Stephanie A. H. Divo

Biography

Senior Lecturer, Director, Chinese FALCON Program. Dr. Divo obtained her Ph.D. in 1989 from Cornell University.  Having previously taught at Grinnell College  from 1989-1991, and at Colgate University from 1991-1997, she returned to Cornell in 1999 to teach. She earned an additional M.S. degree in TESOL, which included training in computer-assisted language learning and second language acquisition, from the State University of New York at Albany School of Education in 1999.  Her areas of specialization are Chinese language pedagogy, Chinese cinema, and modern Chinese fiction, and she has carried out research in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.  She is the Director of the Cornell Chinese FALCON (Full-year Asian Language CONcentration) Program, and the Coordinator of the Chinese Language Program in Cornell’s Department of Asian Studies.  She currently teaches Elementary Standard Chinese (‘Mandarin’), Introductory Intensive Mandarin (summer Chinese FALCON), and Intermediate Intensive Mandarin (Fall Chinese FALCON), and advanced directed studies courses.  Within the field of language pedagogy, her current research interests include materials development, oral testing, and teacher training.  Her most recent presentation, for the Chinese Language Teachers Association 2007 Annual Meeting, was “Elementary Oral Skills Testing:  Teachable Moments?”

Statement

The field of Mandarin Chinese is experiencing rapid growth and transformation.  As Director of the intensive Chinese FALCON Program, and more recently as Coordinator for the Chinese Language Program in Cornell’s Department of Asian Studies, I have learned to handle constant changes in class size and student demographics, as well as a variety of accompanying curricular challenges.  As a result I’m very familiar both with issues regarding less commonly taught languages, and with issues in language program expansion.  I’m currently working to improve and enlarge the teaching assistant training program in our department, which includes teaching assistants in seven different Asian languages, and am especially interested in the AAUSC’s focus on teacher training.

Miao-fen Tseng

Biography

Miao-fen Tseng is lecturer at the University of Virginia where she teaches Mandarin Chinese and coordinates the Chinese Outreach Program in the Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures. She has served as the Director of UVa Study Abroad Program and the Acting Director of the Chinese Language Program. In addition to serving as a teacher-trainer in many workshops and summer institutes on Chinese language pedagogy in the US and abroad, she has also played multi-roles in the development of AP Chinese. Her most current roles include being a Senior Reviewer for AP Chinese Course Audit and a College Board Consultant. Miao-fen is a certified OPI tester in Mandarin Chinese and also serves as a Foreign Language Program Reviewer. She has reviewed manuscripts for Foreign Language Annals and is an author of two books on teacher training and Chinese language pedagogy.

Statement

With the successful development of the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), Chinese and Asian languages have emerged as nationally critical languages. They have significantly increased their visibility and importance in educational institutions and in US government services. In the years to come, promoting Chinese and other Asian languages will become increasingly important in language organizations. As a professional in second language acquisition and teacher education in Chinese, I am fortunate to be able to witness the rising importance of Chinese and other Asian languages. For the realization of the Association’s Goal, I will endeavor to organize AAUSC sessions at their language-specific conferences, promote research on Chinese language studies and the preparation of teaching assistants, activate and recruit Asian members for the Association, and provide the most current information in the AAUSC Newsletter and at professional organizations.

Colleen Ryan-Scheutz

Biography

Colleen Ryan-Scheutz, Ph.D., Indiana University (1997). Associate Professor of Italian, Director of Italian Language Instruction, Indiana University, Bloomington. Her awards include a faculty fellowship from the American Association of University Women and a Distinguished Female Faculty Award and Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching Award from the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of Sex, the Self, and the Sacred: Women in the Cinema of Pier Paolo Pasolini (University of Toronto, 2007) and co-editor of Set the Stage! Italian Language, Literature, and Culture through Theater. Theoretical and Practical Perspectives. (forthcoming Yale, 2008). She has written articles on Italian women writers, gender representations in Italian cinema, Italian curriculum development, content-enhanced teaching, teaching foreign languages through theater, and teacher training and professional development for Italian. Colleen Ryan-Scheutz served as Director of the Italian Language program at the University of Notre Dame from 1998-2007 and on the original Task Force and Development Committees for the College Board’s new Advanced Placement course for Italian Language and Culture (2002-2006). Currently, she is a Senior Reviewer for AP Italian Language and Culture curriculum documentation.

Statement

For several years I have been interested in helping Italian language programs gain visibility by becoming members of the AAUSC.  Therefore, one of my primary commitments as Italian section head would be to increase awareness of the AAUSC organization and, thereby, increase membership for Italian.  A member of the AAUSC for almost 10 years, I am personally committed to attending annual meetings, to gathering and divulging information about Italian language programs across the country via the Newsletter, and to contributing on committees and subcommittees as needed. Most importantly, however, I look forward to partaking in and representing Italian in the important dialogue and scholarly work being done by AAUSC colleagues across languages and nationwide.

Alessandro Zannirato

Biography

Alessandro Zannirato is senior lecturer and Director of the Italian Language Program at Johns Hopkins University. He received a degree in liaison interpreting from Milan's Civica Scuola per Interpreti e Traduttori (now ISIT), a laurea in Conference Interpreting from S. Pio V University, and a PhD with a double concentration in Second Language Acquisition and Interpreter Training from the University of Cape Town. He is a sworn translator of the High Court of South Africa, and has worked as a teacher, teacher trainer, technical translator and interpreter for various institutions. His research interests include foreign language program evaluation, interpreter training and L2 teacher development.

