CV
Last updated 4/13/08.
Elizabeth Pfaff Lavolette
1617 Kapiolani Blvd.
Apt. # 1006
Honolulu, HI 96814
pfaffeli@msualum.com
EDUCATION
Michigan
State University (MSU), East Lansing, Michigan
Honors Bachelor of Science, Mathematics
Honors Bachelor of Science, Apparel and Textile Design
Degrees received May 2003
EXPERIENCE
-
Graduate Assistant, 8/06 through present
Hawai’i English Language Program, UHM
Taught and developed materials for content-based courses including “What’s On TV?”, “Pirates of the Caribbean”, and “International Travel”.
Taught false-beginner conversation.
Developed and taught four-skills course based on math content, with a focus on vocabulary building.
Teach and develop materials for TOEFL preparation courses focusing on reading and listening.
Continuing to create, update, and administer online materials for multi-level courses.
Freelance Copy Editor, 7/07 through present
Copy edited Case Studies in Foreign Language Placement: Practices and Possibilities, by Thom Hudson and Martyn Clark (forthcoming) for the National Foreign Language Resource Center, UHM.
Copy edited scholarly papers of classmates.
English teacher, 7/06 through 8/06, 7/07 through 8/07
Coordinator, 1/08 through 8/08 (projected)
Kyoto Women's University Summer Intensive English Program in Nagahama, Japan
Developed and taught course based on book, The Da Vinci Code.
Developed and taught course on English for traveling to Honolulu.
Facilitated activities like scrapbooking.
Spent most of each day of 10-day program talking with the students in English.
As coordinator, chose teachers and supported their preparation for teaching and arranged transportation, supplies, and other logistics.
English Teacher/Technical
Rewriter, 8/04 through 5/06
Kurdyla
and Associates, Tokyo, Japan
Taught business English at companies such as Nissan, IBM Japan,
and Docomo.
Taught specialized courses in English skills for presentations, email writing,
meetings, teleconferences, and negotiations.
Improve the grammar and style of technical documents written in English by
non-native speakers.
English Teacher/Technical
Rewriter, 8/03 through 8/04
Princeton-in-Asia
intern at Wyeth
K. K., Tokyo, Japan
Prepared lessons and taught many different levels of English to employees.
Proofread emails, presentations, and other documents written in English for
grammar, spelling, style, and comprehensibility.
Gave advice on ways to improve presentations in English.
Translated documents from Japanese to English.
Receptionist-Clerk,
5/03 through 8/03
College of Social Science,
MSU
Answered phones, filed, ran errands, etc.
Textile Design
Intern, 5/02 through 8/02
Hironen Co., Ltd., Japan
Learned about all aspects of the textile industry, designed fabrics and a
garment, and increased Japanese language skills and cultural knowledge.
Human Ecology
Research Assistant, 8/01 through 12/01
Under Dr. Ann Slocum,
Department of Human Environment
and Design, College
of Human Ecology (now housed in the College of Arts and Letters), MSU
Updated and maintained webpages, entered data in SPSS, created graphs in Excel,
and searched the Internet and scholarly journals for information.
Chemistry Research
Assistant, 5/01 through 8/01
Under Dr.
Katherine Hunt and Dr.
James Harrison, Chemistry
Department, College
of Natural Science, MSU
Learned the UNIX operating system, Mathematica, HTML, and CorelDraw.
Assisted in projects involving a water molecule in a potential field and the
wavefunction of a hydrogen molecule.
Professorial
Assistant, 8/00 through 5/01
Mentor Dr.
Richard Hill, Mathematics
Department, College
of Natural Science, MSU
Learned and assisted others students in learning linear algebra using a course-based
webpage.
Studied topology.
International
Teaching Assistant Buddy, 9/00 through 12/00
College of International
Studies and Programs, MSU
Shared my knowledge of MSU undergraduate students and American culture with
a new graduate teaching assistant from India.
Learned about Indian culture and society.
International
Teaching Assistant Orientation Aide, 8/00
College of International
Studies and Programs, MSU
Assisted in the acclimation of incoming foreign teaching assistants to MSU
and the United States and helped them become acquainted with MSU undergraduate
students.
Professorial Assistant,
8/99 through 5/00
Mentor Dr.
Patricia Huddleston, Department
of Human Environment and Design, College
of Human Ecology, MSU
Devised instrument for the study of teamwork attitudes, conducted study, analyzed
collected data, and wrote two papers.
One paper, entitled Does
It Matter If I Hate Teamwork?: What Impacts Student Attitudes Toward Teamwork
was published in the April 2003 issue of the Journal
of Marketing Education.
UNPAID EXPERIENCE
-
Copy editor, Language Learning and Technology (http://llt.msu.edu/), 11/07 through present
Edited an article for Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 2007) for style and content.
Co-editor, College of Language, Linguistics, and Literature Graduate Student Conference Proceedings, 2007 and 2008
Copy editor, Reading in a Foreign Language (http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/), 9/06 through present
Edited several articles for Vol. 18, No. 2 (October 2006), Vol. 19, No. 1 (April 2007), and Vol. 19, No. 2 (October 2007) for style and content.
UHM international language circle participant, 9/06 through 12/06
Met with Japanese studying English for an hour each week.
Spoke in English for 30 minutes and Japanese for 30 minutes.
Volunteer, Japan-America Society of Hawai’i (JASH), 10/06 through present
Member, 9/07 through present
Served as a liaison between JASH and the UHM Japanese Culture Club.
