Contact Information
707 S. Mathews Ave. | MC-168
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Interests
A recent focus of her leadership has been guiding the program's response to generative AI, including developing program-wide policy and instructional strategies for its ethical and effective use in the classroom. She presented on this work at the 2026 Illinois Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ITBE) annual convention and was an invited panelist for a University of Illinois Senate and Office of the Provost forum on AI in teaching, research, and responsibility. Her other interests include language pedagogy, CALL, teacher training, and language program administration, policy and administration.
Courses Taught
Learn more about the courses offered by the ESL Program:
Additional Campus Affiliations
Director, English as a Second Language (ESL) Program, Linguistics
External Links
Academic Service
Susan Faivre is the Director of the English as a Second Language Program in the Department of Linguistics where she oversees instruction, curriculum, and staffing for a program serving nearly 2,000 international students each year.
In addition to mentoring instructors and supporting students in ESL, much of her work centers around serving as a bridge between the ESL Program and the offices across campus that intersect with it. This includes coordinating with the English Placement Test on proficiency testing and placement, with Linguistics and MATESOL on graduate teaching assistant funding, and with academic advising, student affairs, International Student and Scholar Services, and the Office of the Dean of Students on eligibility, accommodations, and student support. She also represents ESL and Linguistics on university-wide committees addressing academic integrity and student conduct.
Prior to joining the university in this role in 2009, she taught high school English and worked as a managing editor at an international publishing company. Susan holds an M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, studied Shakespeare at Oxford's Oriel College, and earned a B.A. in English and Secondary Education from Northern Illinois University.