Alumni

Latest News:

Pei-Wen Juan has been hired as an ESL teacher in the affiliated elementary school of Tunghai University, located in the middle part of Taiwan.

What some of our Undergraduate Alumni are doing: 

Robin Banks (B.A., Cross-Linguistics, 2003) is Assistant Language (English) Teacher in Nagoya, Japan as part of the JET program. 
Beth Browning (B.A., Cross-Linguistics, 2004) is now Beth Ahmad, as of July 27, 2007.  She has started a new job at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indianapolis as a Speech-Language Pathologist and Augmentative Communication Specialist, which means working with individuals who cannot/do not communicate thru verbal speech - they require some type of picture symbol, voice output, or high tech communication system. She works with children ages 0-12 and considers it her "dream job."
Beth Campbell Adams (Linguistics minor, 2002) writes, "For over a year, I have been a successful writer for a website called Helium.com, which publishes magazine-style articles on a variety of topics. (I write under the nom de plume Joyce D. Sinclair.) I write mostly about news/politics, education, parenting, language and literature. I'm still working on writing my book on essay writing, but I did finish creating a set of bilingual children's books. In the meantime, we moved to Chicago's South Side in September 2008 (in the house where he grew up). Our daughter, Marisa, is now three years old, and we just had a son, Jabari, who was born November 19, 2008. I'm planning on working on my Master's degree in English literature from Chicago State University during the fall of 2009. I still continue to study Japanese and Portuguese as much as I can.You can contact her at indykayo@hotmail.com.
Jennifer Campbell Lopushok (BA 2000) invites you to visit her website at http://www.geocities.com/asfoora_abla/index.html  She is now employed by an Interlink Language
Center in Colorado.
Omar Dione (B.A. in Cross-Linguistics 2007), a former Fulbright student from Senegal, is doing his student teaching this spring in Senegal to get a teacher's license for the middle and high schools. 
Tiffany Halleck  now has a son, Dylan, born on November 21, 2004. She is on the brink of owning and running her own business.
Amy Harris (BA in French and History, 2004) has been awarded a Purdue Doctoral Fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. in history, beginning Fall 2007. The award offers benefits equivalent to about $43,000, including two years of tuition, stipend, health insurance, and a potential opportunity to earn two additional years of funding and tuition waivers as a teaching or research assistant.
Aldiouma Kodio (B.A. in Cross-Linguistics, 2007) is now back in Mali and teaching. Click here for a photo of him and his students at their school.
Paul Kranawetter (B.A., minor in Linguistics 2001) is employed at Veco Alaska, Inc., and uses his knowledge of American dialects to work as a dialect coach for a couple of theater companies. He has himself portrayed Thomas Jefferson in 1776.
Chaelee (Patrick) Madison (B.A., Foreign Language Concentration International Studies, 1998; Graduate Certificate in TESL, 2006) is teaching in Postville, Iowa.  One class is part of a family literacy program out of a local college, and she's also part of a group that's working with Iowa Public Television to begin a book club for the Hispanic population in the community.  She writes, "Thank you so much for your part in preparing me for this new adventurous undertaking!"
Misty Mercer (Cross-Linguistics, B.A. 2004) has been accepted into IU Law School and will be starting this Fall 2008.
Anne Newton (B.A. in Spanish, 1999) is now an attorney for Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP, in Washington, D. C.  She writes:  While in law school, I was able to obtain valuable work experience in Mexico because of the language skills I gained while at ISU. Now that I am working in Washington, DC as an attorney, I don't get to use my Spanish job but I have been so happy to have my language skills in my travels to Spain and Latin America.
Yukiyo Okamoto (B.A. Cross-Linguistics 2001) has been studying Japanese to English translation
for two years in Tokyo, worked as an in-house translator for six months in 2003, and plans to work in the future as a freelance translator.
Amanda Pendley (B.A. Cross-Linguistics 2007) will be attending the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, to continue her studies as a Graduate student in Linguistics. She graduated from ISU Magna cum Laude and has since earned a TESL Certificate from ISU, bought her first house in Jeffersonville, IN, on the Ohio River, been promoted to a 1st Lieutenant in Military Intelligence with the Army, and is now serving as active duty until mid-August 2008. Currently she has been working side-by-side with military intelligence in assisting International Officers from Mongolia, Taiwan, and Hungary who are representatives from their countries and officers as well in their armies. Her ultimate goal is to earn a Doctorate after her Master's in Linguistics.
Kristen Perry (B.A. in Spanish 1998) is ENL (English as a New Language) Liaison and Teacher for the Wayne Township Schools-Indianapolis.  She says, "After teaching Spanish and ESL in the Orlando area for two years, I am now in Indianapolis. I am currently in charge of the ENL program at a high school on the Southwest side. We have over 45 languages in our district so it's quite exciting!"
Kori Ransome is a Spanish teacher at Cascade High School in Clayton.
Mary Steppe was voted Indiana Classical Conference's Latin Teacher of the Year at IFLTA 2006.
Michael Taylor is at IU-Bloomington, getting an MLS and specializing in rare books librarianship. He has a student job at the Lilly Library and will be doing an internship there this summer ('05) with the curators.
James L. Thompson (B.A. in Cross-Linguistics 2000) is an English Language Teacher at the Osceola District Public Schools in Kissimmee, Florida--less than 10 miles from Disney World, Sea World, and Universal Studios.
Mary Ellen Wright in 2006 was selected as the IFLTA High School Teacher of the Year.

