Jill Hakemian (she/her)

Jill Hakemian holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Rollins College and graduate degrees in TESOL and Educational Leadership, both from the University of Central Florida. She has worked in public, private, and charter schools and districts as a teacher and administrator, primarily focused on supporting English Language Learners in sheltered, mainstream, and dual-language settings. In addition to certification in ESOL, she holds teacher certifications in educational leadership, special/exceptional education K-12, reading K-12, Spanish K-12, and middle grades English/Language Arts.  

Jill is a long-time member of TESOL International Association, where she has served in various leadership roles, including three years on the TESOL Professional Development Council. She is currently Chair of the TESOL Supporting Students with Disabilities Interest Section. She has presented at state, national, and international conferences on various topics regarding multilingual learners. Jill is a member of several other professional organizations, including the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), where she is a member of the Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners. She is an adjunct professor of TESOL at Bank Street College of Education, an education consultant for multiple organizations, was a mentor for Childhood Education International’s Refugee Educator Academy, and is active in local community organizations for education and immigration. Jill participated in a Fulbright-Hays Seminar, traveling to the middle east in summer 2022 to research migrant and refugee education (pictured above in As-Salt, Jordan) and in 2025 was accepted into the U.S. Department of State's English Language Specialist program, through which she provides consulting on English language teaching to other countries through U.S. embassies. 

Jill has worked for the New York State Education Department Office of Special Education Technical Assistance Partnership for Equity since 2022, first at the Bank Street Center on Culture, Race, and Equity and now at the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools at NYU. In this role, she provides professional development and coaching on bilingual special education and culturally, racially, and linguistically responsive education. She is also the project manager for the team.