Dr. Jill Beckman is the Director of the Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, as well as the DEO and Associate Professor of German.

Sarah Fagan’s research and teaching interests include Germanic linguistics, theoretical linguistics, and the German language.

Marcin Dadan is a syntactician with interest in comparative historical syntax, especially morpho-syntactic and semantic change and variation, but also generative typology, fieldwork, and language acquisition.

Jack has an M.A. in Linguistics with a focus on teaching English as a second language. He desires to enhance student learning experiences in the classroom by incorporating innovative technologies and promoting student identities. He is currently working on a project that aims to introduce virtual reality to UI courses. 

Course Management for Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Department of Linguistics, Department of German, Latin American Studies Program, and International Studies Program Graduate Coordinator for Spanish, Spanish Creative Writing, and Linguistics

Meredith Mahy Gall is the senior academic advisor for the Division of World Literatures, Languages, and Cultures (including all world languages, International Studies, linguistics, and translation) and global health studies students.

My research interests are primarily in the area of child and adult bilingual language learning, and I have explored this multi-faceted process, using experimental methods and naturalistic/corpus data. I have recently expanded into the field of experimental pragmatics, Construction(s) Grammar, and cognitive linguistics. My current projects focus on the semantic/pragmatic issues in learning article systems and implicit object constructions, as well as the use of idioms/metaphors in predicting proficiency levels in second/foreign language learning. If you have a linguistic issue you are interested in researching, please stop by to discuss your ideas!

Becky Gonzalez is a linguist specializing in multilingual language acquisition. She works in the area of syntax, with a focus on argument structure, and is especially interested in the factors (linguistic and non-linguistic) that influence linguistic outcomes in different types of multilinguals. Her research combines theoretical and experimental approaches and she works predominantly with speakers of Spanish, Portuguese, and English.

Dan graduated from the University of Iowa with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Linguistics, with a focus on teaching English as a Second Language. Prior to becoming the ESL Programs Coordinator, Dan taught English Language Learning in Iowa and New York. As the ESL Programs Coordinator, Dan strives to make the English language learning process as comprehensive and accessible as possible for University of Iowa students, faculty, and staff. He manages the English Language Center, Campus Conversation Partners, Teaching Assistant Proficiency in English, and ESL Credit programs.

Ethan is an experimental linguist and the principal investigator of the VoiceLab, focused on the variability of identity through context and experience. He holds a master’s degree in Cognitive Science from Carleton University and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Florida. Ethan's research delves into the perceptual and social experiences of linguistically diverse individuals, exploring the neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying speech perception. His interests include understanding how ecological factors, personal social network diversity, and individual factors shape speech perception. Ethan employs psycholinguistic, electrophysiological, and network science tools to explore the intersection of language, cognition, and the environment.

Emilie Maurel-Destruel's primary research explores the semantic and pragmatic underpinnings of sentence structure variation and how the principles that govern this variation are manifested in French, but also across languages. Emilie also has research interests in second language acquisition and bilingualism, studying the acquisition of pragmatic inferences and sentence structure variation in L2 learners and bilinguals.

Gabbie holds a bachelor’s degree in English. She taught English Language Learning in the Clear Creek Amana School District and worked in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Office of the Dean prior to becoming Division Administrator for the Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures in 2023. Her interests include building sustainable staffing and communication structures; fostering a strong multicultural community; and supporting the Division in its mission to advance interdisciplinary research, artistic creativity, global awareness, and the study of languages, literatures, linguistics, societies, regions, and cultures. She collaborates with the staff team and faculty leadership to facilitate administrative operations and strategic planning.

Bob McMurray studies speech perception, word recognition, word learning and neuroscience in children, adults, and impaired populations using linguistic analysis, eye-tracking, neuroscience techniques and computational models.

Melissa Meisterheim is the Director of English as a Second Language Programs as well as an Associate Professor of Instruction. Her interests include second language acquisition of vocabulary as well as curriculum design.

Mercedes Niño-Murcia, Professor in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese at the University of Iowa, is a sociocultural linguist. Her work focuses on the consequences of linguistic contact and nationalist language ideologies upon bilingual communities in Latin America and the United States. She has done research on inequalities of language policy and how sociolinguistic inequalities affect indigenous and/or immigrant groups in both rural and urban settings.  She has also written about vernacular literacies. Her current research contributes to forensic linguistics (the study of interactions between language and legal institutions) and focuses especially on contexts that shape class and race hierarchies around Latino immigrants in the USA.

I am a Master's student in the linguistics department with a focus in teaching English as a secondary language. My current interests lie in language acquisition and the barrier in spoken production of an additional language. I have a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa in Psychology.

Christine Shea is interested in how age, experience and the native language sound system interact with the perception and production of a second language. Adult second language learners approach their second language with a first language already in place. She investigates how experience with a previously acquired language affects the way learners perceive and produce a second (or third) language.