What some of our Graduate Alumni are doing:

Al-Dossari, Mohammed N. (M.A. TESL 1999, Ph.D. Boston University 2004).  Assistant Professor, The Saudi Ministry of the Interior, King Fahd Security College.
Chizu Asai (M.A. Linguistics 2003) has entered the Asian Studies Masters Program at Seton Hall University. She I will be working as a teaching assistant in addition to taking classes.
Toshihiru Asai (M.A. 2002) is teaching Japanese at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY.
Crystal Baer Green (Graduate Certificate, 2004) and her husband Weldon have been accepted to teach English in Aomori, Japan, through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, starting July 28, 2007.  Fall 2009 Crystal will begin a Master's in International Education Policy At Harvard U. Karla Barahona Razor (M.A. 2002) is teaching classes in Spanish at Depauw University and Indiana State, while working on her ISU CIMT Ph.D.
Chia-Ling Chiang (M.A. 2006) is working full-time in the human resources department of a personal computer company in San Jose, California. 
Peter Chou (M.A. 2004) is pursuing his doctorate at ISU in CIMT-Language Education.
Jeff Cutright (M.A. 2007) is studying history at Eastern Illinois University.
Carmen Doades (M.A. 2005) is teaching Spanish at Ivy Tech College in Muncie, Indiana.
Amie Doughty (M.A.1994 Linguistics) received a Ph.D. in 2000 from the University of Oklahoma and will be starting a new position as Assistant Professor of English at SUNY, College at Oneonta Fall 2006.  In addition, she has just published her first book: Folktales Retold: A Critical
Overview of Stories Rewritten for Children (McFarland Publishers). Her new e-mail address is <doughtaa@oneonta.edu>.  She will soon have a new website through SUNY-Oneonta.
Deborah Haberkorn (M.A. 2005) is now in the ISU CIMT-Language Education Ph.D. program. She spent 3 weeks in July 05, working as an ESL teacher and activity coordinator with 48 Argentinian high schoolers at University of Evansville.  She also taught Beginning Level Chinese Mandarin, to adult learners at the UE Continuing Education Department from September to November, 2005.
Eduard Hanganu (M.A. 2004), in addition to his regular job, has become a part-time instructor at Ivy Tech College in Evansville, teaching two classes of English composition (F'04).
Jin-yi Hong (M.A. 2003) is teaching EFL in Korea.
Heain Jeong (M.A. 2004) is the Director of Research and Development at YBM Sisa Company.  She creates programs for children, sets up curricula, and publishes books.  YBM Sisa is a large company and needs many native English-speaking teachers. Heain will gladly help anyone from the department who is interested in teaching in Korea.
Seong-yoon Kang (M.A. 2002) is in charge of the TOEIC SCU intensive language program in the International Education Institute, Kyungnam University, in addition to teaching conversational English and other courses. He has returned (Spring 2006) to ISU to pursue a doctorate in the CIMT Language Education program.
I-wen Lai (M.A. 2001) is a doctoral student in linguistics at the University of Texas in Austin.  She has returned from Peru, where she was working on the Zaparoa language under the aegis of the Endangered Language Foundation.
Micah Martin (M.A. 2007) is pursuing a doctorate at U. of California-Irvine and teaching at Fullerton College.  He writes that he and Lauren and Holtzman are now at 8101 Palo Verde Road  Irvine, CA 92617, and excited to announce that they are expecting another child.  They invite you to check out their blog,  www.meetthemartins.blogspot.com, as  well as a blog Martin has started, www.verbummichaeas.blogspot.com.
Misako Matsubara (M.A.2003) is back in Indiana!  She is now at the Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literature, Goodbody Hall 224, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405.  Phone 812-855-5169.
Amanda McCracken (M.A. TESL 2002) is now coaching online (and in person for those living near Boulder) for triathlon and running events.  The D3Multisport (www.d3multisport.com) press announcement says, "Amanda McCracken of Boulder, CO joined the company on February 1st, 2007. Coach Amanda swam and ran cross country and track at Centre College in Kentucky where her athletic and academic achievements and civic contributions earned her NCAA Kentucky Woman of the Year (2000) and the state’s representative at the national ceremony. Following college, Amanda spent 2 years as an assistant coach for DePauw University ’s cross country and track programs in Indiana coaching both men and women to four conference championships and a national team debut for the men’s XC team in 2001. As an English instructor in Grenoble , France , following coaching in Indiana , Amanda had the opportunity to train with and race internationally for the Grenoble University Club. Since arriving in Boulder Amanda has coached for the Bolder Boulder Training Clubs and Boulder High Track and Cross Country teams. She has diverse multisport experience including over 30 duathlon/triathlon competitions (sprint, Olympic and 1/2 Ironman distance), 3 marathons, and several endurance team races. If you would like to contact Amanda about coaching please contact her at:: Amanda@D3Multisport.com."  
