Students | M.A. in Language & Communication

Megan Abrams

Megan is a first-year MLC student from the San Francisco Bay Area in California. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2021 with a B.A. in Linguistics and minors in History and German. She is passionate about language preservation and assisted in transferring research done on native language of Santa Barbara, Barbareño Chumash, to a digital database. Megan is interested in pursuing a career in language policy, particularly for endangered and minority languages, and/or forensic linguistics.

Kathrin Baumann

Kathrin is a first-year MLC student from Switzerland and graduated from the University of Bern with a B.A. in English Language and Literature and a minor in Sports Science. At the University of Bern, she focused on linguistics and has found her research interests to be in the fields of intercultural communication, language education, discourse analysis and sociolinguistics. At Georgetown University, she is keen to foster her interests in these fields of linguistics. As she moves forward in her career, Kathrin strives to apply her fascination and skills for language and communication as a linguist within a government, an international company or an academic institution.

Katelyn Carroll

Katelyn is a first-year MLC student interested in examining educational policy as it pertains to social justice and language identity. Graduating from the University of Michigan with a bachelors degree in English and Spanish, Katelyn received her teaching certification in Secondary Education and went on to teach high school English and journalism for two years. In addition to taking sociolinguistic courses, Katelyn works part time as a Graduate Assistant for the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access’ pre-college programs. Katelyn’s primary interests include discourse analysis, intercultural communication, and intergroup facilitation.

Stephanie Chen

I am a first year student in the MLC, and I’m from Taiwan. After graduating from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with a B.A.in Linguistics and a certificate in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), I decided to join the MLC to further my interests in discourse analysis and internet linguistics. My other interests include psycholinguistics (I was a regular neurolinguistics lab volunteer as an undergraduate) and visual linguistics, and I’m always hoping to incorporate my passion for travel and the arts with my studies. I am interested in pursuing careers related to museum or library work, though I enjoy research as well. In my free time, I like to read, play with any and all available pets, and attempt both handicrafts and digital art.

Parker DiPaolo

Parker is a first-year MLC student from Richmond, VA. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 2021 with a B.A. in Classics (concentrating in Greek and Latin) and Linguistics, with a minor in Italian. Parker has experience in digital marketing, where he sees firsthand the power of language as a tool for communication. Parker’s research interests include identity construction, digital interaction, and political discourse, and he is interested in exploring other applications of linguistics while in the MLC program.

Sophie Henry

Sophie is a first-year MLC student with a background in American Sign Language – English interpretation and a passion for learning about language and its role in society. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with her BA in ASL-English interpretation from Columbia College Chicago in December of 2020. During her time at Columbia she had the opportunity to interpret for Deaf middle school students through Columbia’s interpreting internship program and was treasurer for the student lead ASL Club. While she’s on the Hilltop, Sophie is looking forward to exploring different career paths and making lasting connections with her future peers. She’s interested in conversation analysis, power dynamics, and language/communication access for Deaf communities. When she’s not in class or working on homework at Car Barn, you can find her exploring the neighborhoods of DC.

Megan Rouch

Megan grew up in Northern Virginia and received a B.A. in Linguistics at the College of William & Mary. She has a background in phonetics and phonology research in undergraduate, and has now pivoted to sociolinguistics in the MLC. After teaching English in Vienna, Austria for two years with Fulbright Austria, she has returned to graduate school to hopefully meld her passions for social justice work, people, and environmentalism with linguistics and language/s in general. She enjoys studying languages for fun and has an interest in institutional discourse and gatekeeping, knowledge accessibility, political discourse analysis, and language policy (with more to come!). When she isn’t in class she can be found playing guitar and Zelda BOTW, reading, or watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, lately.

Nicole Rybak

Nicole is a first-year Accelerated MLC student who is also finishing up her senior year at Georgetown where she majors in Linguistics and Spanish and minors in French. She is interested in discourse analysis and studies of metaphor, which will ultimately (hopefully!) lead her into working in the naming and branding field. Currently, she is working with the now-revived Georgetown Undergraduate Linguistics Society to host events for undergrads and build a larger linguistics student community.

Ginny Stouse

Ginny is a first-year MLC student from Denver, Colorado. Ginny graduated from the University of Denver in 2016 after completing a B.A. in English (Textual Studies) and French Language and Literature. Since graduating, Ginny has worked in the sphere of language education, teaching English in the south of France and in Denver as well as teaching French immersion to young children in the United States. In beginning this program, Ginny hopes to apply her love of language, learning, and teaching to find her place in the field and learn some cool things about the intersection of language and people along the way.

Katie Swindler

Katie is a first year MLC student who graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Psychology in 2014. She spent the next seven years as a professional equestrian, competing to the national level in the sport of show jumping. She continues to work as a rider, trainer, and coach while also exploring her interests in language policy, cross-cultural communication, language in mental health, and identity construction. Post-MLC, Katie hopes to work in a setting were she can tackle issues of language access in refugee and migrant communities. She is passionate about teaching and is also interested in completing a PhD.

Dmitry Tereshenko

Dmitry is a first year MLC student from Charlotte, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as a Levine Scholar with an Honors B.A in English (Language and Digital Technology) and a B.A. in Applied Anthropology with minors in Russian Studies and Linguistics. Dmitry sees sociolinguistics as a unique and wayward way of exploring what it means to be human, viewing the field as a beautiful blend of scientific inquiry and artistic exploration. Some of his areas of interest are in digital discourse analysis, interdiscourse/intercultural communication, identity co-construction, conflict resolution, and the negotiation of power and identity in interactions.

During his time in the MLC, Dmitry looks forward to furthering his understanding of language-based investigation and is excited to discover outlets for professional application.

Samantha Tritt

Samantha Tritt is a first-year in the MLC from Shelburne, Vermont. As an accelerated master’s student, Samantha is also an undergraduate Senior at Georgetown University. Samantha is working towards a BA in Linguistics and Psychology and a minor in Italian. She also works as an editor for The Georgetown Voice, a campus news magazine. Samantha has a wide range of interests including cross-cultural communication, metaphor use, communication about mental health, and marketing.