Graduate student Johnson Akano represented Syracuse University at the Middle States Commission on Higher Education annual conference last month in Philadelphia.

Akano, a linguistics studies master’s student in the College of Arts and Sciences, presented “Student-Led Assessment in Linguistics MA Program” during the student poster presentation portion of the event.

The presentation outlined the project Akano and two former classmates (now alumni), Loretta Awuku and Sylvia Page, began last year with Amanda Brown, professor of linguistics and program director. The project, Peer-to-Peer Student Outreach in Linguistics MA Curriculum Assessment and Development, was supported by a Student Engagement in Assessment Mini-Grant.

The students submitted the presentation to MSCHE at Brown’s urging. They previously presented their research at the TESOL/Applied Linguistics/Foreign Languages Conference.

Akano, who plans to study second language development at the doctoral level, says, “Presenting at the MSCHE conference was a wonderful experience for me. It was a rare opportunity to share with educators in higher education how active student involvement in curriculum development is transforming the learning experience of students in the M.A. linguistic studies program at Syracuse University.”