Standing Committee Updates
December 2025 AAALetter
Table of Contents
- Stay Connected with AAAL All Year Long | Steve Moody & Sarah Hercula
- Graduate Report: Reimagining Scholarship, Strengthening Community | Sarah Howard & John Odudele
Stay Connected with AAAL All Year Long
Steve Moody, Brigham Young University
Sarah Hercula, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Chair and Vice Chair, AAAL Online Education and Outreach Committee (OEOC)
Steve Moody, Sarah Hercula, Sinem Sonsaat-Hegelheimer,
James Mischler, James Coda, Devin Grammon, Yi Wang
Have you ever attended a AAAL webinar, joined a professional development workshop, or engaged with AAAL’s website and social media channels? If so, you’ve already experienced the work of the Online Education and Outreach Committee (OEOC)—a passionate group of 38 volunteers dedicated to keeping our AAAL community connected, informed, and inspired throughout the year.
OEOC’s mission is simple: to extend the AAAL experience beyond our annual conference by creating opportunities to engage with applied linguists through online resources and events. We do this through the work of five subcommittees, each focused on a specific area of engagement: AAALetter, Professional Development, Social Media, Webinar, and Website & Content Development.
Led by Editor Sinem Sonsaat-Hegelheimer (Iowa State University) and published twice each year, the AAALetter showcases the latest happenings across AAAL and applied linguistics—including member achievements, AAAL initiatives, updates from our sibling organizations, and more. Most recently, the AAALetter is expanding accessibility by offering audio versions of articles as well, so you can catch up on the latest AAAL updates in a format that is convenient for you.
The Professional Development subcommittee, chaired by James Mischler (Northwestern State University), organizes interactive workshops that explore key areas of applied linguistics. Separate from webinars, these hands-on sessions offer expert presentations followed by breakout discussions and collaborative activities, providing opportunities to meet and work with other AAAL members. Most recently, they conducted a workshop on arts-based research in applied linguistics. Look forward to future workshops as well as a new professional development blog to be launched early next year.
The Social Media subcommittee, chaired by James Coda (University of Tennessee), keeps the AAAL community connected by sharing highlights and relevant content with the AAAL community. Through advocacy campaigns, curated resources, and timely updates, they bring attention to topics and events that matter to applied linguists today. Connect with us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube to join the conversation!
The Webinar subcommittee, chaired by Devin Grammon (University of Oregon), hosts regular webinars throughout the year, bringing thought-provoking attention to emerging and important topics in our field. Recent webinars, for instance, explored identity and investment in language learning, ethical quantitative inclusion, and AI and language teaching. Missed one? You can always visit our webinar archive to get caught up! Look forward to more interesting and engaging topics in the coming year.
The Website and Content Development subcommittee, chaired by Yi Wang (Stony Brook University), curates and expands online resources hosted at AAAL’s main website. Their latest initiative, the Oral History Project, captures and shares stories from AAAL members and scholars, connecting our organization’s rich history with its exciting future.
If you are looking to get more involved in AAAL, please join in our webinars and workshops, access our web resources, connect with us on social media, or volunteer to become a part of this exciting work! You can visit these links to learn more:
- Visit the OEOC website;
- Follow our social media pages: X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, YouTube;
- Volunteer with the OEOC; and
- Send us your comments and suggestions at oeoc@aaal.org.
Graduate Report: Reimagining Scholarship, Strengthening Community
Sarah Howard, Oregon State University
John Odudele, University of Washington
Co-Chairs, AAAL Graduate Student Council (GSC)
Ifeoluwa Awopetu, Malachi Henry, Mukib Khan,
Alyson Horan, John A. Odudele, Sarah Howard
The AAAL graduate student council centers its work on the needs of its graduate students. And we want to use this space to appreciate the effort, time, and energy devoted to serving on the Graduate Student Council, which consists of the Steering Committee and its subcommittees— Newsletter, JEDI, Social Media, and Event Planning. We are grateful for developing great initiatives and working hard to make them successful. The following shows the hard work toward the future success of AAALGSC:
To start, the Newsletter Subcommittee and its chair, Ifeoluwa Awopetu, have been hard at work putting together a wonderful Fall issue of the AAAL Graduate Student Council Newsletter! With five featured articles, two resource reviews, two professional development entries, trending topics, and a creative corner piece, this newsletter demonstrates innovative thought and experience in the graduate community. The Newsletter Subcommittee did an exemplary job collaborating with authors across a wide range of topics, including the intersections of language, learning, and technology, as well as thoughtful conversations about writing as both a form of self-care and craft. The subcommittee further collaborated with the JEDI Subcommittee to share the 2025 JEDI report from the Spring AAAL Convention in Denver, CO! The team continues preparing for the spring edition, which will be shared before the 2026 Spring Convention.
The JEDI Subcommittee and its chair, Malachi Henry, are excited about their initiatives to improve inclusion and well-being for graduate students. The JEDI team is currently working to improve graduate student experiences through the JEDI booth, a space dedicated to JEDI-related information at the conference. The first of its kind was launched at the last conference in Denver, and the JEDI team sees the need to continue improving it for future conferences. Additionally, the JEDI team is working on an online GSC platform that can bring graduate students together. This GSC platform would be a space to share resources and connect year-round, not simply during the conference seasons. The JEDI team is also working with conference organizers to expand the successful parent room initiative to include dedicated rooms for parent-scholars. Finally, the JEDI Subcommittee is planning a Fall JEDI Webinar series to address topics identified by graduate students in former surveys as being important priorities starting next Fall.
Next, we celebrate the efforts from GSC’s Social Media leader, Mukib Khan, and the subcommittee members for maintaining consistency and visibility throughout the AAAL GSC virtual platforms. Part of the Social Media team's achievement is the new GSC Spotlight, which recognizes the achievements of all graduate student members. On that note, we ask everyone to follow our Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube pages, as well as the GSC website, where we can keep you updated on our graduate student activities and other information relevant to students. We encourage every graduate student to get in touch and take advantage of this opportunity.
Finally, our Event Planning Subcommittee and its chair, Alyson Horan, have been hard at work planning a variety of activities for graduate students. They have been collaborating with many different subcommittees internally within the GSC, as well as with the larger AAAL Executive Board to serve the needs of the association. On November 6, they hosted a Fall webinar titled, “AI and Second Language Teaching and Learning.” In addition to webinars, the committee has also been working hard to streamline event materials, such as advertisements, for the AAAL GSC to support future steering committees. The Event Planning Subcommittee is also working diligently towards the upcoming spring convention!
As the AAAL GSC prepares for the 2026 Spring Convention, we are thrilled to share that we will contribute to both the in-person and online conferences to support all interested graduate students. For the in-person conference, we will host the Multilingual Matters Graduate Research Roundtable session, a Sister Scholars’ Panel, and another forthcoming panel discussion. For the online conference in April, the AAAL GSC will offer a J-BILD Mentoring through Writing Panel to support graduate students at all stages of the publication process. More information about these events will be shared closer to the conference, and please keep an eye out for our roundtable interest forms which will circulate here in a few months!
To conclude, more information on various program opportunities to support graduate students planning to come to the AAAL 2026 conference in Chicago will be shared on our website early next year. The GSC plans to bring back our “Roommate Finder” Padlet to help attendees find and connect with potential roommates during the conference, and is brainstorming modifications for the “Parenting Co-op” Padlet we implemented last year to help student parents arrange co-parenting with each other while conferencing. As we wrap up the first half of our term as a steering committee, we ask graduate student readers to keep an eye out for a call for volunteers for next year’s AAAL GSC beginning in early March 2026!