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Carol Chapelle is the first holder of the Angela B. Pavitt Professorship in English and will be recognized at a medallion ceremony on Thursday, March 26, at 1 p.m. in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union. The event is open to the public. RSVP to Laura Wille: lge@iastate.edu.

Carol Chapelle, an Iowa State University Distinguished Professor of English and applied linguistics, has been named the Angela B. Pavitt Professor in English. The professorship honors a faculty member in the Department of English with a focus on the English as a Second Language Program.

Carol Chapelle

Chapelle is a leading authority in validity in second language assessment and a major researcher in the fields of computer-assisted language learning and language testing. She teaches courses on second language acquisition and assessment.

“The Pavitt Professorship signifies the importance of research that informs practice in English as a second language,” Chapelle said. “It is a great honor for me to hold this professorship because I have worked throughout my career to develop research on language learning and assessment that can improve practice.”

The Angela B. Pavitt Professorship in English was established by the late Dale Grosvenor, a former faculty member in the Departments of Statistics and Computer Science who received multiple degrees from Iowa State (BS Agricultural Engineering in 1948, BS Mechanical Engineering in 1949, MS Statistics in 1960, Ph.D. Statistics in 1963).

The professorship honors Chapelle’s professional achievements and will provide her with supplemental annual funds to advance her teaching and research in the Department of English, an academic unit in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State.

Chapelle said the funds will allow her to move forward on several research projects, including the completion of the Handbook of Technology and Language Learning, as well as the completion of a manuscript that draws upon cross-disciplinary knowledge to examine beginning-level language textbooks.

The Pavitt Professorship will also allow her to experience an online language course as a student in order to study language learners’ experience in detail. Chapelle will also start working on a new book on the validation of innovative language tests.

“This research will improve teaching and learning of English as a second language by creating and disseminating new knowledge about the methods and materials used for language teaching and assessment,” Chapelle said.

“Endowed professorships are essential to enhancing Iowa State’s academic reputation and are vital to our efforts to attract and retain the best faculty,” said Beate Schmittmann, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Carol’s research in the English as a Second Language Program is increasingly important as Iowa State continues to attract growing numbers of international students.”

Chapelle received her Ph.D. in applied linguistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana. She joined the faculty at ISU in 1985 and was named a Distinguished Professor in 2010. She is the editor of the 10-volume Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013).

She was recently named the 2015 recipient of the Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award, the highest honor presented by the American Association for Applied Linguistics. She also received the 2012 Cambridge/International Language Testing Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

Chapelle is the first holder of the Angela B. Pavitt Professorship in English and will be recognized at a ceremony on Thursday, March 26, at 1 p.m. in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union. The event is open to the public. RSVP to Laura Wille: lge@iastate.edu.

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About Liberal Arts and Sciences
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is a world-class learning and research community. Iowa State’s most academically diverse college, LAS educates students to become global citizens, providing rigorous academic programs in the sciences, humanities and social sciences within a supportive personalized learning environment. College faculty design new materials, unravel biological structures, care for the environment, and explore social and behavioral issues. From fundamental research to technology transfer and artistic expression, the college supports people in Iowa and around the world.

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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Iowa State University

Contacts:
Carol Chapelle, English (carolc@iastate.edu)
Laura Wille, Liberal Arts and Sciences Communications (lge@iastate.edu)