UW–Madison coach: Dr. Felecia Lucht, Academic Director, UW–Madison Language Programs Office, International Division
Toraighyrov University team (Pavlodar): Akmaral Kairbayeva*, Zhanarsyn Kapenova, Makhkhabat Baitemirova, Aizhan Baidildina, and Zhanar Suleimenova * indicates team leader
Dr. Felecia Lucht worked closely with her team at Toraighyrov University (ToU) to help them realize their goal of developing English-language programing to generate revenue and provide language and teacher training courses. This goal supports ToU’s strategic objective to diversify its revenue sources. Since their pilot idea involved an intensive English-language summer camp, Lucht was able to share her expertise at LPO and specifically in WISLI in establishing and operating a summer language program. She also provided guidance and resources to encourage them in many other areas, with the result that by the end of the project time period, they not only had new models for how to organize language courses, but they created new networks inside and outside the university, developed teaching aids in language education, and piloted new programs in teacher training. The team’s goal is to generate revenue from these various efforts, which remained a challenge, but one that Lucht believes can be met in the future with more focused course offerings, better publicity, and university branding. She noted that these are challenges that many university programs share, and that the Toraighyrov team has the “talent and the creativity” it needs to meet them. “It was truly inspiring to have had the opportunity to work with the ToU team. Their hard work, dedication, and innovative ideas are creating a strong foundation for them to build on and continue to grow.”