Telephone: 001-662-915-1560 • Fax: 001-662-915-6958 • E-mail: iep@olemiss.edu
Click on a name below to find out more about the people listed below.
After graduating from Oxford High School, Marco Devera received his undergraduate degree from the University of Central Florida with a B.A. in Legal Studies. Marco then returned to Oxford to complete his M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in TESOL from the University of Mississippi. He began teaching in the Intensive English Program in June 2008. In addition to his studies in teaching English to speakers of other languages, Marco studied French at the university-level. He enjoys music, reading literature and playing tennis.
Brenda Hales joined the Intensive English Program in 2004 after returning from a year of teaching EFL at Hanbat National University in Daejeon, South Korea. Originally from Mississippi, Brenda received her B.A. of Education in 1970 and her M.A. in TESOL in 2002 from the University of Mississippi. After twenty years working for the state and national governments in social services and claims, she retired to raise her two sons. She became interested in ESL when she sponsored a French exchange student. She returned to the University of Mississippi to study French in 1999 and later TESOL. Brenda loves to travel and has visited 12 foreign countries. Her home is always open to international visitors.
Originally from Texas, Lance Herrington joined the Intensive English Program in 2007. He earned a B.A. in Art History from the University of Texas, and M.A. in Art History from the University of Mississippi, before returning to UM to work and study, earning a second M.A. in TESOL. Lance has taught English in Osaka, Japan, and Quito, Ecuador.
Jasmine Karlowski received her B.A. in Economics from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her M.A. in TESL from the University of Mississippi and joined as an instructor in the Intensive English Program in 2010. While earning her masters degree, she taught Community ESL classes as well as kindergarten and elementary English language learners. She currently teaches High Intermediate Reading and Cross Cultural Awareness for the Intensive English Program in addition to community ESL courses. Her research interests include bilingual classroom instruction, adult ESL curriculum, and language and identity. She is fluent in Spanish, has worked for World Vision Latin America, and has traveled extensively throughout Europe and Latin America.
Originally from New Orleans and raised on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Tracy Case Koslowski joined the UM IEP staff in 2008. She received a B.A. in Linguistics with minors in German and Russian, an M.A. in German, and an M.A. in TESL, all from the University of Mississippi. During that time, she spent a year abroad studying in Giessen, Germany; worked as an English instructor for the “Allegria” troupe of Cirque du Soleil; spent a summer doing graduate work in Klagenfurt, Austria and another summer teaching English at the Berufskolleg in Hilden, Germany; and worked as an ESL Tutor in the Oxford School District. Before becoming an instructor at UM, she spent three years teaching German at Pascagoula High School. In addition to teaching IEP classes, Tracy coordinates social activities, excursions, and community service.
Velsie Pate has been working at the University for 18 years in areas, such as Admissions, the Registrar's Office, the School of Liberal Arts, Study Abroad, the Office of Summer School, and since 2007, the Intensive English Program. She has a B.A. in Music, a B.A. in English, a M.A. in Southern Studies and is currently enrolled in the M.A. program in TESOL. Velsie also studied Spanish abroad in Costa Rica during the summer of 2003 and currently teaches one of the IEP American Culture classes. Velsie enjoys photography, gardening, petting her cats, walking for exercise, and good food.
Michael Raines currently teaches courses in the Intensive English Program as well as courses in the TESL program in the Department of Modern Languages. Originally from Tupelo, MS, Michael has been teaching ESL for a long time. He first studied and taught in Mexico City for a number of years, and after that experience, returned to the United States to finish his Ph.D. in TESOL. After finishing his degree, he accepted a position at the University of Alabama for 4½ years, where he was responsible for two programs: ESL and foreign language education and was in charge of a federal grant. He taught additional intensive TESL classes overseas. After his tenure at the University of Alabama, Michael returned to Ole Miss and taught Spanish full-time and ESL part-time for seven years. This Fall 2010, he has joined the IEP and TESL programs full-time.
