Events

Venue: Online (see details below)

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Join the ATLAS Lounge for Ask ATLAS Office Hours.

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Passcode to join the meeting: lounge2026

Welcome to a new endeavor for ATLAS – open office hours! Join the Zoom on Friday, November 30, between 2:00 and 3:00 pm. This office hour is dedicated to those teacher dispositions (behaviors we are nurturing in adult edcuators), and Patsy and Erin will be sipping coffee, awaiting a conversation with you! Come with questions (no question is a bad question!) or simply to connect with colleagues. (Learn more about Patsy Egan & Erin Cary and their experience below.)

What is Ask ATLAS in the ATLAS Lounge?
ASK ATLAS is an “office hour,” simply time for an informal, drop-in conversation with an ATLAS staff member. Each of us at ATLAS holds interests and expertise in different areas, and we are eager to talk about teaching and learning with you. Come to connect with others doing similar work and chat with ATLAS folks! Bring your questions, new resources, & frustrations. We’re eager to hear more about your classroom and program.

[Note: CEUs not available for these informal, drop-in events]

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Patsy Egan, PhD, is the ATLAS Director. She has been involved with language teaching & learning in various ways since she began teaching English in Russia in 1994. She holds a BA in Russian, an MA in ESL, and a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction in the area of Second Languages & Cultures. After her time abroad, Patsy returned to her homebase in Nebraska and worked as the Refugee Coordinator for the Lincoln Literacy Council. After relocating to Minnesota in 1998, she taught English and composition at the U of M in the late 90’s, and she taught adult ESL in the early 2000’s at Lao Family Community Center and Metro North-Brooklyn Center. While she is enamored with all things related to ESL, her particular wheelhouse is lower levels, those who with emergent print literacy.

Fun fact: Patsy attended the LESLLA Symposium Brno, Czechia, in late August! (www.leslla.org) This year at LESLLA, Patsy and colleague Janet Issleris (Brown University) offered a workshop on the legacy and learnings from Dr. Heide Wrigley, a beloved LESLLA colleague who passed away last December.

Fun fact #2 – Patsy was the first President of LESLLA.

 

Erin Cary holds a Master of Arts in ESL from Hamline University, specializing in Adult Education; a Master of Arts in German Languages and Literatures from The Ohio State University; and Bachelor’s degrees in English and German from the University of Minnesota Morris. She has worked in MN ABE since 2009 as a teacher, administrator, and in curriculum writing and professional development. She teaches beginner ELLs for Metro North ABE in Brooklyn Center; instructs graduate courses in the ABE licensure/MAT program at Hamline; and co-develops CILIA-T, an integrated civics/academic English/digital skills curriculum for adult learners. She is a co-founder of the teacher/learner self-advocacy movement #IamABE, which supports equity work, professional issues, and activism in MN.

Fun fact: Erin is brand new to ATLAS, but a huge PD aficionado, and also currently teaching adult ELLs in Brooklyn Center, as well as graduate courses in Hamline’s MAT/ABE licensure program. She’s happy to chat about any of these topics!