Statement 

By accepting the invitation to run for the position of Italian Section Head, I hope that I will be able to contribute to the professionalization of the teaching of Italian at the college level. Being a language program director, I am familiar with the challenges of our profession. In order for a language program to thrive, much is needed in terms of administrative expertise, strategic skills and vision. If all these aspects are important, however, a solid preparation in foreign language teaching, Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and/or teacher training is of paramount importance. Having a PhD with a concentration in SLA, a certificate in Foreign Language Program Evaluation and a postgraduate degree in Teacher Training, I could be a point of reference especially for those program directors who specialize in literature or related fields. Furthermore, I learned from experience how hard it is to be 'thrown into the water'. When I was hired as a program director, I would have found it extremely useful to receive some mentoring from more experienced program directors, an option that at the time was not available. Coordinating a mentoring program would certainly be a useful service to the academic community.

I would also like to mention an aspect that is specific to Italian. Participation in Italian conferences usually leaves me with mixed feelings. While I have met Italian language coordinators with at least some training in SLA/foreign language teaching, a good number of Italian coordinators appear to be specializing in literature and have little background in applied linguistics. Moreover, a quick look at recent job advertisements for such positions reveals that training in SLA or foreign language pedagogy is often a desirable but not required qualification. This poses a challenge to the evolution of the teaching of Italian as a foreign language. I hope that, if elected, I will be able not only to share my knowledge of SLA and teacher training to the best of my ability, but also to facilitate an exchange of ideas on the importance of applied linguistics.

Mary O'Donnell

Biography

Mary O’Donnell is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Purdue University where she is the Faculty Coordinator of Intermediate Spanish. Most recently, she has been teaching the second language pedagogy courses for all new instructors throughout the department. In addition, she is in charge of the training and supervision of the Lecturers and Teaching Assistants in Spanish and coordinates second-year language courses (50+ sections). As well as teaching the FL methods courses, she also teaches graduate courses in second language reading. Within the department, Dr. O’Donnell serves on the Language Coordinators’ Committee and is currently working with colleagues to re-structure the Spanish language sequence. Since arriving at Purdue, she has been instrumental in making major changes to the orientation process for new instructors in the Foreign Language Department. 

Although a relative newcomer to Purdue, as a recent graduate student at the University of Iowa, Dr. O’Donnell supervised fourth-semester Spanish while obtaining her degree in Second Language Acquisition with a specialization in Program Direction. Before returning for her Ph.D., she also supervised Beginning and Elementary Spanish at the University of Notre Dame and was a founding member of the Foreign Languages Advisory Committee, a committee formed to advocate a more prominent role for both language instruction and for those teaching language courses at the university level. She has also been active for a number of years in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), a group comprised of Big Ten university language coordinators and supervisors.

Statement

Early in my academic career, I realized that my passion for language instruction made me somewhat of an anomaly among my classmates and colleagues. For most, learning language was merely a stepping-stone to greater, more lofty pursuits. Even today when most academicians recognize SLA as a valid discipline, I still find myself explaining what a program director does and, more importantly, why language departments need individuals to coordinate and supervisor language courses. Because of large student enrollments and multiple-section courses, Spanish departments have been some of the first to recognize the need for course supervision. But despite this recognition, one still hears stories about individuals who are asked to do program coordination as an add-on service on top of a full teaching load or of language programs led by a “good teacher” who was asked to oversee all aspects of language instruction.  When I hear such stories, I fully appreciate the importance of having a professional organization such as the AAUSC. In this organization, we find like-minded language professionals who share our unique challenges and concerns, not the least of which being the edification of our colleagues as to the importance of well-trained and well-supported faculty to supervise language instruction. As the Spanish Head of the AAUSC, I hope to facilitate communication across institutions so that coordinators can share their challenges and concerns, but more important, their innovative approaches to program management and coordination. Additionally, I see the role of the Spanish Head as someone who gathers and shares information about what is happening in language program direction currently so as to use that data to optimize the quality of our work and that of language instruction at the university level.

Fernando Rubio

Biography

Fernando Rubio (Ph.D. SUNY Buffalo 2000) is Associate Professor of Spanish and Co-Chair of the Department of Languages and Literature at the University of Utah. He teaches courses in Spanish linguistics and L2 teaching methodologies and also directs the Spanish language program. He is a certified OPI tester in Spanish.

Rubio’s main areas of research and publication are second language acquisition, teaching methodologies, and the role of technology in the language classroom. He has published articles in Foreign Language Annals, Revista Electrónica de Lingüística Aplicada and Academic Exchange Quarterly among others. He is currently writing a web-based advanced grammar and composition textbook.

Statement

I have been a member of the AAUSC for 6 years, have participated in its sessions at ACTFL, and have served as a reviewer for its volume.  I have seen the organization grow and am excited to help move it forward further. I have eight years of experience directing Spanish language programs, which, together with my current experience as department chair, has helped me to acquire an understanding of the needs of both experienced and new colleagues in our field. AAUSC is currently at a crucial juncture.  We need to capitalize on the work that the organization has done in the past few years by taking the next step and reaching out to a larger audience. I see the Spanish Section as our natural discussion place.  We need to create a forum that will allow us to exchange ideas and scholarly and pedagogical information related to the present and future of Spanish language programs and our roles as LPDs.