Assist with greeting guests and logistics at JASH functions.
Japanese Circle Member, 9/03 through 8/06
Met with Japanese volunteers and other learners two to four times per week
for two hours to practice Japanese conversation.
Japanese Coffee Hour Participant, 9/02 through 4/03
Met once a week with native Japanese speakers and other students to speak
only in Japanese.
Language Partner, 10/01 through 2/02 and 9/02 through 4/03.
Met once a week with a Japanese student to help her with English and to
practice Japanese.
Learned about Japanese culture and shared knowledge of American culture.
Radio Disc Jockey,
10/99 through 5/03
89 FM The Impact, MSU
Ran sound board, CD players, minidisc players, playback machine, and spoke
live on-air. Learned to resolve problems quickly and developed communication
skills.
2001 Institute
for Advanced Study Program
for Women in Mathematics Participant
Spent 10 days at the Institute from 5/15 to 5/25.
Travel, room, board, and program fees were completely supported by the program.
Learned “Physics from a Geometer's Viewpoint” with the assistance of other
mathematics undergraduates, graduate students, and professors.
Learned about Lie Algebras and gave a short talk on them.
Met Andrew Wiles, the mathematician who proved Fermat's Last Theorem.
Reader, Resource
Center for Persons with Disabilities, MSU
Logged 70 hours between 8/00 and 12/00.
Read books onto cassette tapes for people with reading and eyesight disabilities.
Undergraduate
Chemistry Research
Enrolled spring semester of 2000 in CEM 186H, an honors chemistry laboratory
class designed to allow students to work with faculty members on projects
of interest to the students.
Worked with Dr.
Katherine Hunt in the Department
of Chemistry, MSU.
Used group theory to create tables of the possible spin states of methane
molecules.
2002
Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics Participant
Attended conference at the University
of Nebraska, Lincoln, in February 2002.
Travel, room, and board were supported by the program.
Learned about the undergraduate research of others and attended informational
sessions about graduate school and industry opportunities.
LEADERSHIP, ACTIVITIES,
SKILLS, and INTERESTS
- JASH volunteer since 11/06, member since 10/07
Hawai’i Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages member since 10/06
Cambodian Club at UHM secretary, 10/06 through 5/07
Japanese Culture Club at UHM (JCC@UHM) active member, 9/06 through 12/06
Arranged for a presentation about volunteer activities by JASH.
Coordinated efforts by JCC@UHM members to volunteer for JASH.
UHM Hawai’i Association of Teachers of English as a Second Language member since 8/06, representative to the Second Language Studies Department Personnel and Policy Committee 8/07 through 12/07
Student of Chinese (Mandarin) since 2/08
1 continuing education course.
Student of Japanese
language since 8/01, including one continuing education course, five semester-long
undergraduate courses (MSU),
and two graduate courses in teaching Japanese as a second language (Temple
University, Japan Campus). Lived and worked in Japan from
8/03 through 8/06.
Former student
of French. Completed six semester-long undergraduate courses. Spent two months
studying aboard in France (5/00 through 7/00) improving language skills. Served
as secretary of the Michigan Capital Area Chapter of the Alliance Française
(9/01 through 5/02).
Experience running
sound board as disc jockey. Public speaking and quick problem solving skills.
Launched and served
as president of two clubs at MSU: the MSU
Ping Pong Club (8/00 through 5/03) and The
Ideal Ring (9/01 through 5/03), MSU's undergraduate math club.
Member (10/00
through 5/03) and webmaster (1/01 through 5/02) of Phi
Beta Delta (Alpha Alpha Chapter) International Scholars.
First student
member of the Gifted and Talented Education Advisory Board (5/99 through 5/03).
Student member
of the MSU Mathematics Department Undergraduate Studies Committee (9/01 through
5/03).
Participant in
the Women's Esoteric Intellectual Reading and Discussion (8/99 through 5/02).
PRESENTATIONS, PUBLICATIONS, & HONORS
-
Led hands-on demonstration and tutorial of the Hot Potatoes software for creating computerized language lessons at the Hawai’i Teachers of English as a Second Language Conference, 2/2008.
Presented original research, The Keyimage Method of Learning Sound-symbol Correspondences: A Case Study of Learning Written Khmer, at the Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian Languages/Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute 2007 Conference on Applied Linguistics and Southeast Asian Language Teaching
Graduate assistant, Hawai’i English Language Program, UHM, 8/06 through present
Kurdyla and Associates Teacher of the Year, 2005
Princeton-in-Asia
Marius Jansen Award Winner, 2004
Princeton-in-Asia intern, 8/2003 through 8/2004
Co-author of Does
It Matter If I Hate Teamwork? What Impacts Student Attitudes Toward Teamwork,
published in the Journal
of Marketing Education, April 2003.
MSU
Honors College
Alumna
Alumni
Distinguished Scholar
National
Merit Scholar
Professorial
Assistant
MSU
Georges Jules Joyaux Study Abroad Scholarship Winner, 2000
MSU
College of Natural Science Study Abroad Scholarship Winner, 2000
MSU
Honors College Jeffrey and Kathryn Cole International Study Award Winner,
2000
MSU
College of Natural Science Dan Bolin Scholarship Winner, 2001
MSU
Mathematics Department L.C. Plant Scholarship Winner, 2002
Phi
Beta Kappa Society member beginning 1/02
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