Program Evaluation • Higher Education Administration • Complex Project Management • Process Improvement • Policy Analysis • Internationalization of (Higher) Education

Biography

Dr. Ahn is the Inaugural Director of Operations and Outreach / Managing Director for the NSF-Simons Foundation-funded AI Institute for the Sky (“SkAI Institute”), a $20M U.S. National Science Foundation and Simons Foundation-funded institute led by Northwestern University, along with The University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. In this role, Ahn has been leading the operational launch and institutionalization of this new multi-institution enterprise. She manages its $4.5–5M annual operating budgets, manages external vendors and consultants delivering project-based services and institute-wide deliverables, and coordinates with HR and IT service providers to support hiring, onboarding, systems access, and day-to-day operational needs in a distributed environment. Additionally, in fall 2025, she co-taught MSHE 478, Global Strategies and Strategic Partnerships, for Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy.

Prior to coming to SkAI, she was the Founding Director for the International Projects Office at the University of Wisconsin–Madison International Division. She was also a lecturer for the Educational Policy Studies Department at UW–Madison, the College of Humanities and Education at KIMEP University, the Doctor of Education program at Edgewood College and the Center for Evaluation Programme at the University of Melbourne. Prior to coming to Madison, WI, she was an Assistant Professor in the Language Center (now the College of Humanities and Education) at KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan.  She received her Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign specializing in global studies in education and program evaluation.

Dr. Ahn’s research focuses on language and education policy change and how these changes impact the broader systems in which they are embedded. Focusing on these areas in the Turkish, Kazakhstani, and more broadly, post-Soviet contexts, has allowed her to explore the uneven ways social policies are implemented and experienced at different levels or scales in transition contexts. Incorporating a spatial lens further reveals how other factors, e.g., socio-economic status, ethnicity/nationality, and community networks, contribute to the (re)production of inequality by structurally privileging certain spaces over others.

Countries/Regions of Expertise
Türkiye, Kazakhstan, USA, Central Asia, European Union

Areas of Expertise
Language and education policy; education change and reform; internationalization of (higher) education; bi- and multilingual education; education and (in)equity; sociology of language and education; program evaluation; globalization

Other Affiliations
She is also a member and current co-chair of the Comparative and International Education Society’s Europe and Central Asia Special Interest Group (click here to find out more about the ECA SIG or follow them @CIESEurasia) and Language SIG (click here). She is also an affiliate with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's EU Center and Russia, East European, and Eurasia Center and UW–Madison's Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, and a member of the Heteroglossia.net network. 

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Получила степень магистра лингвистики и доктора в области исследований образовательной политики в Университете Иллинойса в г. Урбана-Шампейн (УИУШ), США. Диссертация посвящена институционализации языка на раннем этапе развития Республики Турция. Преподавала в УИУШ четыре года, научно-исследовательские интересы – языковая политика и процессы планирования, язык и образование, социология образования, глобализация и высшее образование.
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Урбана-Шампейн қаласындағы (АҚШ) Иллинойс Университетінен (УШИУ) білімдік саясат саласында лингвистика магистрі және доктор дәрежесін алған. Диссертация Түркия Республикасы алғашқы даму кезеңінде тілдің институционалдауына арналған. УШИУ-де төрт жыл сабақ берген, ғылыми-зерттеулік мүдделері – тіл саясаты және жоспарлау үдерісі, тіл және білім, білімнің әлеумет ғылымы, ғаламдану және жоғары білім.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS