological tools to Foreign language instruction and achievement measurements are numerous and valuable. His will develop the online design for the Arabic instructional curriculum used in the programs offered by the ICLCE. He will assist in creating blogs and multimedia instructional documents to be used in the programs offered by the institute (i.e. tests, quizzes, games, listening, reading, speaking and writing activities). Dr. Samsonov is a committed educator who specializes in Russian as well as technology instructional tools. His contributions to enhancing foreign Language instructions are numerous. The following list only includes the recent ones: Finlekstein E., & Samsonov P. (2008). PowerPoint for Teachers: Dynamic Presentations and Interactive Classroom Projects Grades K-12. Jossey-Bass, A Wiley, San Francisco. Samsonov, P. (2008). This Ain’t Your Momma’s PowerPoint or What: Creating Interactive Images in PowerPoint. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2008 (pp. 3918-3924). Chesapeake, VA: AACE; Samsonov, P., Daspit, T., Edith, M. & Briggs, C. (2008). Making a Difference for Middle School Teachers: When University Faculty Go to Schools to Help. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2008 (pp. 3913-3917). Chesapeake, VA: AACE; Samsonov, P., Pedersen, S., and Hill, C. (2006). Using Problem-Based Learning Software with At- Risk Students: A Case Study. Computers in the Schools, 23(1/2), 2006, pp. 111-124; Samsonov, P. & Finkelstein, E. (2007). Creating Interactive Images Using PowerPoint. In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2007 (pp. 1819-1825). Chesapeake, VA: AACE; Samsonov, P. (2007). Simple Techniques to Create Interactive Reviews in PowerPoint. In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2007 (pp. 1826-1834). Chesapeake, VA: AACE; Samsonov, P. & Briggs, C. (2006). Mavericks, Late Majority and Laggards: Our Experience Implementing Blackboard in a High School. In P. Kommers & G. Richards (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2006 (pp. 3062-3069). Chesapeake, VA: AACE; Samsonov, P. (2006). Creating quizzes and clickable maps with PowerPoint. In P. Kommers & G. Richards (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2006 (pp. 1437-1438). Chesapeake, VA: AACE; Samsonov, P. & Beard, M. (2005). Our Experience Implementing Blackboard Delivery System in a High School. In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2005 (pp. 1079-1086).
Dr. Samsonov will lecture on the physical and human geographical aspects of the Arabic-Speaking World with virtual trips and a wealth of informational sites and maps.

Neva Cramer

       Neva V Cramer, Ph.D. is an instructor in the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education in The Department of Educational Theory, Policy, and Practice at Louisiana State University. She currently teaches reading in the content areas: elementary reading, writing, and oral communication, and supervises student teachers. Neva began her undergraduate work at Southwest Texas State University and completed her graduate work at Louisiana State University. She also received specialized training in learning through the arts through the Harvard Graduate School of Education program “Project Zero”. Neva holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction specializing in reading/writing through the arts.
With over twenty years experience as a teacher in the areas of theatre, speech, English, reading, and language arts, Neva now combines her background in the performing arts and her education in the language arts to promote “literacy as a performing art” (Cramer, 2003). She has presented for the International Reading Association, the NCTE, the College Board, and other significant organizations. She also trains preservice teachers for the alternative certification program at Louisiana Resource Center for Educators. Her most recent publications include: N. Cramer, Ortlieb, E.T., Cheek, E.H. (2007) Multiple Ways of Knowing: A Theoretical Framework for Drama and Literacy in a Contemporary Curriculum, The Reading Matrix. Cramer, N., Ortlieb, E.T., Cheek, E.H. (2007) Changing Our Students’ Perception About Reading, Academic Exchange Quarterly. Ortlieb, E.T., Cramer, N., Cheek, E.H. (2007) The Art of Reading: Dramatizing Literacy, Reading Improvement.
Neva will be presenting a workshop on Middle Eastern literature in order to 1) enhance understanding of Middle Eastern cultures, including the three major religions in this area. 2) to provide an opportunity for students to vicariously live through some of the life experiences of the peoples of the Middle East. 3) to create a personal connection to the people of the Middle East by discovering similarities and appreciating differences through literature. Using a variety of research based literacy stategies including visualization/guided imagery, multi sensory response journals, reader’s theatre, and many other learning through the arts methodologies, she will create an authentic and interactive learning experience for workshop participants. Examples of children’s and adolescent literature to be used in this workshop include: The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq, by Jeanette Winter; Miriam’s Cup:A Passover Story, by Fran Manushkin; The Light of the World:The Life of Jesus for Children (in true Arabic settings), by Katherin Patterson; Muslim Child:Understanding Islam Through Stories and Poems, by Rukhsana Khan; Forty Fortunes:A Tail of Iran, by Aaron Shephard; Snow in Jerusalem, by D. daCosta, and many others.