Michelle Petersen

Michelle Petersen grew up in, what she calls, Illowa (Illinois and Iowa). She spent 25 years in those two states.  She attended Western Illinois University and earned a degree in Spanish Linguistics and minored in Russian and Political Science. The semester before her student teaching was spent in Spain, improving her language skills and learning about the culture. Upon finishing her student teaching she came to the realization that teaching high school is not what she really wanted to do. She returned to school and got her Master's degree in Spanish Linguistics and Literature from the University of Iowa. As a student, she put herself through school by being a teaching assistant. It was there that she realized that she did love teaching, but at the university level.

In 1997, she was hired by Arizona State University in the once known Language and Literature Department (now known as the School of International Languages and Cultures).  She was hired as a multiyear Lecturer in the newly developed position.  She taught Lower Division Spanish courses and was a course coordinator.  She maintained this position until she was asked in 2006 to move campuses and start, with Dr. Barbara Lafford, the Lower Division Spanish courses at the ASU Downtown Phoenix Campus, where she still resides.  She is a coordinator of Lower Division Courses and teaches three classes per semester.

Michelle has been involved in the Faculty Senate as well as sitting on various committees throughout her tenure at ASU.  As a member of AZLA and ACTFL, she has participated in conferences in different areas ranging from pedagogy to CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning).

In 2016 she was accepted into the PhD program in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics with a focus on Second Language Acquisition and CALL through the English Department at ASU. Her graduation is set for 2026 or 2027.