Ulla Connor Graduate Scholarship

Miriam Maddox - Miriam’s intercultural experiences both abroad and at home have inspired her to pursue an MA in TESOL. She has always been incredibly passionate about languages and culture. During her time at IU Bloomington, she completed three bachelor’s degrees in International Law, Spanish Linguistics, and Russian Language and Culture. She completed Hamilton Lugar School's Summer Language Workshop in Russian in 2020 and 2021, and interned abroad as an English teaching assistant in Santiago, Chile in 2022. Miriam began working for ICIC as an administrative assistant in January 2023 while completing her final semester at IU. During this time, she managed ICIC’s social media and provided administrative support for the center by assisting in the preparation of the ECA/A/L Service-Learning Exchange Program. As a graduate student in TESOL, she continues to work at ICIC as a research assistant, supporting the center by helping prepare grant proposals, editing book chapter and journal submissions, and planning events and conferences. After the completion of her MA in TESOL, Miriam hopes to teach English internationally and pursue a PhD in English Linguistics. 

Eric Schleter - Eric has long held a passion for the exchange and development of both language and culture. After studying abroad in China in 2017, Eric decided to pursue a future in TESOL in order to help students gain language skills and intercultural awareness. He has since volunteered with various English teaching organizations such as IUPUI’s ESL tutoring program and the PIE (Program for Intensive English), as well as with the Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center as an assistant ESL teacher. He also served for 2 years as a mentor in IUPUI’s International Peer Mentor Program (IPMP) and completed his TESOL practicum teaching with PIE. Currently, Eric resides in Hiroshima Japan and teaches English and American culture at various elementary and junior high schools through the JET Program. After completion of his MA in TESOL and the JET Program, Eric plans to pursue a career in teaching both ENL and physical education topics at either the high school or university level.

Sydney Sparks - Sydney is incredibly passionate about language and social justice. Sydney’s interest in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) started with traveling; she has been to fifteen countries across four continents. After coming home from a summer vacation in China four years ago, she decided she wanted to be an English teacher in China and began volunteering for the Exodus Refugee Immigration organization as an English teacher in Greenwood, mostly to Burmese refugees. In her current graduate courses and research, Sydney continues to display the same curiosity and passion for understanding how language and society work, and especially for how they can work toward providing more social justice for humanity.

Erin Miller - As a linguistics student transfer from University of Arizona to our English department, Erin hit the ground running. In two years, she interned at IUPUI’s Program for Intensive English, founded a student organization, worked on research projects, and developed and taught a test preparation course all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Upon finishing her MA TESOL, she hopes to combine her passion for education and the Japanese language by teaching English in Japan.

Matthew Hume – Matthew served ICIC as a research assistant throughout much of his graduate work in TESOL. During this time, Matt helped to run a series of academic workshops for international scholars, developed and presented a workshop in intercultural competence to local business executives, and taught English for Specific Purposes to factory workers at an Indianapolis health care supply manufacturing plant. He also assisted in the development of a graduate course in ESP Materials Development. In 2017, he co-presented research at COMET on health literacy’s application within an ESP course for international dentists. Matt has maintained a 4.0 GPA in his graduate studies, which will culminate with a semester-long teaching internship at Peking University Health Science Center in Beijing, China. Matt looks forward to a career of empowering multilingual learners through language teaching and cultural exchange, and suspects that his love of teaching and love of international travel will go hand in hand.