Cherry Campbell trained 75 Peace Corps volunteers in Hungary to teach English
American Language Institute Welcomes Cherry Campbell
By Steve Dolan
When Cherry Campbell was 9 years old, she was bitten by the travel bug while her family spent the summer in Europe.
“I was impressed with the people in Europe speaking many different languages,” she said. “I thought that was a really great thing and a wonderful way to foster communication and understanding among cultures.”
Campbell, the new academic director for the American Language Institute, has since been a practicing advocate of intercultural communication.
She spent a year of college in Germany, earned a Ph.D. in applied linguistics, was a Fulbright Lecture in Poland, and trained 75 Peace Corps volunteers in Hungary to teach English.
But joining ALI, a division of the College of Extended Studies, was like coming full-circle for the San Gabriel Valley native. As a child, she often visited relatives in Pacific Beach and near SDSU.
“Moving here really feels like moving home,” Campbell said. “My mom was born in Encinitas, went to Hoover High with (baseball legend) Ted Williams, and was selected "Fairest of the Fair" for San Diego County.”
Campbell attended South Hills High in West Covina. She studied as an undergraduate at UC Riverside, majoring in German and spending her junior year in northern Germany.
“I’ve been interested in languages since I was a kid,” she said. “I lived in a German house at UC Riverside. We spoke German at meals and enjoyed German cultural activities.”
When Campbell graduated from Riverside, she was planning to teach foreign languages; however, that was during a time when high schools statewide were eliminating foreign language study. Instead, Campbell switched directions, doing post-grad work at UCLA, and earning a certificate and Master’s degree in teaching English as a second Language (TESL), as well as her Ph.D. in applied linguistics.
Between Master’s and Ph.D., she taught intensive English in Santa Monica and also attended a Spanish program in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Later, she taught for 18 months at UCLA before beginning the Fulbright Lectureship to Poland.
“Everything changed in that society while I was there. The day I left Poland, the new government took over after their first democratic election ever,” Campbell said. “Later that fall, the Berlin Wall came down. It was quite a time over there.”
She came back to UCLA from Poland, teaching writing for one year. Then the opportunity came about to train the Peace Corps volunteers in Hungary to teach English.
A few years later, Campbell became the program head of English studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, where the emphasis was on English courses for international students working towards Master’s degrees. During her six years in Monterey, she met a professional singer at the Carmel Bach Festival. She and Scott Whitaker were engaged, and eventually, married.
Since Campbell began with ALI, she has been most impressed with the teaching staff and students. “The ALI draws the whole world to SDSU. We have students here right now from Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Japan, and the list goes on,” she said.
“I’m impressed by the experience of the faculty,” she added. “They nearly all have Master’s degrees, and they have a lot of teaching experience here, and other places, even abroad. They’re just top notch.”
In Campbell’s spare time, she enjoys travel writing and has even authored a book titled “Teaching Second-Language Writing.” In addition, she relishes the opportunity to grow a sub-tropical garden in San Diego.
But all of that must be sandwiched around her busy schedule at ALI.
