Christine M. Campbell

2020 AATSP Distinguished Leadership Award 

The 2020 AATSP Distinguished Leadership Award is Dr. Christine Campbell. This award is given to an AATSP member in good standing who has shown leadership within the profession as a whole and who has made scholarly contributions to the profession.

Christine Campbell has been a long-time member of AATSP. During that time, she has been a very active participant in the organization. She has served in positions of leadership within AATSP such as Member of the Executive Council 2004-2006, President in 2012, Chair of the Task Force to revise the World Readiness Standards for Learning Spanish (July 2019-present), Director of Test Development for the National Spanish Examinations (1993-1998), Member of the AATSP Executive Council (2008-2010), and Chair of the Nominations Committee for the AATSP Executive Council (2013).

In addition, Christine Campbell has served on the Board of Governors for the University of California Consortium for Language Learning and Teaching (2009-2012), the Steering Committee for the California Roadmap for the Teaching of Languages and Cultures Summit, and as Chairperson for the International Language and Culture Foundation. She has also held significant leadership appointments at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). In the words of Dr. Pete Swanson, Dean of Faculty, Department of Foreign Languages, Department of the Air Force, “These leadership opportunities are coveted, and such appointments speak to her national reputation as a leader in the field of second language acquisition and teaching.”

Christine's record of scholarly presentations and workshops is admirable. She has been a presenter or co-presenter at many professional development conferences such as ACTFL and AATSP annual conferences. She has also been involved in editorial and consulting work. She is a member of editorial boards such as: Applied Language Learning,Connections, and Dialog on Language Instruction. Furthermore, she has been a reviewer of articles for The Modern Language Journal, Hispania, and Language and Linguistics Compass. She is also seen as a leader in the field of research. During her career, she has been actively researching, publishing, and presenting her findings. At present, she has three publications in press with highly esteemed presses (e.g., Cambridge University Press). She has authored or co-authored 27 articles in academic journals and book chapters, 8 book reviews, and an author and a co-author of the column “In Other Professional Journals" in The Modern Language Journal from 1987 to 2008.

All these remarkable accomplishments in various leadership positions during her professional career only show a small synopsis of all of her considerable work. As her colleague, Frank Nuessel, stated “What must be emphasized here is the excellent quality of her achievements over the entire period of her career. Dr. Campbell is an expert in multiple fields of second-language education including assessment, evaluation, and organization of a complex

instructional entity (DFILIC). She also enjoys a well-earned reputation for her ability to work effectively and successfully with diverse groups of people to accomplish positive outcomes on different projects in a timely fashion.”

After reviewing the letters of recommendation, the selecting committee has to agree with her nominators in saying that overall, Christine Campbell is a remarkable individual and leader. All throughout her career she has been and continues to be an active participant in our profession especially in the national dialogue on language learning and acquisition.

Personal Acceptance Statement

I wish to thank the AATSP for selecting me as the winner of the AATSP Distinguished Leadership Award for 2020. I am truly humbled by the selection. It is the AATSP that has afforded me leadership opportunities that have been critical to my professional growth, beginning with accepting me as a presenter in 1987 when I was a newly-hired faculty in Spanish at The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. I attended the conference in Los Angeles that year and was immediately impressed by its quality and collegial atmosphere. As a newcomer, I felt welcomed and encouraged by both conference organizers and veteran attendees. The conference, an excellent event for knowledge-sharing, energy renewal, and networking, and local chapter activities provide members ideal opportunities to become involved in the life of the AATSP, a truly rewarding experience!

The AATSP has been an essential part of my professional life for almost 35 years; may you continue to enjoy your experience with it as much as I have!

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