Michael Schwartz

Dr. Schwartz became the director of the IEC in August 2012. Michael has been involved with international student education for over 25 years. He began teaching EFL in Taiwan in the 1980's, earned his MA-TESL in 1989. In 2012, he earned his Ph.D. in Educational Linguistics from the University of New Mexico-Albuquerque.

Michael has taught English for academic purposes in Kansas, Guam, Missouri, New Mexico, and now Minnesota. As an associate professor in the MA-TESL program, Michael teaches courses in Language Assessment, Language and Culture, Global Englishes, and TESL Theory and Methods. His interests include translingualism, language assessment, language and culture and materials writing. He has edited a textbook on culture for use in English language programs for international students new to the United States and has curated a collection of Open Educational Resources (OER) intended for English Language Learners. The OERs can be accessed here.

Michael has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, bicycling, camping, hiking, golfing and traveling.