Please join SLAT in congratulating Dr. Borbala (Borbi) Gaspar on her Spring 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona. Dr. Gaspar is a SLAT faculty member, a lecturer in the French & Italian Department, and an alumna of SLAT (2020). The COH Distinguished Teaching Award is intended to honor an individual who has demonstrated a passion for teaching and who has demonstrated a committed and sustained effort to ensure the quality of the students’ learning experience. COH recognizes teaching excellence at all levels but this award places particular emphasis on teaching at the undergraduate level.

Congratulations Dr. Gaspar!

Please join SLAT in congratulating Dr. Osman Solmaz, a 2015 SLAT Alum, on receiving the 2025 TESOL Teacher of the Year Award! Dr. Solmaz is an Associate Professor at Dicle University, in Turkiye. A Fulbright alum, he has conducted professional development workshops worldwide, published research in respected academic journals, and made significant contributions to both local and global English language teaching initiatives. Congratulations Dr. Solmaz!

Join SLAT in congratulating Mourad Abdennebi, a 4th-year SLAT doctoral candidate, on his win at the 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition at the 2025 Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS)! The 3MT Competition requires participants to present their research in 3 minutes, in an engaging form that can be understood by an audience with no background in the research area. This competition develops presentation, research and academic communication skills, and supports the development of research students' capacity to explain their work effectively. Mourad represented the University of Arizona at the WAGS 3MT competition, after winning the University of Arizona Grad Slam 3MT competition in February. He now has opportunity to participate in a national 3MT competition.

Huge congratulations to Mourad!

A huge congratulations to Dr. Suzanne Panferov Reese, Chair of SLAT, on receiving the 2025 TESOL James E. Alatis Award for Service to TESOL! This award was established by TESOL to acknowledge outstanding and extended service by a TESOL member through leadership and service, exemplary professionalism and representation of TESOL values, commitment to the mission of TESOL, and dedication to the field and profession.

Dr. Panferov Reese has been the Chair of the SLAT PhD program at the University of Arizona since July 2020, and she currently also directs the Critical Languages Program at the University of Arizona, all while teaching in her academic home in the Department of Public and Applied Humanities. While at the University of Arizona, she previously served as the Associate Vice President for Global Initiatives, as the Director for the Center for English as a Second Language for over a decade, as Director of the National Center for Interpretation,  and as Director of the Writing Skills Improvement Program. She has previously served as the President of TESOL International Association, as a TESOL Convention Program Chair, and on the TESOL Board of Directors. She is currently serving as the Vice President of TIRF.

We can't think of anyone more deserving for this award. Biggest congratulations, Dr. Panferov Reese!