Keynote Speaker 2023
Keynote Speaker: Dr. José Ricardo-Osorio
Acting Dean, College of Education and Human Services
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Net Engaging: 4 Ways to Reinvent Your Professional Mojo
The Covid-19 pandemic not only impacted people’s lives, but their mental health as well. Suddenly, people were forced to change their lifestyles, their social interactions, and the way they work. Teachers especially had to become, in record time, online/remote teaching “experts”. This shift in teaching delivery left many burnt out, unmotivated and longing for retirement or simply retiring. While the pandemic has been somehow controlled, its devastating effects on people’s morale and mental health are still lingering. For those who could not retire and had to go back to a regular teaching or job environment, it has not been easy to readapt and find themselves at ease within the teaching profession.
In his keynote address, Dr. Ricardo-Osorio plans to present four approaches based on the concept of net engaging. These four principles helped him reconnect with his job environment and most importantly allowed him to learn new skills and strategies. By becoming a net engager, he discovered new opportunities for growth within his job ecosystem. A net engager is an individual who intentionally Communicates, Collaborates, and Commits to fulfilling a task within a Community. The goal of a net engager is to become visible within an organization and/or to cross over to other job opportunities (i.e. from being a teacher to being an administrator). To be an effective net engager, individuals must identify and navigate the ins and outs of their ecosystem(s).
Dr. José G. Ricardo-Osorio is an Associate Professor of Spanish and Foreign Language Education at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, He has a Licenciatura en Lenguas Modernas from Universidad del Atlántico (Barranquilla, Colombia). He earned a Master’s in Spanish and a Doctorate in Higher Education from the University of Arkansas. He has over 30 years of K-16 teaching experience abroad and in the United States.
He currently serves as Acting Dean in the College of Education and Human Services. As a faculty member, he has taught Spanish, foreign language teaching methods and has supervised student teachers. He has served as chair of the Department of Global Languages & Cultures at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and as Interim Associate Dean in the College of Education and Human Services.
Dr. Ricardo-Osorio has been a workshop facilitator, session presenter and keynote speaker at numerous professional events in the United States and abroad. He is a member of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). He is also on the Advisory Board of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL) and he is a former member of the Executive Board of the Pennsylvania State Modern Languages Association (PSMLA) where he is currently a life member.
His research interests include student learning outcomes assessment, foreign language, ESL/EFL teacher training, and world language teaching methodology. His research has been published by the Teagle Foundation, by ACTFL and by The National Association of Laboratory & University Affiliated Schools (NALS). He enjoys teaching American and Latino cultural topics using dancing and music. He can be reached at jgrica@ship.edu.