Executive Board Candidates
MCTLC is pleased to announce the 2014 candidates for the executive board. All MCTLC members will have the opportunity to vote on this year’s nominees at the annual business meeting held on October 24th at the Fall Conference. All members not in attendance at the meeting may vote by proxy by visiting the Fall Conference 2014 page on the MCTLC website.
Candidate for Vice President
Allison Spenader
Please consider supporting my candidacy for Vice President of MCTLC. I am currently Treasurer of MCTLC, and have held that position since 2011. I work as an Associate Professor in the Education Department at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, and hold a Ph.D. in Second Languages and Cultures Education from the University of Minnesota. I teach both World Languages and ESL methods, as well as foundations courses and Theoretical Foundations of ESL. My research focuses on intercultural development and language proficiency in high school and college study abroad, language teacher education, as well as Less Commonly Taught Languages.
I recently retired from my role as Dean of Sjölunden, the Swedish Language Village at Concordia Language Villages. I worked at the Swedish village for 22 summers in various roles, and also represented Nordic languages and English programs on the Executive Council, and advisory body at the Village. Every summer, I also teach a course in Content Based Language Instruction as part of Concordia College’s Masters’ in World Languages Education program.
I am actively involved in the Nordic community in Minnesota. I spearheaded and chaired the ACTFL National Standards for Scandinavian Languages initiative, which resulted in published K-16 standards for Danish, Norwegian and Swedish in 2012. In addition to Swedish, I have also studed Finnish, Polish, German and Mandarin Chinese.
I have been an active member of MCTLC since 2002, and recently wrote a successful grant proposal for our organization, which allowed us to offer numerous workshops around Minnesota in 2013 and 2014. I believe strongly in the mission of MCTLC and in the importance of offering quality professional development and networking opportunities to language teachers in all languages, in all types of programs. I would be honored to serve MCTLC as Vice President.
Candidate for Treasurer
Kimerly Miller
I began my language educator career as a secondary French teacher and multi-level ESL instructor. In the 1990s I co-founded one of the first language immersion schools in St. Paul and immersion education has been my professional focus since that time. I am currently the webmaster for the Minnesota Advocates for Immersion Network, an affiliate organization of MCTLC for which I have been the representative on the board of MCTLC since 2009. I also do consulting work in immersion and elementary education. I am interested in the position of MCTLC Treasurer in order to learn more about nonprofit finances and to continue my professional commitment to language education in Minnesota.
Candidates for Secretary
Grant Boulanger
I am a language educator and potter who has taught in and directed innovative language programs since 1997 and I am very excited about taking a dedicated role with MCTLC. A Gustavus Adolphus College graduate, I hold an M.Ed. in Second Languages and Cultures Education from the U of MN and teach in the North St. Paul, Maplewood, Oakdale District.
I strive to create a sense of belonging and high degrees of confidence and competence at novice levels with increased achievement and enrollment at upper levels. I believe ALL students can acquire a second (third!) language. I have taught in both experiential and academic immersion programs (CLV and Robbinsdale) and directed Middlebury College’s first foray into secondary immersion programming. But I have discovered my passion and my calling is to reach and teach novice level students.
I present at state and national conferences, including the National TPRS® Conference and the International Forum on Language Teaching.
Mary Lynn Montgomery
As a world language teacher, I first became involved with professional organizations out of a sense of responsibility – I believe that all teachers should be involved professionally. But what has kept me involved is what these organizations have given me, and I look forward to the possibility of being involved with the great work that MCTLC does for world language teachers in Minnesota.
After graduating from St. Olaf College, I began my teaching career in Minneapolis Public Schools as a Spanish teacher. I also taught Spanish and French at Coon Rapids High School before enrolling in a PhD program in Curriculum and Instruction – Second Languages and Cultures at the University of Minnesota. I currently work with U of MN students pursuing a teaching license in world languages and/or ESL, supervising them during their student teaching experience.
I am a member of AATF and AATSP. I coordinated Festival Quijote, the state Spanish contest, from 2008-2011 and I served as MN-AATSP President for 2012-13. I feel that these experiences have given me the experience necessary to serve as Secretary of MCTLC and I would appreciate the opportunity to be more involved with our organization.
