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Image courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives
About Katharine O. Aston
After receiving her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr in 1958, Katherine O. Aston was hired to teach in the Department of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in the program of English as a Second Language. She became director of the program in 1959.
She accomplished much during her long academic career. She was one of the founding members of the international professional organization, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages in the mid-1960s. She instituted the MA in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) at UIUC in 1966, and created one of the first Minors in TESL in the country, which met the academic and practical requirements for teaching ESL in the public schools of Illinois. She also established off-campus internships in Puerto Rico (1968-75) and Iran (1970-78), and was the director of the latter program in the mid-1970s.
The Katharine O. Aston Award for Outstanding Masters Thesis was established in her honor.
About this Award
This is an award given to a graduating MATESL student who has completed a thesis project that shows excellence in research design, data analysis, and clarity of writing. The award is decided by the majority of MATESL faculty.
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Award Recipients