News and Events

PLaCE Celebrated 10th Anniversary with Well-Attended Showcase Event

Created in 2014, PLaCE celebrated its tenth anniversary in spring 2024. The program has expanded over the years, but our core mission remains the same: provide a supportive academic program to help Purdue’s international students develop advanced levels of English language proficiency and intercultural competence.

We commemorated this 10 year mark by hosting our second Showcase event on February 29, 2024, to celebrate our students' work and connect members of the university in discussions of internationalization. This Showcase event was attended by over 260 students, faculty, and staff members from across the West Lafayette campus. Presented at the Showcase event were 12 mapping posters and 18 videos of various course projects contributed by PLaCE students, as well as eight posters created by staff members from PLaCE and our campus partners.

Two PLaCE Instructor Teams Invited to Present at Inaugural Festival of Teaching and Learning

After submitted proposals were reviewed, two teams of English language and intercultural communication instructors were invited to present their projects at Purdue's inaugural Festival of Teaching and Learning on April 12, 2024, hosted by the John Martinson Honors College's Blue Sky Teaching and Learning Laboratory in collaboration with Innovation Hub, Teaching Academy, and the Center for Instructional Excellence.

Haiyan Li, Minsun Kim, Ty Climer, and Lixia Cheng presented an innovative pedagogical approach to integrate instructor-guided ChatGPT training in an undergraduate Language and Cultural Exchange course for international ESL students. Parvaneh Rezaee and Matthew Allen showcased the "story stack" activity that they developed as a low-tech approach to jumpstart impactful digital storytelling with students in PLaCE SCLA 110, 111, and Short Courses.

As one of the two recipients of the "Innovation Hub Award for Innovative Uses of Generative AI", our Li, Kim, Climer, & Cheng team was honored during the Celebration of Teaching Excellence hosted by the Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning on September 26, 2024 to recognize "Purdue's university-level teaching award winners."

Local Language Testing: Design, Implementation, and Development Won 2024 SAGE/ILTA Best Monograph Award

Dimova, S., Yan, X., & Ginther, A. (2020). Local language testing: Design, implementation, and development. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429492242

The International Language Testing Association (ILTA) announced on June 4, 2024 that the above book is the 2024 recipient of the SAGE/ILTA Best Monograph Award. This book was co-authored by Professor Emerita of English, Dr. April Ginther (inaugural director of PLaCE and long-term director of OEPP), together with her two former PhD advisees from the Second Language Studies program at Purdue, Drs. Slobodanka Dimova and Xun Yan. The three authors wrote from their extensive professional experience in designing, implementing, and developing local language tests such as the TOEPAS (Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff) used at the University of Copenhagen, the EPT (English Placement Test) at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and the ACE-In (Assessment of College English–International) and OEPT (Oral English Proficiency Test) used at Purdue University in the PLaCE and OEPP programs respectively.

Upcoming Language and Intercultural Education Conferences

Ordered by Proposal Deadline; Last Updated: 10/1/2024

CGC (Consortium on Graduate Communication)

Proposal deadline: 1 March 2024;
Conference dates and location: 12–14 June 2024, Virtual as hosted by Purdue University

ICLCLE (International Conference on Literacy, Culture, and Language Education):

Proposal deadline: 31 May 2024;
Conference dates and location: 25–27 October 2024 at Stewart Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages):

Proposal deadline: 3 June 2024 at 5:00 p.m. EDT;
Conference dates and location: 18–21 March 2025 at Long Beach, California

MwALT (Midwest Association of Language Testers):

Proposal deadline: 16 June 2024 (extended to 23 June 2024);
Conference dates and location: 4–5 October 2024 at Duolingo in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

AAAL (American Association for Applied Linguistics):

Proposal deadline: 15 July 2024 at 4:00 p.m. EDT;
Conference dates and location: 22–25 March 2025 at Denver, Colorado

AERA (American Educational Research Association):

Proposal deadline: 26 July 2024;
Conference dates and location: 23–27 April 2025 at Denver, Colorado

