An update from Illinois State University alumna Alicia (Andreani) Edwards, who earned her M.A. (French) in 2011 from the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.

“I am currently the student academic affairs coordinator for the College of Science at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. I have worked as an adjunct French instructor and the assistant for activities at the Center for Global Education at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio. I have also spent three years working in libraries.

I have my current job because of the administrative and research experience I gained as a research assistant for Dr. Susan Hildebrandt at Illinois State.

My degree from Illinois State had me completely prepared to enter a college classroom and work with international and prospective study abroad students at Mount Union. I unfortunately had to leave to find full-time work, but these jobs were what I trained for and I enjoyed them immensely. I hope to someday find something similar in a full-time capacity.

I used my knowledge of second-language acquisition that I learned from Dr. Montserrat Mir and Dr. Hildebrandt to begin a monthly Spanish Story Time program during my time as a library staff member at my hometown public library for the Spanish-speaking children in our community.

My time at Illinois State was one of the best periods of my life!”