Robert A. Filback

Rob Filback is Professor of Clinical Education and currently serves as co-chair of the Higher Education Concentration and chair of the Master of Arts in TESOL program. His areas of focus include higher education, international and comparative education, online and digital learning, language education policy, and creativity. He teaches courses at the masters and doctoral levels and regularly chairs dissertations. 

Filback’s current scholarly activity includes serving as founding co-chair of the Rossier Democracy Project and as lead author on several publications, including: "Ensuring high quality online programming in shifting higher education landscape", a chapter in The future of digital higher education: A post-pandemic perspective, Information Age Publishing (in press); and, “Transforming education leaders: Impacts of the dissertation,” a chapter in Exploring the impact of the dissertation in practice, Information Age Publishing (2017). He also co-edited two recent books: Cases on academic program design for greater racial and social justice, IGI Global (2021); and, TESOL guide for critical praxis in teaching, inquiry, and advocacy, IGI Global (2017). Filback also regularly presents at professional conferences.

Filback also brings deep experience in higher education program design and development, including online and blended curricula and international collaborations. He led the design of the World Masters in Language Teaching program, a set of international dual degree pathways that converge at USC providing an immersive cross-cultural learning experience for multilingual language educators. He was a founding co-chair of the Global Executive EdD, a first-of-its-kind program to equip graduates to lead change in education around the world. He led the team that created the online MAT-TESOL program, a field-based, synchronous learning pathway for in-service educators around the world. Filback also served on the design team for USC Rossier’s nationally recognized online EdD in Organizational Change and Leadership. Filback maintains an active consulting practice working with institutions of higher education and other educational organizations in the areas of educational strategy, learning design, research and evaluation. 

Filback previously served as a lecturer in USC’s American Language Institute and as a research assistant in USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture. Prior to his work in higher education, he was a high school English teacher in Central Europe and then a trainer and director in the non-profit sector in the areas of international teacher preparation and intercultural competence. He has lived in Germany, Hungary and Romania and has traveled or done short-term work in nearly fifty other countries.

Filback holds a Ph.D. in International and Intercultural Education from USC where his dissertation on transformative learning and community organizing received nomination for Best Dissertation Award in the School of Education. He also received his master’s degree in TESOL from USC where he worked with Stephen Krashen and the late David Eskey. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry with a minor in Religion from George Fox University.

• Creating Policy Alternatives for Educational Settings
• Making Choices: Deciding Among Policy Alternatives
• Foundations of Language Teaching
• Creativity and Innovation in Education

• Filback, R., Williamson, C., & Nagasawa, M. (in press). Ensuring high quality online programming in a shifting higher education landscape, in A. Craig and M. Barger (Eds.) The future of digital higher education: A post-pandemic perspective. Charlotte, NC: IAP Press.
• Filback, R., Yendol-Hoppey, D., & Good, R. (2024). More than was asked for: Leading a significant change in a university. Case Studies in International Education (5)2, 14-16.
• Crawford, J., Filback, R., & Min, E. (2024). Bridging languages and cultures: The evolving landscape of dual language immersion programs. Case Studies in International Education (5)2, 28-30.
• Filback, R., Krop, C., & Noguera, P. (2023). Finnish lessons revisited: What we learned from one of the best education systems in the world. Faculty op-ed, Rossier News and Insights.
• Cain-Sanschagrin, E., Filback, R. A., & Crawford, J. (Eds.) (2021). Cases on academic program redesign for greater racial and social justice. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.  
• Crawford, J. & Filback, R. A. (Eds.) (2020). TESOL guide for critical praxis in teaching, inquiry, and advocacy. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
• Park, H., Filback, R. A. & Crawford, J. (2020). Increasing participation of international students in higher education classrooms through technology-enhanced instruction, in Y. Inoue-Smith and T. McVey (Eds.), Optimizing higher education learning through activities and assessments. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
• Espinet, T., Vuong, P. & Filback, R. A. (2020). Beyond onboarding: Building a culture of continuous professional development for effective online instruction, in Y. Inoue-Smith and T. McVey (Eds.), Optimizing higher education learning through activities and assessments. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
• Crawford, J., Filback, R. A. & Min, E. (2020). World Masters in Language Teaching: The case of one postsecondary dual language immersion program. Language Educator, 15(2), April/May.
• Filback, R., Krop, C., Seli, H. & Tambascia, T. (2017). Transforming education leaders: Impacts of the dissertation in practice on graduates of a global executive level Ed.D., in V. A. Storey (Ed.), Exploring the impact of the dissertation in practice. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

• American Educational Research Association (AERA)
• Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
• Comparative and International Education Society (CIES)
• American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
• Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

My research agenda currently focuses on trends in online higher education education and digital learning and education for democracy.

Co-PI, Department of Education, Federal History Civics Grant, $3,000,000, 2023-2026 (in collaboration with Teach Democracy)

Co-PI, Stewart Foundation Grant, $30,000, 2023-2024