Christina W. Yao, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Program Coordinator of the Higher Education and Student Affairs Master’s program at the University of South Carolina. She is a qualitative researcher who studies undergraduate and graduate student engagement and learning in higher education. She operationalizes her research focus through three connected topical areas: international student mobility, scholar-practitioner preparation, and transnational education.

Dr. Yao is involved in several professional organizations, including Vice Chair for the Council for International Higher Education (CIHE) for the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and continued involvement with the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES). She also serves on the editorial board for several journals, including the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, and Journal of International Students. She is the recipient of several awards, including the 2022 Innovative Research in International Education Award from NAFSA: Association of International Educators, 2022 NASPA Mid-Career Faculty Award, 2021 Excellence in International Research Award from College Student Educators International (ACPA), and 2020 Best Article Award from the CIES Study Abroad & International Students SIG. 

Dr. Mike Hoa Nguyen is assistant professor at the University of Denver's Morgridge College of Education and faculty affiliate at the Scrivner Institute of Public Policy and the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Study of (In)Equality (IRISE).  His research and teaching critically examines the benefits and consequences of racialized public policy instruments in expanding and/or constraining educational systems, with a specific focus on how these dynamics shape access, learning, opportunity, and success within and beyond schools for students of color.