After finishing his PhD in East Asian Languages and Cultures at the U of I in August, Mark Frank took up the position of Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer in the Environmental Humanities at Yale University for 2020-2021. Mark said that this is primarily a research position that would afford him the time and resources to develop his first book, but he is also teaching a course at Yale in the...

Sun Joo Chung (MATESL 2012, PhD Educational Psychology, 2014) is an assistant professor in the Department of English Literature and Linguistics at Gachon University in South Korea. She’s currently teaching undergraduate students who want to become EFL teachers in Gachon's teacher training program, and developing general education EFL courses for undergraduates at the university. ...

Lauren Ficek (BA, Spanish, 2014) is currently working as an Industrial Hygienist contracted with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md. In her work she supports four main programs: water and mold incursion investigation, oxygen monitoring, ergonomics, and respiratory protection, in order to maintain the health and safety of the employees of the NIH. Quote: Majoring in...

Lydia Catedral (PhD, Linguistics, 2018) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Translation at the City University of Hong Kong. She is currently teaching a General Education course called "Image of the City". She also has taught sociolinguistics, conversation analysis, pragmatics, and field and research methods in linguistics. She works in both sociolinguistics and...

When Max Colon learned he was accepted as one of the inaugural Lincoln Scholars back in 2012, just ahead of his freshman year at Illinois, he was shocked and overjoyed. Seven years later, after earning bachelor’s degrees in psychology and Spanish and a master’s degree in human resources and industrial relations, he accepted a position in the human resources development program at Grainger, a...

Barbara Barackman DeBolt graduated from the U of I in 1964 with a BA in French. She resided in the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority house all four years. After graduation she returned home to Chicago Heights and married soon after. Barbara taught French at Tinley Park High School, then had two babies, and returned to teaching French at the junior high level for seven more years. During four of those...

Asura Louise Osborne, who graduated in May 2018 with a minor in Italian, is a recipient of the Dante Society of America Prize for an undergraduate essay. She wrote her essay during the 2017-18 academic year for Italian 413, taught by Dr. Corey Flack.  Osborne is one of only three winners in the competition for the 2018 calendar year. Since 1887 The Dante Society of...

Just a few months after earning her bachelor’s degree at UIUC, Emily Doehring hopped on a plane and moved to South Korea. Still in Korea, she now works as an English teacher at a small, rural elementary school in Gangwon-do Province through the TaLK Scholarship Program. She assists her homeroom teacher’s English classes and teaches several of her own lessons every week. “My...

Jessica Romero, a 2018 graduate in Spanish and Portuguese, has been offered a highly prestigious Fulbright grant for 2018-19, awarding her the opportunity to pursue international research, educational, and teaching experiences. The, provided by the U.S. government, approximately 2,100 U.S. citizens will travel abroad for the 2018-19 academic year through the U.S. Student Program Fulbright...

Aiyu (Iris) Zhang graduated in 2013 with a BA in East Asian Languages and Cultures, concentrating on the teaching of K- through12th-grade Mandarin Chinese. She also received a teacher education minor in ELL (English language learners). She is currently a 6th-8th grade Mandarin teacher at Maple School in Northbrook/Glenview School District 30. Students there have the opportunity to take Spanish...