Muskingum News

Muskingum College student Marissa Oakley '09 has been selected to serve on the state of Ohio’s Foreign Language Advisory Council.

Oakley, who is earning her bachelor's degree in French, was nominated for the appointment by Associate Professor of French Dr. Jean Morris, chair of the modern languages department at Muskingum. Her nomination was accepted by the Ohio Department of Education, which will oversee the council.

The Foreign Language Advisory Council was created as a provision of Ohio Senate Bill 311, which calls for the council to recommend a comprehensive K-16 implementation plan for foreign language education in the state. Oakley, who is planning a career in foreign language education, will work closely with high-profile world languages specialists, business and community leaders, representatives from the state legislature and the state board of education to bring a teaching perspective to the council’s recommendations. Her term on the advisory council will begin immediately and she will serve until the council makes its recommendations in November of this year.

At Muskingum, Oakley is secretary of the college’s French Club and serves as a first-year seminar student mentor. She plans to study in France at the University of Toulon-Var during the spring semester of 2008. After her graduation, she plans to pursue her master of arts in teaching degree, with an eye toward teaching French.