A native of Ethiopia, Dr. Tsehaye Teferra received his undergraduate degree from Haile Selassie I University in Addis Ababa. He served as a cross-cultural instructor in the Peace Corps’ in-country training program and taught at several institutions of higher learning in Ethiopia before coming to the United States as a UNESCO Fellow in 1972. He completed an M.S. in Applied Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Sociolinguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he also served as a Research Associate in the School of Languages and Linguistics. He was an instructor at the Foreign Service Institute and an Assistant Professor in the African Studies and Research Center at Howard University. Dr. Teferra is founder and President and CEO of the Ethiopian Community Development Council, Inc. In 1991, he was recognized for outstanding contributions to the U.S. by the Coordinator for Refugee Affairs of the United States of America. Dr. Teferra is active in civic, professional, and local community affairs. He was appointed by the Arlington County Board to serve as a founding member of the Arlington County, Virginia, Multicultural Commission; as well as a member of the County’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Task Force for Arlington’s Future, and the County’s Diversity Dialogue Task Force. He currently serves as a Board Member of the Arlington, Virginia, Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization and as a Board Member and Vice Chair of InterAction.