PRO: Professional Research Opportunities

Maria Klecko Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) for Adults at U.S. Colleges for Academic Purposes This Professional Research Option project explores Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) for adults, with a particular focus on educating students in community colleges and universities for academic purposes in the United States. TESOL is an expansive field that covers many age groups, English proficiency levels, and contexts. This paper details the history of the field in general, including its origins and methodologies, as well as the origins of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). It also includes an explanation of the English proficiency levels and the four skills English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) educators teach: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, in addition to grammar instruction. There is an overview of the field today, too, including current issues, requirements, prospects, and various community colleges and universitie...

Cara Koontz Public Relations In a recent article for the Huffington Post, Barry Kluger, a self-identified “PR veteran” with over 35 years of experience wrote, “my job is to make my clients relevant” (“Relevant Matters”). “Relevance,” according to Kluger, can be associated with words like “connected, useful, and helpful.”  What do we make of this association? Of relevance and public relations? How does a public relations specialist “connect” their client and to whom do they connect them? This paper will explore the ways in which public relations makes relevant the given proceedings of a particular client or organization. Specifically, our research will take a “political bent,” as we exam how public relations exists in the sphere of government and politics. We will evaluate the evolution of public relations, the skills necessary for such a profession, and the current trajectory of the field. Implicitly, this paper hopes to identify the ways in which a degree in English might serv...