Raquel Goebel, Director of the Portuguese Language Program and Instructor in Portuguese in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, is the recipient of “The Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTL) Partnership grant,” which is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and housed at the Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA) at Michigan State University.

This is a cross-university initiative within the Big Ten Academic Alliance. Raquel will collaborate with colleagues from Michigan State and University of Chicago in developing an online model of LCTL instruction that reflects best practices in proficiency-oriented instruction. The project includes research in LCTL proficiency assessment, goal setting, curricular and technological innovations, as well as teacher education and professional development.

Born in Fortaleza, Brazil, Raquel has a law degree and a specialization in tax law and legal proceedings from the University of Fortaleza- UNIFOR, Brazil, and a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from Troy University, Alabama.

She joined the department as a Visiting Instructor of Portuguese in 2011. Raquel became Director of the Portuguese Language Program in the Fall of 2017.