Dr. Catherine Ingold is the Executive Director of the National Foreign Language Center (NFLC), a policy, research and development institute at the University of Maryland, College Park, whose mission is to help the United States to meet its needs for languages other than English. NFLC was founded in 1986 at Johns Hopkins University to develop and promote policies in support of effective teaching and learning of languages throughout the United States. Dr. Ingold is also principal investigator of the Center’s two largest sponsored projects:
1. The LangNet/Analyst Learning Link project develops on-line, multi-media learning and assessment materials for adult professionals in over 60 languages, amounting to thousands of hours of instruction and assessment. These materials are used throughout the federal government for language training and maintenance, and are also provided to the National Flagship in support of its programs.
2. The STARTALK Project funds 150+ summer programs across the US for students and/or teachers of ten critical languages: Arabic, Chinese, Dari, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish , and Urdu; and provides extensive technical assistance to these programs, organizing two national conferences annually and mentoring the programs that receive funding.
Dr. Ingold holds a diplôme supérieur d’études françaises from the University of Paris and a M.A. in Romance Linguistics and Ph.D. in French from the University of Virginia. She began her career in teaching and academic administration at Gallaudet University as an instructor in French and Spanish, later serving as Dean of Arts and Sciences and then as Provost. She then spent four years as president of the American University of Paris, and after returning to the US was president of Curry College in Milton, MA. In 1996, she came to the National Foreign Language Center as a visiting fellow, and was appointed Deputy Director during the directorship of Dr. Richard Brecht. She was appointed Executive Director of NFLC upon Dr. Brecht’s retirement in 2005.