World Languages Academic Advisory Committee
Committee Members
Martin J. Smith (Chair)
Supervisor of World Languages and ESL, Edison Township Public Schools, New JerseyMartin Smith's career in education spans 28 years: five years in speech communication at Temple University; 12 years as a teacher of Spanish and French; and 13 years of language supervision. For the past six years, Smith has taught courses in standards-based methodology, assessment and technology use in the Masters of Arts for Teachers (MAT) program of the World Language Institute for Rutgers University. He is currently a member of the New Jersey Department of Education Standards Clarification Project and serves on the Executive Board of Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL)/National Council for Languages and International Studies (NCLIS). He is past president of the Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey and was co-chair of the New Jersey Standards Revision Project. Smith served as a member of the Consensus Planning Committee for the Foreign Language National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and as a member of the writing team for the New Jersey World Languages Curriculum Framework. He has made numerous presentations at local, state, regional and national conferences on the topics of curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development and technology in foreign languages.
Back to TopMartha G. Abbott
Director of Education, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign LanguagesMarty Abbott is currently the Director of Education for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Prior to this, Abbott served in the Fairfax County Public Schools as a language teacher, foreign language coordinator and director of High School Instruction. She has served on national committees to develop student standards, beginning teacher standards and performance assessments in foreign languages. She was Chair of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in 1999 and president of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in 2003. Abbott also co-chaired the national public awareness campaign “2005: The Year of Languages.” She holds a B.A. in Spanish with a minor in Latin from the University of Mary Washington and a master's degree in Spanish Linguistics from Georgetown University.
Back to TopJianhua Bai
Professor of Chinese, Department of Modern Languages and Literature Chair, Kenyon CollegeIn addition to his posts at Kenyon College, Jianhua Bai serves as the director of the Chinese School of Middlebury College. His research interests include applied linguistics, proficiency-based material development, integration of multimedia and distance-learning technology into the Chinese-language curriculum and action research. He is a lifetime member of the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA), where he served on the Executive Board for two terms (1995-98 and 2001-04), chaired four subcommittees and served as president from 2003-04. Bai is also an active member of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the Ohio Foreign Language Association (OFLA), the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL), and the American Association of University Supervisors and Coordinators and Directors of Language Programs (AAUSC).
Back to TopDan E. Davidson
President, American Councils for International Education; ACTR/ACCELS Professor of Russian and Second Language Acquisition, Bryn Mawr CollegeDan E. Davidson received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Harvard University. He is the author and editor of 44 books and more than 60 articles in the fields of Russian language, culture and educational development, including a major 20-year longitudinal study of adult second language acquisition. He has directed 30 Ph.D. dissertations, and from 1992–1995, served as co-chairman of the Transformation of the Humanities and Social Sciences initiative sponsored by philanthropist George Soros. Dr. Davidson is the chair of the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL) in Russia and board member of a number of universities and international organizations. He is a foreign elected member of the Russian Academy of Pedagogical Sciences (RAO) and recipient of honorary doctoral degrees from RAN and three other institutions of higher learning. He has received awards for distinguished service to the profession from the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) and the Modern Language Association (ADFL/MLA). In 2005 he received the Kyrgyz National Medal of Honor (“Dank”).
Back to TopDolores Durán-Cerda
Faculty in Spanish Language and Latin American Literature, Department of World Languages, Pima Community College, Tucson, ArizonaDolores Durán-Cerda holds a B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa) in Spanish, French and Secondary Education from the University of Iowa; an M.A. in Hispanic literature; and a Ph.D. in Latin American literature from the University of Arizona. Currently, she is a full-time faculty member at Pima Community College-Downtown Campus where she teaches all levels of Spanish language, including web-hybrid formats, Spanish for Heritage Learners, Latin American literature and beginning French. She is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Arizona–South where she teaches advanced courses in Mexican and Mexican-American literature, civilization and Spanish grammar and composition.
Currently, she serves as faculty co-chair of her institution's World Languages College Discipline Area Committee and is its Discipline Standards Specialist. She also serves on the PCC Academic Standards and Student Learning Outcomes Committees, and on the State Languages Articulation Task Force. An active member of the University of Arizona's sponsored Partnership Across Languages (PAL), Durán-Cerda is president-elect of the Arizona Language Association (AZLA); Southern Arizona representative to the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP); and recently completed her three-year term on the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching (SWCOLT) board.
Durán-Cerda has received several awards for excellence in teaching and service from Pima Community College, the University of Arizona and most recently, the Dr. Dolores Brown Award from the Arizona Chapter of AATSP. In addition, she received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute, has published and translated articles, and has presented at national and international conferences on pedagogy and literature.
Back to TopDianah Jackson
Instructor West Sound Academy, Poulsbo, WashingtonDianah Jackson is a high school Humanities and French teacher at West Sound Academy, a college preparatory school in Washington State. She began teaching high school after 25 years of university teaching in French language and literature and the Humanities. After receiving her masters in Comparative Literature from the University of Iowa and her doctorate in Eighteenth-Century French Studies from the University of Minnesota, Jackson taught undergraduate and graduate courses in French and Italian at the University of Washington. She also sat on the commission for the redesign of the AP® French Literature exam for the College Board.
Back to TopLaurel Rodd
Professor of Japanese, Director of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of ColoradoLaurel Rodd's research interests center on Japanese poetry, women's literature, Buddhist literature and the intersections of language and literature pedagogy. A past president of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, she continues to be active in the field of Japanese education and currently serves as Chief Reader for the AP Japanese Language and Culture program. She has led summer study programs in Japan, helped to organized exchange programs with several Japanese universities and led a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad institute for secondary teachers of history, literature, art and AP Japanese on Bashō and his Journey to the Interior in the summer of 2009.
Back to TopWiebke Strehl
Associate Professor of German, Academic Director of the Ted Mimms Foreign Language Learning Center, University of South Carolina, ColumbiaWiebke Strehl holds a Ph.D. from Penn State University. She has been active with the AP German Language exam for more than 10 years and is currently the Chief Reader. Strehl is a frequent presenter on the teaching of German on all levels with a special focus on holistic grading. She is also the Academic Director of the Language Learning Center at the University of South Carolina which supports 14 languages. She is an active member of American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) as well as of the South Carolina Council on Languages. Besides her interest in teaching methodology, Strehl continues her research on the 19th century German Realist Theodor Storm and the literature of German Realism.
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