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Dr. Margaret van Naerssen

Dr. Margaret van Naerssen, Coordinator, Cultural & Linguistic Diversity Program
Ph.D. in applied linguistics/ language acquisition from the University of Southern California , M.S. in Portuguese from Georgetown University. B.A. International Relations/ Latin American area studies, School for International Studies, American University.

Has been in the language education field for 41 years, in both second and foreign language settings. Her areas of work have included language teaching, materials and program development (including a published textbook and chapters in 3 professional books), teacher training, program planning, administration, and evaluation, research and supervision of research, testing (both as an examiner and as a test developer), professional manuscript review for a number of professional journals either as a regular or occasional reviewer, collaboration with other professional organizations (related to linguistics and other disciplines and related to workplace/ industry sectors).

Has worked with US federal, state, and local educational agencies and individual schools and post-secondary institutions, Native American tribal offices and schools, federal agencies (outside of education), US Congressional offices, language education organizations such as the Center for Applied Linguistics and the School for International Training, the USIA (now State Department) and US Agency for International Development, and federal and state legal systems and a government--labor arbitration board (the legal work has been in forensic linguistics), testing organizations, and workplace institutions such as , hospitals, banks, hotels, food service, etc.
Has also worked with the United Nations (refugee work and work on a search team for a new English language coordinator), various ministries of education outside of the U.S., private foundations (non-US), teachers organizations outside of the USA.

Since 1997 has also done expert consultant/witness work in forensic linguistics at the federal and state level, in criminal and civil cases involving murder, drugs, money laundering, robbery, fraud, contract and plain language guidelines, slander, medical malpractice, and interpreting issues--a majority of her cases have involved non-native speakers of English. Has given presentations on forensic linguistics at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. and at the FBI Academy.

Lived /worked fulltime in the U.S., The People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong (then a British colony), and Singapore, and lived in Japan as a teenager. Has had short-term work assignments in American Samoa, Brazil, China, Egypt, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Morocco, The Philippines, Russia, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela. Has participated in professional conferences in many of those countries as well as in Australia, Canada, Germany, Malta, Mexico, and the UK. Was an exchange student in Brazil and had a fellowship in Portugal. Has also had other personal international travel.