Dr. Jillian M Pandor PhD

Biography

Jillian has spent much of the last two decades in education, working to prepare learners for an unpredictable future. She has seen educators become responsible not only for content, but also for cultivating curiosity, adaptability and the capacity to unlearn and relearn.

Her experience spans K-12 and higher education in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Across these settings, she observed that successful learning is anchored in three elements: rigour, relevance and relationships.

Jillian's academic journey took her from the United States to Master's and PhD study in Spain. Her doctoral research explored how international students integrate into unfamiliar academic contexts and reinforced her belief that teaching is fundamentally human-centred.

As Chair of the Department of Liberal Arts at Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai, she leads the university's largest academic department and supports general education that broadens students beyond their specialist disciplines. She also serves on advisory boards for K-12 schools in the UAE.

Jillian joined the Skills Shift advisory community because human capabilities such as listening, negotiation, critical thinking, resilience and adaptability cannot be addressed by traditional academic approaches alone. She brings research, pedagogy and institutional leadership to the platform's work with learners and education partners.