Dr. Dawn Bikowski
Dr. Dawn Bikowski, director of the English Language Improvement Program at Ohio University, has been selected by the U.S. Department of State for a Language Specialist project in Brazil.
Bikowski is part of a select group, as her project is one of 130 that the English Language Specialist Program supports each year.
Bikowski has been invited to speak on a panel about internationalization and higher education, present on the topic of global education across the curriculum, and give a workshop on publishing and academia—taking place at the FAUBIA Brazilian Association for International Education 2020 Conference in Belo Horizonte. Other workshops that Bikowski will give within the country at various universities are on the topic of Teaching your Content in English, or English as a Medium of Instruction. This builds on grants she secured with the State Department creating and developing online classes on this topic for instructors around the world.
The English Language Specialist Program is the premier opportunity for leaders in language education and intercultural communication to enact meaningful and sustainable changes in the way that English is taught abroad. Through projects developed by U.S. embassies in more than 80 countries, EL Specialists work directly with local teacher trainers, educational leaders, and ministry of education officials to exchange knowledge, build capacity, and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions, and communities in the United States and overseas.
Bikowski has completed five specialist projects thus far: in Turkmenistan, India, Indonesia, and twice in Vietnam.
“What I enjoy about working with the U.S. State Department is the opportunities they provide—to me as a professional gaining these opportunities and making connections with other international universities, to Ohio University for the increased recognition we gain from these projects, to the faculty I meet as we learn from each other, and to the students whose lives we touch in some way. These trips are meaningful on so many levels,” notes Bikowski.
English Language Specialists are counted among the more than 50,000 individuals participating in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year. The Specialist Program is administered by the Center for Intercultural Education and Development at Georgetown University.
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