Linguistics 2025 Senior Profiles

Activities – I was a member of Theta Tau Xi Chapter, a professional engineering fraternity (I was a double major with CS in addition to linguistics). I also worked with Professor Monica Macaulay on a project that involved entering linguistic data to augment an online Menominee-English dictionary. Additionally, I tutored math and Spanish for high school students at a local tutoring center.

Classes – I have a few favorite classes! One class I really loved was CS402: Introducing Computer Science to K-12 Students. For this class, I co-led a weekly coding club at a local elementary school. Another class I loved was English 515, which was my teaching practicum course for my TESOL certificate. I co-taught an ESL class of about 20 adults. I also really loved my linguistics capstone course on Laryngeal Realism with Professor Joe Salmons.

Memory – One of my favorite college memories is doing a semester abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I had an internship there teaching English at a local school, which was a really awesome experience. I was able to travel around Argentina a lot during the program as well, which was incredible. I also have really good memories of Badger football and hockey games with my friends! I will miss the Badger student section a lot.

The Future? – I’m not sure what my future holds yet, but I hope to do some kind of work that involves teaching in some capacity, and/or continue my education with a graduate degree in Linguistics or a related field.

Activities – During my time on campus, I was a research assistant in the Language Acquisition and Bilingualism Laboratory at the Waisman Center. I was also an active member of UW-Madison’s chapter of the National Student Speech Language Association and a Badger Volunteer Team Leader.

Classes – My favorite academic experience was studying abroad in Nepal for my Global Health certificate. In Nepal, I formed meaningful relationships with linguistically and culturally diverse communities.

The Future? – I will be attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison to pursue my Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology.

Activities – Academic Year in Freiburg.

Favorite class – My favorite linguistics class was phonology with Professor Raimy because it was hard but it felt very accomplishing.

Favorite UW memory – I will miss walking on campus and getting to see the capitol building every day.

The future? – I am pursuing law school starting next fall, likely at Marquette School of Law in Milwaukee!

Thank you – A big thanks to Becky, Eric, Ryan, Monica, Joe for making the linguistics department feel small and a perfect environment to get to know your professors!

Activities – Writing for the Badger Herald, working for WMTV 15 News, hosting a radio talk show on WSUM.

Favorite class – I had a lot of fun in all of my linguistics classes, but advanced morphology and the laryngeal realism capstone really stick out as vastly expanding my linguistic knowledge while leading me to research interesting languages while having a lot of fun.

Favorite UW memory – My favorite college memories include doing hotpot in my friend’s apartment, spending warm days on the terrace, and sitting in the student section at UW hockey games.

The future? – I am considering going to grad school for linguistics, and I dream of working in the field of language preservation and revitalization.

Activities – NSSLHA, LSO, VIVID Dance Crew

Classes – My Linguistics Capstone and the LSA conference in Philadelphia.

Memory – I will miss the French and Linguistics community! And the lake!

The Future? – Speech-Language Pathologist in French and English

Activities – I was a research assistant in the Brain, Language, and Acoustic Behavior lab and the Second Language Acquisition lab. I helped with research projects on the production and perception of vowels in L1 Spanish L2 English speakers, and on third language acquisition in speakers of English, Spanish, and German! During my time on campus in my personal life, I’ve played in multiple bands on the keyboard and jammed in the folk music club!

Classes – My favorite college class was either any of my ASL classes with prof Vollmar and TK, or English 320 (Child Language Development and Universal Grammar) with Jacee!

Campus Memory – My favorite college memory has been either my yearly tradition of biking the southwest commuter path all the way to the apple orchard to go apple picking, or jumping in the lake every year after finals! I will miss hanging out at the union and running into friends on the way to classes.

The Future? – I hope to work for a few years in an area close to research, or teaching English, before returning for grad school at some point!

Activities – While a student on campus, I worked as a House Fellow (Resident Assistant) in the International Learning Community for two years and supervised the Spanish and German houses as well as revived the Arabic House ‘baytunaa’. I will continue to work with the Greater University Tutoring Services (GUTS) for the summer, preparing the Conversational English Program for a new coordinator in the fall. I’ve also worked in the Wisconsin Algonquian/Indigenous Language Lab (WALL/WILL) under Dr. Monica Macaulay for the past two years.

