Keynote Speaker

Michele AokiDr. Michele Anciaux Aoki, International Education Administrator for Seattle Public Schools, is responsible for developing and supporting the ten international schools in the district and their K-12 Dual Language Immersion programs in Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish, as well as supporting all World Language teachers throughout the district. She is Co-Director of the Confucius Institute of the State of Washington, a partnership among the University of Washington, Seattle Public Schools, the Governor’s Office, and Hanban in China. From 2008 to 2014, Michele served as World Languages and International Education Program Supervisor at the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). While there she worked with the State Board of Education and Washington State School Directors Association to develop and implement a model policy and procedure for Competency-Based Credits to award high school credits to students with demonstrated language proficiency.  She was instrumental in introducing the Seal of Biliteracy in Washington State. Since 2011, Michele has partnered with the University of Washington on their Russian and Portuguese STARTALK Teacher and Student Programs. Michele has a Ph.D. in Slavic Linguistics and taught Russian language and English as a Second Language at the University of Washington for a number of years and as a Fulbright lecturer in Romania. She has received two leadership awards from the Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT) and continues to volunteer as an advocate for languages.

Michele Anciaux Aoki, Ph.D., P.M.P.

International Education Administrator
Seattle Public Schools
John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence