Faculty & Staff Member Profile

Dr. Florentina Halimi obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Vienna in Austria in Psycholinguistics. She was a Fulbright visiting professor at Fordham University, the Graduate School of Education, where she completed her post-doctoral research study. In collaboration with Fordham University's Center for Educational Partnership, she worked closely with several universities and educational institutions in and around New York City, such as City University of New York, Long Island University, Queen's College, New York University, and Long Island/Westchester Bilingual & ESL Teacher Leadership Academy, to investigate teacher leadership and student achievement motivation. She is an assistant professor of Educational Psychology at the Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) in Kuwait. Dr. Florentina was an inaugural Director of the GUST-Center for Teaching Learning and Research, established in 2016, and implemented projects for Kuwait K-12 teachers' professional development, focusing on using active learning strategies; software application tools to boost student motivation and engage with course materials in and out of class; and developing classroom management skills. Dr. Florentina does research on positive psychology in education, focusing on student emotional intelligence, active learning strategies, achievement motivation, and anxiety in the classroom. This has led to several published papers co-authored with researchers from the EU, US, and Kuwait. They feed into the development of more positive and effective pedagogical practices that boost the mental well-being of learners and teachers and raise motivation for success. She actively participates in academic conferences on pedagogical innovations and issues in education.