I came to West Chester University in 1987 to teach graduate courses in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) and undergraduate courses in Linguistics and English as a Second Language (ESL), as well as to help coordinate the TESL Program and the Linguistics Minor. After my undergraduate work in English and Mathematics at the University of Northern Iowa, I taught high school English in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I did graduate work at the University of Iowa and earned my M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of Michigan. Other places I have taught include the adult education ESL program in Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, Pan American University, and, while in graduate school, the University of Michigan English Language Institute.

I have specialized in curriculum development, creating and revising programs at secondary, tertiary, and adult levels. I taught the only graduate course offered on WCU's short-lived Fukuoka, Japan, campus and developed a system for offering the MA in TESL degree there, which sadly never materialized. More recently, I have focused on ESL assessment and uses of technology for TESL.

A special interest of mine is advocating for English Language Learners (ELLs) in Pennsylvania, which I have done through the statewide ELL Task Force and the regional professional organization PennTESOL-East. Some successes have included gaining a minimal training requirement for ESL teachers in PA and required coursework in working with ELLs for all pre-service teachers in PA, but I'm still working on gaining a full certification in ESL for Pennsylvania teachers. My research interests include discourse analysis and second language acquisition, ESL assessment, and ESL teacher development. My personal interests include hiking, biking, bird watching, music, and word games. My wife Sandra and I have four children--Barbara, David, Elizabeth, and Callie, and two grandchildren, Dan and Emma--and one cat, Gina.