Patricia A. Duff Ph.D. ’93

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When it comes to promoting cross-cultural understanding, few people are in a better position than Patricia Duff. Fluent in eight languages and widely traveled in Asia, North America and Eastern Europe, she draws on linguistics, history, political science, education, psychology and sociology in her scholarly analyses, forging connections not only between countries and cultures but among academic disciplines.

At UCLA she has distinguished herself in both her coursework and her research, producing a steady stream of scholarly articles and presentations. While still a student, she had ten papers published, and she currently has several under review.

In a broad sense, Patsy’s research, which examines the interactions that go on in classrooms in the dual-language schools in post-Communist Hungary, explores the process of political socialization through education discourse. In its timeliness, sophistication and political relevance, her work is on the cutting edge and it is funded by several prestigious awards, including the highly competitive Woodrow Wilson-Spencer Fellowship.

But Patsy’s contributions extend beyond her scholarly achievements. Within the department she has served as a teaching assistant; as a research project co-manager for a campus-wide project on foreign language teaching; as a coordinator for the Second Language Research Forum, and international conference; and as review editor of Issues in Applied Linguistics.

A brilliant scholar of uncommon depth and scope, Patsy Duff promises to be one of the most sought-after professors of applied linguistics in the world.