Director Donald Back is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Kirsten Jensen as Associate Director of the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute (VTLCI) in Blacksburg.
Most recently employed as a visiting professor in the Foreign Languages and Literatures department at Virginia Tech, Jensen brings a wealth of language and cross cultural training experience to VTLCI. Born and raised in Australia, Jensen has traveled extensively. She has more than 30 years of teaching and training experience in Australia, Japan, and the United States. A gifted linguist, Jensen earned a BA Honors (First Class) with a double major in German and Japanese as well as an MA in German and a Diploma in Education in foreign language education, from the University of Queensland. She holds teaching certifications in the U.S. and Australia and has taught children at all levels K-12, university students and faculty, as well as professional and business people. Her other professional activities have included consulting on language and intercultural training in the U.S. and Japan, directing an annual summer intensive ESL program for Centenary College in New Jersey, and directing VT’s first Humphrey Fellows Long-term English Training Program.
In appreciation for her work in the field, Jensen was awarded a Faculty International Service Award in spring 2009 by the Virginia Tech chapter of Phi Beta Delta, a national honor society dedicated to recognizing scholarly achievement in international education.
Dr. Jensen has been affiliated with VTLCI since 2004. She completed her doctorate in Higher Education Leadership Services focusing on International Education at Old Dominion University in May 2007. She will begin at the VTLCI at the beginning of the Spring, 2010 semester
The newly established Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute (VTLCI) in the National Capital Region launched its first English Language Program (ELP) classes this summer with six international Fulbright scholars from the countries of Chile, Russia, Syria, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan. The students were placed into VTLCI by the U.S. Department of State as part of the Fulbright Foreign Student Program which requires international students to complete “pre-academic” English before moving on to earn advanced degrees in a variety of majors at universities across the United States.
After completing at Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center (NVC), two of the Fulbright scholars have gone on to pursue doctoral degrees, in Systems Engineering and in Mathematics. Three are enrolled in master’s programs, in Economics, International Relations, and Language. The sixth Fulbrighter, a researcher from Russia, is studying agriculture. The universities where they will be furthering their studies are: Portland State University, George Washington University, Brandeis University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Farleigh Dickinson University, and Kansas State University.
Director Donald Back is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Andrea Christine Todd to head expansion of the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute (VTLCI) into the National Capital Region.
Todd joins the institute as Associate Director, with extensive experience in program administration and teaching English as a second language within university settings. She comes to Virginia Tech from National Defense University where she was formerly Director of Graduate Affairs for the College of International Security Affairs. Prior to this, she managed the Higher Education Administration Doctoral Program at George Washington University. Dr. Todd has been in the English as a second language profession for 20 years, having taught with National Defense University, Northern Virginia Community College, Washington Business School, and Fairfax County Adult and Community Education. Her teaching portfolio includes the spectrum of ESL levels and skills, university-level writing for the thesis, computer assisted learning and web supported instruction.
Ms. Todd earned her doctorate in Education at George Washington University. She holds a Master of Arts degree in English Linguistics from George Mason University and earned her Bachelor's degree in Languages from Georgetown. She is proficient in Spanish and Italian.
The Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute (VTLCI) is pleased to announce the March opening of its second English Language Program at the Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church, Virginia.
Formerly known as the English Language Institute, or ELI, VTLCI’s new location in the National Capital Region is part of an expanded mission to offer its English training program for international students at other Virginia Tech locations throughout the Commonwealth.
In addition to English language, VTLCI will partner with Foreign Languages and Literatures to provide foreign language training in the region on a contract, non-degree basis to government and businesses. Also, in cooperation with the Graduate School, VTLCI will offer a non-credit course in academic and professional writing for admitted graduate students and international researchers beginning fall semester, 2009.
At the end of March, 2009 the English Language Program will again welcome the Humphrey Fellows for a Long-Term Intensive English Training Program.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program was established in 1978 to honor the public service career of its namesake. The Fellowship is a Fulbright exchange activity, with primary funding provided by the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Institute of International Education (www.iie.org) administers the program.
Areas of specialization represented by this year's group of Fellows will include Substance Abuse Education, Treatment and Policy, Public Health Policy/Management, HIV/AIDS Policy and Prevention, Law and Human Rights, Natural Resources, Environmental Policy and Climate Change, and Agriculture and Rural Development. The countries of Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burma, Cote d'Ivore, Haiti, Nepal, Syria, Vietnam, Lebanon and Argentina will be represented.
Humphrey Fellows are mid-career professionals from either developing countries or those in political transition. Fellows have demonstrated leadership skills and a record of public service. Following their English program at the Institute, Fellows will enter an intensive, non-degree program at select universities to enhance their professional, communication, and leadership skills.
More information on the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program is available at www.humphreyfellowship.org.
