The summer was a busy time for many academics such as attending conferences, teaching summer courses, collecting data for projects, and launching summer institutes. June started off with a local and great 2023 MATSOL Conference which brings together educators, teachers, researchers, administrators, and graduate students who are passionate about multilingualism and English Learners from across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

This 2023 MATSOL Conference was particularly special for the Department of Applied Linguistics because Dr. Chris Montecillo Leider the Assistant Professor Department of Applied Linguistics became the President of MATSOL. Congratulations!

At the conference, Dr. Chris Montecillo Leider and her colleague Dr. Christina Dobbs presented A Framework for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Writing Assessment that supports educators to write rubrics for culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Also, doctoral candidates Iuliia Fakhrutdinova, Nasiba Norova, and Vannessa Quintana Sarria presented their work Re-Envisioning Academic Mentoring: The Power of Peer Mentoring in Graduate School that discusses collaborative work among graduate students.