Fareed Bordbar, Phd, Director

Fareed Bordbar holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics. He joined the Intensive English for International (IEI) program at the University of Memphis in 2021 as an instructor and was appointed as the program director the following year. Before moving to Memphis, he was a post-doctoral fellow with the Human Communication Research Laboratory at the University of Alabama. Dr. Bordbar is a published researcher and educator who has dedicated over 15 years of his career to promoting adult higher education and creating innovative methods to help international students improve their English language competency and succeed academically. He is also an experienced English Language instructor with a proven track record of successful teaching in English Language Programs. Since the start of his tenure as the IEI director, Fareed has led an ESL initiative leading to the development of English for Academic Purposes courses at the University of Memphis. Fareed is originally from Fasa, a picturesque town in the foothills of the Zagros mountains in south-eastern Iran. He currently lives with his Colombian wife and a Memphian cat.

Cheri Chadwick, International Student Advisor

Cheri Chadwick has a degree in International Economics from the University of Tennessee at Martin. She has been working at IEI since 2007. She enjoys traveling and learning about other cultures.

Stacey Smith, Lecturer

Stacey is originally from Memphis, but she has spent many years working in the Arabian Gulf. After completing a master's degree at the University of Memphis, she moved to the Sultanate of Oman. While she was there, she was an Arabic language student for 2 years and an English language teacher for 6. She came back to Memphis in 2012 and has been teaching with IEI since her return.

Nina Clark, Instructor

Nina completed her M.A. in English with an ESL concentration in the summer of 2003 from The University of Memphis. This was a mid-life career change for her. She enjoyed a 21-year career as an R.N. before moving to Memphis with her husband in 1995. Two of those years were spent working in a mission hospital in Asuncion, Paraguay prior to marriage. She has been involved as a volunteer in church-based Conversational ESL programs since 1987, teaching, directing, and leading training workshops for other volunteers throughout the southeast. John Barrymore said, "You are not old until regrets take the place of dreams." She is living out her dream teaching ESL professionally. She and her husband have three "children" of the four-legged variety, Barney, Fun-Fun, and Winn.

Marie Thompson, Instructor

Marie received her BA from the University of Memphis and her MA in English with a concentration in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of Southern Mississippi. She has taught freshman English courses at the University of Southern Mississippi and at Christian Brothers University. However, her heart is in teaching English to international students, which she did for 3 years in Japan before coming to IEI. She first taught here from 1986 to 1995, raised three children, and then returned in 2011. Marie enjoys traveling and has been to Japan, China, South Korea, Zimbabwe, England, The Czech Republic, Austria, and Slovakia.

Ann Durden, Instructor

Ann has a B.A. in English and Spanish from Ursinus College in Pennsylvania and two M.A. degrees, one in Communication from Michigan State University and another in English (Linguistics)/Teaching ESL from George Mason University in Virginia. She has over 25 years of teaching experience. She has taught English at both the high school and college levels for many years in the United States and Germany, including 5 years of ESL in Virginia before moving to Memphis with her family in 1998. While rearing her two young sons, she taught preschool music classes for 14 years. She returned to teaching ESL in 2014 when she began teaching for IEI. She is also an online rater for the TOEFL and TOEIC tests for ETS. Ann loves teaching international students because she finds them highly motivated and enjoys learning about different cultures.

Susie Howe, Instructor

Susan has a B.A. in English from Centre College of Kentucky, as well as two M.A. degrees, one in English from Indiana University and one in Communications from the University of Memphis. For many years, she worked in video production at WKNO-TV, the Memphis PBS affiliate, and subsequently as a freelance producer. Since obtaining a Graduate Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language, she has taught at Christian Brothers University, Omni Prep Academy (a charter school in Memphis,) and the Intensive English for Internationals program.

Jayda Hampton, Instructor 

Jayda received her B.A. from here at the University of Memphis in 2018, double majoring in political science and world languages. She subsequently completed her M.A. in English with an ESL concentration from the University of Memphis in 2020. While completing both of her degrees, she received training in both Spanish and Italian, tutored Italian at the university, and was a conversation partner to many international students. Originally from Jackson, TN, Jayda moved to Memphis at the beginning of 2022, and she began teaching with the Intensive English for Internationals (IEI) program in March 2022. Jayda loves getting the opportunity to be an instructor for international students, while simultaneously learning about other languages and cultures. 

Tasha Pollock, Instructor