Joy Campbell

January 16, 2013

As the Executive Associate Director for the Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR) at Michigan State University, Joy Campbell (MATESOL '01) works to promote and support the teaching and learning of foreign languages in the United States.

"Knowing another language opens innumerable doors in terms of understanding people from diverse cultures and counties," Joy says. "Innumerable studies also tell us that learning world languages improves students' job prospects, cross-cultural understanding, vocabulary (even in their first language), and many other benefits."

Joy's job is almost entirely on the administrative side of language education.  She is involved in all of the administrative aspects at CLEAR including exhibits at conferences, budget management, workshop coordination and project management.

"This allows me to work with a wide variety of people, hear a smattering of any number of different languages on any given day, learn about new places and peoples, and keep up with changes in the field of language education," she says. "I'm never bored!"

While attending the Monterey Institute, Joys says she learned a lot about language program administration by working for Kathi Bailey, and that she still uses those skills all the time in her current position.

"Working with Kathi taught me a lot about effective management and I am able to apply much of what I learned to everyday duties here."

Joy says that international education is a great field to work in because so many different areas fall under that umbrella and give people the opportunity to find a match that is perfect for them.

"I love the variety of people I encounter in my work and would encourage anyone who enjoys meeting people from all over the world to look into the wide possibilities in international education."

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