About the MAFLT Community

The Master of Arts in Foreign Language Teaching is the largest graduate program in the MSU College of Arts and Letters, with students and alumni who represent 20 different languages, about 40 U.S. states, and countries around the world.

Almost all of our students begin the program as experienced teachers, and many leave the program with new jobs, new leadership positions, and opportunities to share their work and train other teachers. Read student bios on this page or click a button below to connect with current students and alumni.

Current Students

The following students have chosen to be listed and pictured on our site. For their privacy and safety, no information is shared about our students without explicit permission.

Lauren Smith

Lauren was born and raised in Michigan, where she currently resides. She received her BA in English and Spanish Secondary Education from Grand Valley State University in 2021. She began teaching High School Spanish shortly thereafter. Her affinity for language, whether English or Spanish, is what drove her to pursue a career in Education. She enjoys exploring other cultures and languages, traveling and learning new information about the world around her. Recently, she traveled to Madrid and Germany for the first time and can often be found reminiscing about European espresso. > Connect with Lauren on LinkedIn

Ruben Dawagne

Ruben is a native French speaker from Belgium with a passion for languages, cultures, and meaningful connection. Having taught languages to mostly Hispanic learners and studied multiple languages himself, he believes that learning another language is a path to deeper understanding. Now pursuing an MAFLT degree, he is especially interested in how technology and AI can support language learning and build bridges across borders, whether drawn on maps or formed by assumptions. With children born in three different countries and a multicultural home life, he strives to bring a global perspective to everything he does—both personally and professionally. > Connect with Ruben on LinkedIn

Hayley Fulton

Hayley is an educator in Grand Rapids, MI. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Spanish & English, along with her secondary education teacher certification. She studied abroad in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Hayley has taught 7 & 8th grade Spanish Immersion Language Arts for three years at Northern Hills Middle School. In her free time, she is an avid reader. Hayley looks forward to broadening her knowledge of foreign language instruction in the MAFLT program.

Neely Tipton

Neely is a high school French teacher in Brookfield, Wisconsin. She was born and raised in Holland, Michigan before she attended Carthage College for her Bachelors in French and Secondary Education. Neely is in her fifth year of teaching, having taught for four years in Madison, Wisconsin and starting a new adventure this year in Brookfield, a suburb of Milwaukee. In her free time, Neely loves to read and is learning to golf from her golf-instructor husband. Neely is excited to learn more and develop her craft through the MAFLT program.

Ben Carter

Ben has over 16 years of classroom experience teaching French at the high school and middle school levels. He currently teaches middle school French at a private school in Pittsburgh, PA. Prior to this he had a two-year stint at Google working on a multi-language team to enhance machine learning for Google Shopping in French locales. He served as an Infantry officer in the Army National Guard for eight years. Ben enjoys hitting golf balls in his backyard, hiking, and singing Beatles songs with his three children. > Connect with Ben on LinkedIn

Devyn Pettersen

Devyn grew up in Los Angeles, but has called many places home. She found her love for teaching while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala. When she returned to the US, she began teaching high school Spanish in rural Georgia. After seven years, Devyn moved to rural Ohio where she currently lives. She is excited to start her ninth year of teaching and the MAFLT program. In her free time, Devyn loves to travel, read, run half marathons, go on walks, and spend time with her family and friends.

Olivia Juarez

Olivia is a Spanish teacher at Madison County High School, currently in her third year of teaching. She graduated with a degree in Spanish from the University of North Georgia and has a passion for sharing the beauty of a new language with her students, many of whom have never left the state of Georgia. Olivia lives just outside of Athens, Georgia with her husband and their three dogs.

Madison Adams

Madi began teaching Spanish after graduating from the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. She taught for seven years in a small Virginia high school before deciding to step away and continue her education full time. In addition to teaching, she also has worked with the ESL program and served as the district’s interpreter. During her free time, she enjoys walking, playing tennis, and baking. She currently resides in Southwestern Virginia with her husband, Aaron and their cat, Scarlette.

Leslie Alfred

Hola y bonjour! Leslie Alfred has been teaching for well over a decade now and is a Spanish and French teacher at Norwalk Middle School. Before and after receiving her bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa, Leslie studied abroad in Oviedo, Spain, Québec, Canada, and Besançon, France. In her free time, Leslie loves spending time reading, bingeing movies and TV shows, and enjoying life with her husband and two children.

James Ayres

James has taught Spanish at McKinney Boyd High School for the past 14 years. He learned Spanish while living in Uruguay from 1997-99. He has developed a passion for learning about how language is acquired and tried to incorporate that into his language classroom. When not teaching James is busy with his wife Amber raising five boys. Any other extra time is spent running ultra marathons on the trails. James is very excited and to be a part of the MAFLT program and looks forward to the experience this will provide!

