Gayle Nelson, Professor and former Chair of the Department (2000-2007), joined the Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL at Georgia State University in 1990 after receiving her PhD in intercultural communication from the University of Minnesota. Previously, she had taught EFL and ESL -- at the American University in Cairo, West Virginia University, Kuwait University, and a Ugandan secondary school. In 1995-6, she received a Fulbright senior lecture position at La Universidad de las Americas in Mexico for one year where she taught and conducted research and in the Fall semester, 2006, she taught at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Nelson’s research areas include the effectiveness of particular teaching techniques in various contexts, the role of sociocultural factors on language teaching and learning, issues related to second language writing, and cross-cultural pragmatics. As an advocate of international education, she administers programs between GSU applied linguistics students and Bogazici University in Istanbul and Tsinghua University in China. Currently, she is directing a North American Mobility grant, sponsored by three governments, that links universities in Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. and sponsors student exchanges. She also co-directed (with Pat Byrd) a series of funded USAID training programs for Egyptian English language teachers and has conducted numerous teacher training workshops in Morocco, Egypt and Mexico. She is on the editorial board for the Journal of Second Language Writing, reviews manuscripts for numerous other journals, and has published numerous book chapters and book reviews. Her work has been published in Applied Linguistics, TESOL Quarterly, Journal of Second Language Writing, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Matters, International Journal of International Relations, and Spanish Applied Linguistics among others. She co-authored and co-edited several volumes including Sustaining Professionalism (with Pat Byrd), published by TESOL.