Language and Culture Institute names assistant director for academics
Pamela Smart-Smith has been named the assistant director for academics at the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute.
Smart-Smith, who has been involved with the institute since 2012, brings more than 20 years’ experience as an administrator and instructor of English as a second language. She has taught in Virginia and Georgia as well as in Spain, Poland, and England.
In her new role, Smart-Smith will provide academic guidance, training, and mentoring to instructors in the institute’s English language program. She will also advise students, observe and evaluate instructors, revise curriculum, and assist in teacher recruitment.
Smart-Smith has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master's in public administration from Old Dominion University. She also has a master's degree in education from Virginia Tech, with an emphasis on English as a second language and multicultural education; she also is working on a doctorate in curriculum and instruction.
“Pamela's passion and enthusiasm for teaching and learning will be a great asset to our program,” Director Don Back said.
With classrooms in Blacksburg as well as a new location in the National Capital Region, the Language and Culture Institute provides language instruction to more than 500 students from over 50 countries. The institute is part of Virginia Tech Outreach and International Affairs.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
Written by Rich Mathieson.