Sadiq and Jessica Midraj (M.A.s TESL and Ph.D.s CIMT) are teaching in UAE (United Arab Emirates).  Sadiq's mailing address is Dr. Sadiq Midraj, College of Education- CPD Co-Ordinator, PO Box 4783,  Zayed University, Abu Dhabi.  He coordinates professional development sessions for EFL teachers and educators.
Sook-kyung Moon (M.A. 2003) is Instructor at Sogang University Institute for English Language Education, Korea. 
Janna Moore (M.A., TESL, Fall 2007) will be teaching in Saudi Arabia at Al Yamamah
Sept 15- Jan. 15.
Keiko Nishikido (M.A. 2007) is busy teaching again in Japan.  For a picture of her and her students, click here.
Jessica Pickerel (M.A. 2008) has accepted a job in the Intensive English Program at Pittsburg State University in Kansas. 
Martina Pineiro (M.A. 2003) is working on her PhD at her home university, in Santiago de Compostela -Galicia, and teaches EFL. She has already presented her first compulsory dissertation and will soon be starting the "thesis stage."
Lauren Pollard (M.A. 2007) laurendpollard@gmail.com writes that she has enjoyed her year in South Korea so much that she plans to stay another year.  She has traveled to many places in Korea, including Cheongju, Chungju, Danyang, Gwangju, Damyang, Boseong, Busan, Geojedo and Jejudo. She got to see the Green Tea gardens, a really cool cave, a Bamboo forest, an awesome Buddhist temple by the sea,the Busan Aquarium, ...and of course the ocean! She says Jeju Island is probably the most famous vacation spot in Korea. It is a beautiful tropical island with TOO many sights to see. She did get to see an amazing waterfall, a folk village museum, and the beach even though it rained practically the whole time. Her year of teaching at my university was very good but challenging. She had wonderful students who made it really fun to teach. After a year, she has really learned to like the Korean culture. She writes, "At the beginning many of these things were hard to deal with, but now I have embraced it. I like Korean food and my tastes have definitely changed. My personal bubble has also decrease because Koreans stand very close to you when you talk. I usually now touch girl's arms when I talk to them. I like sitting on the floor, especially when it's heated! The women dress very nicely for ALL occasions so now i feel like a slob when I dress casually. The boys in Korea are also very concerned with their appearance. She'll be visiting the U.S. July 9-August 11, 2008, and would love to see people.
Kim Ruebel (Ph.D. 1999, CIMT with specialization in Language Education) is Assistant Professor of Teaching and Learning, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, where she teaches middle level curriculum and instruction, literacy assessment and instruction, early adolescent/young adult literature, ESOL methods, and LA Methods and supervises field practicums.   She is also involved with the research and writing center on technology integration, literature circles, and language/literacy issues.
Jose Sanchez (M.A. 2002) is teaching at the University of Washington..
Junya Tamagami (M.A. 2006) worked as a Japanese lecturer for George Washington University (2006-07) and at the Concordia camp (2007), after which he will return to Japan with hopes of either teaching a language or working at an educational research company.
Nuria Villalobos-Ulate (M.A. 2006) been working at Universidad Nacional (UNA) in Costa Rica, teaching 3 courses, one to current students in the English Teaching Bachelor's program about idioms and slang. She's also teaching ESP: One English conversational course to Computer Science students and a reading comprehension course for Industrial Chemistry students. She also works at the 'Centro de Estudios de Inglés Conversacional (CEIC)', teaching 2 conversational English courses.  And she's starting work on a thesis required for her to receive her Licenciatura in Applied Linguistics. She has published an article called "Living an exchange experience: Living it forever" in an on-line magazine I-Student Advisor.  This is a magazine for student advisors in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. Just click on the link below.  It might take a while to download, but Nuria's article about her ISEP experience is very interesting and begins on page 18 of this .pdf version. 
 http://www.i-studentadvisor.com/isa/volume2_issue2/US/study_guide/Study_Guide.pdf
She has also been chosen as the ISEP Ambassador of the Year (2007) and has started her own blog: http://worldexperiencenu.blogspot.com/
Jane Warren (M.A. 2002; Ph.D. 2007) completed the ISU CIMT Ph.D. and is teaching at Kalamazoo College in Michigan.

Send information to bettyphillips@indstate.edu.