Nada M. Salem is a passionate and highly motivated person who is committed to excellence and innovation. She taught Arabic, ASL, French, FSL, English, EFL, ESL, ESP, and English Communication for more than 20 years, both in school and college settings, including at the Master of Science in Finance Program at The George Washington School of Business (GWSB). She co-created and co-taught at The George Washington University Graduate School of Education an ONLINE Methods Course for Teachers of Arabic as a Foreign Language.
Nada has been an independent Free-Lance Translator and Editor/Proofreader of Arabic, English and French since 1986. She has worked on literary, legal, economic, financial, business, political and engineering/architecture documents. She has also translated films/scripts at different Lebanese television stations such as MTV and LBC.
Nada is on the Advisory Board of the School of Translators and Interpreters of Beirut (ETIB- USJ); she is also a member of the American Translators Association: The Voice of Interpreters and Translators and of the International Federation of Translators. She was the first person to create and design a website for AAETIB: Association des Anciens de l’École de Traducteurs et d’Interprètes de Beyrouth (Alumni Association for the School of Translators and Interpreters of Beirut) at Saint Joseph University (USJ); she also created another website for one of the translation workshops she attended at USJ.
Nada is the Co-Editor in Chief of “Teaching World Languages: A Practical Guide- Arabic Edition” (The National Capital Language Resource Center, Washington, DC). She also edited/proofread military translations (English into Arabic) for Mr. Emile Lahoud, Former President of the Republic of Lebanon, when he was Commander of the Lebanese Army.
Nada earned, in May 2019, an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from Harvard University’s J.F. Kennedy School of Government, Executive Education. She also completed almost all coursework towards an Education Doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction and Educational Technology Leadership at The George Washington University, GWU, in Washington, DC.
Nada also holds a bachelor’s degree in languages, a teaching diploma, and two master’s degrees, one in Translation (Attestation de Maîtrise, from Saint Joseph University, USJ- ETIB at Faculté de Langues et de Traduction, where she currently serves on the Advisory Board) and another in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (from the American University of Beirut, AUB).
Nada is the Founder of the American Foundation for Educational Excellence (AFEE) and its affiliate, the Center for Excellence in Languages: Teaching, Editing, Translating, and Interpreting.
Nada is also the Founder, President, and CEO of the International Foundation for Women’s Empowerment (IFWE) which she set up in Virginia, USA, in March 2019. IFWE seeks to empower all women and help them thrive on the personal and professional levels, regardless of nationality and religion.
From October 2013 till March 2019, Nada was the Director of Project Roots/CLFW whose main objective is to help preserve diversity and democracy in Lebanon by registering there all Americans of Lebanese descent and encouraging them to reconnect with their roots. In 2012, Nada co-founded the Maronite Academy whose main goals are to improve the image of Lebanon in the new generation’s minds in order to incite pride in their Lebanese roots and encourage them to register in Lebanon.
In 2006, Nada became the administrative director of the Master of Science in Finance Program at GW School of Business and received an Appreciation Award in June 2008. She remained their Assessment of Learning Coordinator for AACSB Accreditation until 2014.
Nada is a pioneer in web page creation and design and has an energetic, dynamic, and proactive approach to working. She has outstanding communication skills that she puts to use on a daily basis. Nada is an expert in assessment and evaluation to reach objectives (needs analyses). She has conducted a lot of research on team work, emotional intelligenceand leadership skills, which she always strives to incorporate in the work environment.
Nada combines several skills that enable her to be highly successful in any endeavor she undertakes: leadership, technology, web page design, social media, photo editing (Photoshop), publishing (yearbooks and yearEbooks), communication, language fluency (in 3 languages), creative thinking, teaching, assertiveness, empathy, win/win thinking, friendliness, competence, production efficiency, hard work, organization, marketing, and public relations skills.
In 1998, Nada created and designed a website titled “Nada’s ESL Island” (http://www.nadasisland.com/) which has more than one million visitors and has won several educational awards (The Busy Educator’s Award, the Web English Teacher Outstanding Resource award, three Golden Web Awards, and an Academic Excellence award).
Nada gave, in schools and universities and at different national and international conferences, several workshops related to integrating technology in the classroom, emotional intelligence, team building, webpage design, peer mentoring, motivation, learning strategies, etc. She produced an award-winning 250-page centennial yearbook in 2006.