Laura Cordova

Laura graduated from college with a degree in Microbiology & Spanish. After working in the science field for six years and earning a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences, she decided she wanted to teach Spanish. She taught 6, 7. 8 grade Spanish at a Middle School, earned a Master’s in Humanities with a concentration in Spanish literature, and now she teaches introductory and intermediate Spanish at a community college. In her free time she likes to watch movies, read, and go on walks with her greyhound.

Jessica Charlton

Mrs. Charlton developed a love for travel and interacting with diverse cultures and persons from growing up in a military household, her life now as a military spouse, and her time spent abroad in Ecuador, South America. Her love for the Spanish language was sparked early on in high school and furthered throughout her college studies. Her love for teaching was realized while serving during the summers as the liaison between the local community in Ascazubi, Ecuador, and a team of medical doctors. Throughout her time spent in South America, Mrs. Charlton has formed strong bonds with the local community and a love for their culture and language. She is passionate about sharing this love for the language, people, and culture with her students through engaging and authentic learning experiences. Mrs. Charlton believes that world language learning is vital and necessary in education because it provides a means to understand and connect with citizens of the world, not just those we see around us. She is excited to join the cohort at MSU and can’t wait to get to know the community, professors, and her classmates.

Shyann Gilkey

Shyann Gilkey is a Spanish Teacher from Lansing Michigan, currently residing in Atlanta Georgia. She is an Alumna of Michigan State University, where she earned her B.A. in Spanish, and a minor in TESOL. She first volunteered to teach in Peru, before deciding to become a High School Teacher in Atlanta, where she has taught the past 8 years. She currently teaches Spanish II, III, and IV, but has taught all levels, including AP. Shyann is most excited to explore the relationship between socio-economic factors and SLA. Outside of education, Shyann loves to sing, write music, and travel.

Itzel Gomez Avalos

Itzel was born in Mexico and moved to the United States when she was 9 years old. She graduated from Western Michigan University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education French and Spanish. She has been teaching Spanish at the high school level for the past 10 years. She loves teaching, learning, and spending time with her loved ones.

Mitchell Matthews

Mitch began the MAFLT program as a first year Spanish teacher. He started his teaching career in 2017 as a music teacher after studying opera and music education but a lifetime love of languages and travel led him to a major career change. Mitch has been studying Spanish for nearly 7 years and has enjoyed visiting several countries in Latin America. He now teaches Spanish 1 and 2 at a large suburban high school in Pennsylvania. Outside of the classroom Mitch enjoys traveling, singing, cooking, and spending time with his wife, Zanna, and Yorkie puppy, Jovi.

Mike Nunley

Mike Nunley graduated from Ball State University in 2017 and is currently teaching in Decatur, Georgia, right outside of Atlanta. He is currently in his fourth year of teaching Spanish 1 and second year of teaching Spanish 4. His passion for language developed when he realized how it can make positive connections with so many people. When he is not teaching, he enjoys cooking, cycling, and watching TV and movies with his girlfriend and two cats.

Izumi Olsen

About Izumi Izumi is from Ehime, Japan, and currently lives in Hawaii. She has extensive experience as a teacher of Japanese in the United States and English in Japan. Most recently, she has taught Japanese to heritage and foreign language learners at the secondary level through the Language and Culture Immersion Program in Hawaii. She is the creator and owner of Bilingual Beans on Instagram, where she shares educational content she has created to advocate for early bilingualism and empower parents and educators interested in raising multilingual children.

Amy Scott

Amy is a high school Spanish teacher in Hartland, Michigan. She earned her bachelors in Spanish from MSU in 2007, with minors in history and math and a focus in Secondary Education. After taking a few years off from teaching to be home with her three young kids, Amy is very excited to be back in the classroom and pursing a Masters in Teaching Languages! In her spare time, Amy enjoys spending time with her family, exercising and reading.

Myriam Stanwood

Myriam is originally from Lima, Perú. She has lived in the U.S. for 18 years but currently lives in Japan with her family. Her journey in teaching Spanish started with P.A. students at Methodist University in North Carolina. Since that experience, she taught and continues to teach online language learning courses for DOD (Depart of Defense) and DOS personnel. She is a fan of online education and takes pleasure in sharing her culture with students. This has become her passion through the years. She is always fascinated by how we can overcome obstacles to communicate. In her free time, she enjoys walking on the beach and practicing yoga.

Not Yet Pictured

If you are a Current Student and you would like to be pictured here, go to the MAFLT Community in D2L to submit your headshot and bio. If you would like to edit or update your bio or headshot, please send them to maflt@cal.msu.edu. You can get help from Dr. Lanier’s Virtual Assistant.