UMass Boston Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics Jennifer Sclafani participated in a panel of sociolinguists and anthropologists at the International Pragmatics Association Conference in Brussels, Belgium in July 2023. The panel, entitled “Stance-taking, differentiation and (a)typicality in discourse: Ideologies of language, personhood, and competence in multilingual communities” was organized by Dr. Jacqueline Messing (University of Maryland) and Kathe Managan (University of Louisiana Lafayette) and featured speakers from across the United States. Dr. Sclafani presented her ongoing research on the language of political leadership in Boston, focusing on how mayoral candidates frame critical issues regarding K-12 education and public health in public discourse. She is looking forward to bringing the insights she gained from attending the 5-day conference back to her classroom this year.