Introducing Dr. Betty Lou Leaver, MSI Press Author and Managing Editor

Betty Lou Leaver (Ph.D., Pushkin Institute, Moscow) is Director of The Literary Center of San Juan Bautista and previously served as provost, associate provost, and dean at the Defense Language Institute. She established an international language program at NASA for cosmonauts and astronauts assigned to the International Space Station; served as a language training supervisor at the Foreign Service Institute, curriculum developer for the Federal Foreign Language Training Lab, dean and chief academic officer at the New York Institute of Technology in Jordan, president of the American Global Studies Institute, co-director of the Center for the Advancement of Distinguished Language Proficiency at San Diego State University, and founding director of the Center for the Languages of the Central Asian Region at Indiana University; and provided consultation to educational programs in 24 countries. She has published 21 books, more than 100 articles, and is currently co-editing a book, Transformative Language Learning and Teaching, for Cambridge University Press.

In addition to serving as managing editor at MSI Press, where she also copy-edits upon occasion and makes decisions about book acquisitions, she serves on the advisory board for Georgetown University Press, which published two of her books in past years.

Betty Lou grew up in the snow of New England (Maine and New Hampshire) and has spent many snowy months conducting research, attending graduate school programs, and leading faculty development sessions in some very snowy countries, including in Siberia, where she has many friends and benefited from experiences that have contributed significantly to her life and writings.

She now lives in sunny California (and spent some years in sunny Jordan, as well) and likes the sun as well as the snow. Her household now includes her husband and six cats, but at one time it included four children and three teens who joined them during their teen years. She spends some of her free time with many teenagers, teaching catechism at Old Mission San Juan Bautista — life repeating itself, but in good ways!

Betty Lou writes books on foreign language learning and teaching. Check out her language books HERE.

She also write the blog posts, Grandma's Ninja Diary and is writing a book by the same title. See those posts HERE.

She also serves as amanuensis for Sula, parish cat at Old Mission. Check out Sula's books HERE.

For more posts about Betty Lou, click HERE.