Welcome Nicole Pettitt to the LESLLA Leadership Team!

We are thrilled to welcome Nicole Pettitt to the LESLLA Board of Directors as our new Publications Coordinator! In her role, Nicole will be instrumental to the publication of the proceedings for the annual LESLLA symposia. Her expertise will greatly enhance the efficiency of the process to ensure that the LESLLA community around the world can access these important resources!

Nicole Pettitt, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Youngstown State University in Ohio, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate Linguistics courses for teachers preparing to teach English as a New Language for learners of all ages in a variety of teaching contexts. Her work with LESLLA learners began in the early 2000’s, with refugees from Somalia in her hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a teacher and administrator in a non-profit school there, she began to learn how to support adults who were new readers and writers at a time when few resources were available.

Since then, Nicole has taught, conducted teacher development, and carried out research with numerous adult and K-12 schools, teachers, and non-profits serving English Learners in several areas of the U.S. (Minnesota, Georgia, Ohio). She first attended LESLLA in 2011 at the Minneapolis Symposium, and has since attended and presented at LESLLA in San Francisco, St. Augustine, and Granada.

Nicole is co-editor (with Lisa Gonzalves, Elaine Tarone, and Theresa Wall) of the Journal of Second Language Writing’s upcoming Special Issue entitled, "Adult L2 writers with emergent literacy: Theoretical and pedagogical considerations.” As LESLLA’S first Publications Coordinator, Nicole is excited to work with authors and reviewers to build on LESLLA’s strong record of open-access publications, making the important resources of this professional community available to all.