INTESOL (Indiana Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages):

Proposal deadline: 1 October 2024 (extended to 8 October 2024);
Conference dates and location: 22–23 November 2024 at Indianapolis, Indiana

Upcoming Local Events

List adapted from "CSSAC Campus Connection" (Campus Support Staff Advisory Committee newsletter, October issue)

August 19 - December 7: Purdue's Fall 2024 semester

Local farmers’ markets

West Lafayette: Cumberland Park, 3:30-7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays until October 30
Purdue: Thursdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., until October 31
Lafayette: 5^th Columbia to Ferry Street, 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Saturdays until October
Delphi: Downtown Delphi, 1^st & 3^rd Saturdays, until October

October 4: Bad Momz of Comedy, 7:30 p.m., Long Center
October 5: Hands on Transportation, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Imagination Station
October 5 & 6: Feast of the Hunter's Moon
October 5: Purdue Varsity Glee Club and Heart & Soul Concert, 5 p.m., Columbian Park
October 12: Lafayette Roller Derby, 6 p.m., Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds
October 12: Starry Night Festival, 7 p.m.-midnight, Northwestern Avenue
October 13: Holiday Craft & Gift Fair, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., 40 & 8, 1421 N. Creasy Lane, Lafayette
October 18-19: Fall Craft & Makers Market, Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds
October 19: Pumpkin Party, Wolf Park, 4-8 p.m.
October 26: Purdue Boilermaker Half-Marathon and 5k, Ross-Ade Stadium
October 26: Howl-O-Ween, Wolf Park, 6:30-9 p.m.
October 27: PMO Presents Spooktacular, 7 p.m., Loeb Playhouse
October 29: TINA - The Tina Turner Musical, 7:30 p.m., Elliott Hall

Pumpkin Patches / Apple Orchards

Fall Festivals

Oct. 4-6: Burlington Fall Festival
Oct. 5: Mickey & Friends Pumpkin Bash Market, Exploration Acres
Oct. 5-6: Pumpkin Festival, Stuckey Farm
Oct. 12-13: Frontier Festival, Stuckey Farm
Oct. 18-20: Boo at the Zoo 2024, Columbian Park Zoo
Oct. 19: Fall Fun Fest, The Farm at Prophetstown
Oct. 19: Do It In Delphi Farmers Market
Oct. 19-20: Tributes & Tractors Festival, Stuckey Farm
Oct. 20: Fall Fest, Wea Creek Orchard
Oct. 25: Fall Festival, 5 p.m., John R Dennis Wellness Center
Oct. 26: Chocolate Fest, Brokerage Brewing Company
Oct. 26-27: Nightmare Before Christmas Market, Stuckey FarmNov. 1-2: Brown’s Accents 2024 Festival

Trick or Treat Events

Oct. 12: Mintonye Trunk or Treat, 5:30-7 p.m. Mintonye Elementary
Oct. 26: Monster Mash on the Wabash, downtown Lafayette
Oct. 26: Trick-Or-Treat with the Animals, 1-3 p.m., The Farm at Prophetstown
Oct. 26: Trunk or Treat, 4-6 p.m., Delphi courthouse
Oct. 26: Trunk or Treat, 4-6 p.m., Christ United Methodist Church
Oct. 26: Faith Trunk or Treat, 4-6 p.m., Faith East Community Center
Oct. 27: Fall Festival and Trunk or Treat, 4-7 p.m. Crestview Community Church
Oct. 28: Trunk or Treat, 5 p.m., Miami Elementary School
Oct. 29: Trunk or Treat, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Battle Ground Elementary School
Oct. 29: Trunk or Treat, 5-7 p.m., Sycamore Springs
Oct. 30: Trunk or Treat, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Bauer Community Center
Oct. 31: Trick or Treat, 6-8 p.m., Union Street, Lafayette
Oct. 31: Halloweenie, 6 p.m., Main Street, Flora