Board Members
Dr. Kayla Johnson, Co-Chair
Kayla Johnson, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky (USA). In her research, she uses visual, student voice, action, and community-engaged methods to explore issues related to learning, development, and social justice in higher and international education. She received her PhD in Higher Education and Comparative and International Education (dual-title) from Penn State. A CIES member since 2014, she has previously served as a member of the conference planning committee and as program chair of the Higher Education SIG. Much of her latest research involves community-engaged work in rural communities in Peru aimed to improve access to and inclusion in primary, second, and postsecondary education. You can read her latest work in: Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education; Educational Action Research; and New Directions for Higher Education. In addition to her work with Indigenous communities in Peru, Kayla’s research explores student learning in study abroad and other international education programs. A first-generation student herself, much of her work across both domains of her research looks to expand access and success for first-generation students.
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Dr. Joseph Levitan, Co-Chair
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​Joseph Levitan, PhD is an Associate Professor and the Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the Faculty of Education at McGill University. He works with Quechua-speaking (Peru) and Embera (Panama) community members to collaboratively redesign curriculum and educational materials to make them more culturally grounded—ensuring that education respects and reflects the needs, values, and goals of Indigenous community members. He uses community-based participatory action research to gather information, co-develop materials, and receive feedback from the community about the materials to improve them. His recent work has appeared in Teachers College Record, the American Journal of Education, and Action Research. Joe earned his PhD in Educational Leadership and Comparative and International Education (dual-title) from Penn State. He is running for the co-chair position along with Dr. Kayla Johnson, his longtime research collaborator.
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Dr. L. Fernigil Colicol, Secretary ​
​Fernigil L. Colicol is a Subanen from Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines. He is an assistant professor at Mindanao State University-Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography (MSU-TCTO). He obtained his PhD in Education (Anthropology and Sociology of Education) at the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he received two international publication awards. His current research focuses on indigenous education and multilingual education. His publications appear in the Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Educational Philosophy and Theory, The International Journal of Educational Organization and Leadership, and the International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research. He presented research papers at international and national conferences in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and the United States of America. He currently serves as the Mindanao Island Cluster Representative of the Society for Strategic Education Studies, an associate member of the National Research Council of the Philippines, and an active member of the CIES IKA SIG. He won the 2025 IKA SIG Best Paper Award.
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Preeti Koli, Treasurer/Communications Officer
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Preeti is a final-year PhD scholar at the School of Education Studies, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi, India. Preeti is the first Dalit woman from her community to pursue a Ph.D. Her dissertation, "Identity, Agency & Activism: A Narrative Inquiry Of Dalit Women Activists' Experiences in Higher Education in India", brings together the narratives of Dalit Women activists' experiences in higher education from a Dalit Feminist perspective, which have been least explored in scholarly literature. This research examines the aspect of agency in the lives of Dalit women because Dalit women are always portrayed as the victims of power structures. Apart from this, her research interests more broadly include issues related to intersectionality, caste, gender, education and higher education in the everyday lives of Dalits. Preeti has written quite a lot on Dalit women for anti-caste platforms in India like Velivada, Decenter Magazine and Round Table India: for an Informed Ambedkar Age. She writes from a Dalit Feminist perspective bridging the gap between academia and activism. She has also published book reviews and papers for international journals like J Caste and Journal of Social Inclusion Studies of Sage.
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