Barbara F. Freed is Professor of Second Language Acquisition and French at Carnegie Mellon University, where she was the founding head of the Department of Modern Languages. Her recent research focuses on the variables that affect second language learning, particularly in the study abroad environment. Her most recent book, Second Language Acquisition in a Study Abroad Context, addresses the linguistic impact of these experiences from a cross-linguistic perspective.

Thom Huebner is Professor of Linguistics and Language Development at San Jose State University, and has published in the areas of second language acquisition, pidgins and creoles, and foreign language curriculum design. He is the editor of the collected sociolinguistics papers of Charles A. Ferguson, and the Series in Bilingualism through John Benjamins Publishing Company. His latest co-edited volume is Socio-Political Perspectives on Language Policy and Planning in the U.S.

Barbara Kappler is the Intercultural Training Coordinator at International Student & Scholar Services at the University of Minnesota. Annually, she teaches more than 2,500 U.S. and international students, faculty, staff, and business and community members strategies for improving communication across cultures. Her recent research focuses on developing a measure of intercultural perspective-taking.

Rebecca R. Kline is Adjunct Assistant Professor of French at Penn State University and Executive Director of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Dr. Kline has published in journals such as Foreign Language Annals, the French Review, and the Modern Language Journal. Future projects include exploring the history and praxis of professional associations for foreign language educators, and the experience of gay and lesbian students in study abroad programs.

R. Michael Paige is the coordinator of the Comparative and International Development Education programs and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota. He has been involved in international education since 1965, when he began a two-year assignment as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkey. The author of numerous publications, Michael is the editor of the volume, Education for the Intercultural Experience (1993), and the Training Section Editor of the International Journal of Intercultural Relations.

Valerie Pellegrino is an Assistant Professor of Russian Language and Linguistics in the Department of slavic and East European Languages and Literatures at the Ohio State University. She is a specialist in Russian Language pedagogy and second language acquisition, and serves as Director of the Russian Language Program and the Slavic Graduate Teaching Associate Coordinator.