Kamilya Kadyrova: “Freshmen are so “fresh” and full of hopes and expectations about education. And I try not to break their expectations, at least in the first semester…”

April 24, 2017

Today we want to introduce you to Kamilya Kadyrova, the NGA Academic Director , an Assistant Professor in General Education and FYS Program,  and AUCA Academic Orientation Co-Director. Professor Kamilya Kadyrova has a M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership, and below she will share a little about her work at AUCA:

"My name is Kamilya Kadyrova. Originally, I am from Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Born into the dynasty of English teachers, I decided not to change my pre-destined path and chose to become a teacher of English; in 1995, I entered Osh State University, the Department of Foreign Languages, specializing on TEFL. The same year, I won the Freedom Support Act (FSA-FLEX), and spent a year in the deepest south of the US – Albany, Georgia. I am proud to be a FLEX alumna! Upon return, I completed my university education in three years and received my diploma cum laude. I started teaching English part-time, in 1998, at Osh Institute of Western Education.  Upon graduation, in 1999, I stayed as an instructor at Osh State University.  I had worked at both institutions until 2005.

In August 2005, while visiting relatives in Bishkek, I decided to try out applying to AUCA’s Preparatory Program. I was hired in a week and started my career at AUCA. In 2008, I was awarded with Edmund Muskie Fellowship, sponsored by the US department of State, and left to the US to do my Matsers degree.  I came back to work at AUCA in February 2012.

Since 2012, I have been teaching First Year Seminar. I love each cohort of my First Year Seminar students. I had also taught Composition I, II, and Expository Writing. I have also been teaching the Language and thinking (Orientation) program for the past five years.

Starting from July 2015, I was appointed to be the Academic Director of New Generation Academy at AUCA. I have led this wonderful program since then. During my two- years work at NGA, we have launched two new and absolutely amazing partnerships with Bard College and Princeton-in-Asia Fellowship Program. Both partners gave NGA students the opportunity to experience the teaching and expertise of the fellows who come for a year at NGA. Another partnership that NGA has started is the collaboration with EHU’s Preparatory Program. In 2016, NGA also started a grand project in collaboration with AUCA high school. Our future projects are to work closer with the Library, this year we have started incorporating Information Literacy course into our curriculum.

Starting from 2015, I have begun participating in the series of workshops and conference, devoted to ‘engaged pedagogies in writing and thinking’, led by Bard College, NY. Due to that, in the past two years, I visited Bard College twice, Bard Berlin, and Smolny Institute of Liberal Arts, Saint Petersburg.

In summer 2015, I was also appointed to be the AUCA Freshmen Orientation Co-Director. Thus I did my best to assist in organizing and coordinating the last two freshmen Orientations.

 As for the service to the University, for the past three years I have been a member of Faculty Senate and a member of SILC (Student Intellectual Life Committee). First, I want to say that I love my students. I try to give them freedom in expressing their thoughts both on paper and orally. I enjoy teaching FYS. Freshmen are so “fresh” and full of hopes and expectations about education. And I try not to break their expectations, at least in the first semesterJ. I encourage them to participate in all classroom activities by giving them a variety of options, be that creating a video clip, or creating a Facebook page of Plato’s Euthyphro, or writing a medical diagnosis on Gilgamesh.  AUCA students are so sincerely inquisitive. They ask lots of questions. And their questions make the professors never stop learning.

I also work with NGA students.  NGA students are so different from undergrads. They are more driven to succeed due to the majority’s socio-economic status. NGA students are much more tolerant towards ethnically and socially diverse students, since they not only study five days with their group mates from all over Asia, but also live in the same dorm and share their food. Most of the NGA students are very active and hard-working and want to enter AUCA in order to become leaders in their communities and bring use to their countries in future.

I wish all my colleagues to gear up for new experiences, opportunities, and challenges. I wish them all a lot of good changes that will lead into becoming even greater professionals in their fields.

I wish all AUCA students to achieve their goals and make the time at AUCA a milestone in their academic careers. Never aim for less for you can achieve the best. And more importantly, never stop dreaming, because “a winner is a dreamer who never gives up”.

Best wishes,

Kamilya Kadyrova

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