Classes – My favorite major-required class: [LING 571] Structure of a Language (Menominee)
My favorite elective class: [SPAN 446] Mayan Languages and Linguistics (in Spanish)
My favorite “fun” class: [HORT 380] Indigenous Foodways: Food and Seed Sovereignty in Indigenous Communities

Campus Memory – I will miss the view from the 11th floor! All jokes aside, I’m sad to leave all of the really cool people I’ve met here over the past four years. I think we’re a pretty fun department 🙂

Classes – I’ve taken so many amazing classes over the course of my four years here, but I really loved all the Korean classes I got to take here. I made so many friends in my classes who have become some of my best friends. All the professors and TAs in the department are so great, and they made my language learning experience so smooth and exciting. I also really enjoyed taking LING 322 which was taught by Monica Macaulay, I felt like I learned so much in it and built a great foundation for all the other classes I took in the Linguistics department.

Memory – I think one of the things I will end up missing the most will be living in the same area as all my friends, and just having that opportunity to spend time with them without having to make a whole trip out of it. I loved all the nights out and in I spent with all the friends I made here, and I will definitely always remember the sense of community I felt while attending school here.

The Future? – After graduating, I’m planning on moving back to Boston, where I plan to continue my flight training with the ultimate goal of becoming a commercial airline pilot. Hopefully that will take me back over to South Korea, where I’ll be able to continue to practice the language skills I spent so long building up here!

Activities – For the last two years, I have been a research assistant at the Cognitive-Communication in Aging and Neurogenic Disorders Laboratory (CCANDL). Additionally, I was involved in the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA) throughout my years, where I was also the volunteer chair for a couple of semesters. I also studied abroad in Florence, Italy for a semester in my Junior year.

Classes – I loved my syntax classes! I learned a lot and truly challenged myself in those courses. I enjoyed Professor Li’s teaching style. I appreciated his anecdotes and how he connected linguistics to other disciplines.

Memory – I am going to miss the first spring days in Madison when everyone goes to the Union and patios open up again. On the other hand, I also like the first time it snows when you can see people building snowmen or having snowball fights down State Street.

The Future? – I am going to be attending Marquette University Speech-Language Pathology master’s program in Milwaukee. I want to be a speech pathologist and expand on my experiences with dementia, hopefully working with that population in my future career.

Activities– I created an English conversation club for Visiting Scholars.

Classes – My 7 semesters of Korean language were a blast!

Memory – I will miss the friends I made during my time at UW-Madison.

The Future? – I’d like to teach English as a second/foreign language, either in the US or abroad.

Activities – I was involved with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, Wunk Sheek, and Twin Tails Singers.

Favorite class – My favorite class was Ho Chunk 1. At that time I was the only student in the class, so I mainly had one-on-one with my instructor. It was a chill class to have in my mornings for that semester.

Favorite UW memory – My favorite college memory is singing at drum practice every Wednesday night with my friends at the ISC and grabbing food after.

The future? – I hope to work for my tribe mainly in the language department. I’m open to any opportunities that come my way.

Activities– Italian Club, Students for Justice in Palestine

Classes – I don’t think I can pick just one course lol. I’m a sucker for any language class.

Memory – My favourite college memory is probably winning the African Studies Dept. Language Film Fest with my friends from Arabic class, and I think I’ll miss most all the friends I’ve met in my classes.

The Future? – I’m planning to take some time off of school to work and relax before looking at grad school. I want to maintain and improve my language skills, I want to do a job that I enjoy, and I want to finally make a dent in all the unread books on my shelves.

Activities – Beginning Irish 1 & 2

Classes – American Sign Language

Campus Memory – I will miss all of the wonderful students and staff I have met, and I’ll miss game days!

Activities – Alpha Xi Delta, National Student Speech Language Hearing Association, Wisconsin Idea Task Force

Classes – My favorite class was CS&D 210 Neural Basis of Communication or my Linguistics capstone with a focus of metalinguistics with Dr. Kelly Wright.

Memory – I will miss game days the most at UW-Madison. Whether it was football, basketball, or hockey it was always something fun to do and show school pride.

The Future? – After graduation I will attend RUSH University to receive my Masters in Speech-Language Pathology.

Activities – I enjoyed playing domra in the Russian Folk Orchestra, hearing and learning music that I would have not otherwise found. I did a lot of fencing, with the UW sports club and with other ones in Madison. Bate-Papo, the Portuguese conversation table, was also really fun and I really improved my speaking ability. Turns out, using language makes you better at it.

Classes – Advanced Phonology – Learning about how we can use different models to try and represent the same set of behaviors, though fundamentally different mechanisms, was really fun. The papers were opinionated, and maybe even correct sometimes. It’s encouraging to see the variety of ideas and attempts though up and tried, and I’m sure we’ll figure out the definitive answer eventually.

Campus Memory – Deep Fried Cheese Curds

The Future? – I will be fighting unemployment. I will win.
I’ll also be going to Cogsci 2025 in SF so that’ll be fun.