Dinorah Sapp was born in Mexico City and arrived in the U.S. when she was 15
years-old to complete her high school education at a boarding school in Texas. She then went on to complete a Bachelor's degree in Music with a minor in Spanish. She also holds a Master's Degree in Language Education from Indiana University. Her ESL classroom experience has been at the elementary, high school, and university levels. She has taught courses in Reading, Writing, ESL instruction and assessment, and teaching methods, as well as Spanish and Music. Dinorah participates actively in regional conferences and was the Poster Session Leader at the 2010 TESOL convention in Boston and is a committee member for the 2011 TESOL convention in New Orleans. Dinorah has lived in Germany and Austria, and has traveled extensively throughout Europe. She enjoys traveling, reading, cooking, playing badminton, and swimming.
Tamara Warhol received her B.A. cum laude in Religion from Princeton University and her M.S.Ed. in TESOL and her Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Educational Linguistics from University of Pennsylvania. She joined the Intensive English Program as Director in Fall 2007 and additionally was appointed Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Modern Languages. Within the Department of Modern Language, she teaches classes in Descriptive Grammar, Discourse Analysis, and Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. Her research interests include classroom discourse and interaction, language socialization, and multiculturalism. Tamara has traveled, lived and worked throughout Europe, North Africa and Asia.
Graduate Instructors are pursuing the M.A. in Modern Languages with Emphasis in TESL and/or have completed their M.A. in Modern Languages and are currently pursuing a graduate degree in Education.
Kathryn Gillen
Elena Sorokova
Allison Burkette is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Modern Languages. She earned her PhD in Sociolinguistics from the University of Georgia in 2001 and currently teaches courses on a variety of sociolinguistic topics, including Dialects of American English, Language and Gender, and World Englishes. Her main areas of interest are language variation and change and Southern American English. She is the Associate Editor for Book Reviews for the journal American Speech and serves on the Executive Council of the American Dialect Society.
Donald L. Dyer is Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Professor of Russian and Linguistics at The University of Mississippi, where he has been teaching for the past 22 years. He obtained his B.A. in Russian (with Honors) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1980 and his M.A. (1982) and Ph.D. (1990) in Slavic Linguistics from the University of Chicago. Dr. Dyer teaches courses in Russian, Linguistics and Honors. His research interests include Slavic and Balkan linguistics, Bulgarian and the Romanian of Moldova, as well as languages in contact.
Esim Erdim received her first Ph.D. in American Literature from the Faculty of Letters in Ankara University, Turkey in 1974 and taught at Ege University as a professor of American Literature until 1990. She continued her studies at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, and was awarded her second Ph.D. in Translation Studies with emphasis in TESOL at the same university. She was the Director of the TESOL Program in the School of Education at the University of Mississippi from 1999 to 2006 where she was awarded tenure and became a full professor of applied linguistics. She currently teaches courses in language pedagogy and second language acquisition in the Department of Modern Languages. Her publications include articles on Walker Percy, Flannery O’Connor, Katherine A. Porter, Margaret Walker, and translations of Orhan Pamuk’s novels.
Katherine Rhodes Fields received her B.A. cum laude in Fine Art from The University of the South (Sewanee), attended The Glasgow School of Art, in Scotland, where she studied Environmental Art and as a Frank Finger Scholar, Katherine received her terminal MFA degree in Printmaking from The University of Mississippi. After nine semesters teaching at both colleges and universities in St. Louis, Missouri, she joined the Department of Art as the Acting Assistant Professor of Art in Printmaking in Fall 2008 and additionally was appointed Co-Director of Gallery 130 and Area Head of the Printmaking Division. Her print work can be found in the permanent collection of the Mississippi Museum of Art, The William D. Merwin Collection of Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Missouri, Amity Art Foundation Print Collection, Woodbridge, Connecticut and The Southern Graphics Council Print Archive. Katherine is currently developing a curriculum and textbook with Dr. Warhol.
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