My professional journey began with teaching English to Soviet refugees who had relinquished outstanding careers as lawyers, doctors, musicians and scholars to seek freedom in a new land. Not only were these interactions personally and professionally rewarding, but they also awakened in me a deep interest in seeking to understand the infinite and intricate layers of culture and its impact on human interactions and relationships.
After seven years supporting refugees from a wide variety of backgrounds, I became an English instructor at Bayer Corporation, where I assisted senior executives, their partners and children move from surviving to thriving in the American culture through enhancing their communication skills and moving toward multiculturalism. While continuing my work with Bayer Corporation, I founded Intercultural Communication, Inc., to enable my instructors and myself to provide similar services to many other corporations and health service organizations.
From neurosurgeons and cardiovascular surgeons to chief executive officers and senior vice presidents, I have learned the English language and cross-cultural communication challenges they and their families face during their international experiences. From my over twenty years of experience as a full-time faculty member at Duquesne University, I have learned best practices in language instruction and multi-cultural training for cultural awareness and understanding. My passion is to share this understanding with my students as they simultaneously educate me in new cultural and language differences.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts, Washington & Jefferson College
French and English
Certification in Secondary Education in English and K-12 Certification in French
Master´s Degree of Arts, Carnegie Mellon University
English, Linguistics, and Curriculum Development
WORK HISTORY USA
Intercultural Communications, Inc. 1995- present
Founder and Owner, Language instruction, cross-cultural training
Assistant professor, Duquesne University 2001 – present
English instructor, cross-cultural instructor, learning technology coordinator, speaking-listening curriculum coordinator
Bayer Corporation 1987-2001
English Instructor and Intercultural Consultant for Executives
Allegheny Intermediate Unit 1980 - 1987
English instructor for visiting scholars, students, and refugees
Business Consortium for International Language and Cultural Professionals
Co-Founder