This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Christa de Kleine, Professor in the School of Education at Notre Dame of Maryland University. Dr. de Kleine teaches a variety of courses on topics related to language acquisition and linguistic diversity in the MA in TESOL and Ph.D in Instructional Leadership  for Changing Population programs. She developed the university’s MA in TESOL program, and her recent research has been focused on the challenges of linguistically diverse students at the community college level. An engaging speaker with the research experience to discuss a variety of topics, Dr. de Kleine will start the conference off in delightfully informative fashion.