Shawn Wolfe


Professional Details

Title Director, American Language & Culture Institute and External English Language Programs
Department School of Continuing and Professional Studies
Office Sullivan Building 114B
Phone 978.542.7002
Email shawn.wolfe@salemstate.edu
Resume Shawn Wolfe
Photo of Shawn Wolfe

Recent and Upcoming Courses

EDS 859 Teaching Grammar to Multilingual Learners

Professional Biography

Shawn Doulgas Wolfe is a high-energy second language acquisition scholar and international education administrator specializing in ESOL program development, enrollment management operations, curriculum design, and technology integration for adult learning and higher education contexts. As Director of English Language Programs at Salem State University, Shawn oversees the American Language and Culture Institute (ALCI), where he has focused on raising academic standards while increasing student enrollment. In 2019, Pearson Education recognized his team's implementation of the Global Scale of English (GSE) to enhance personalized learning experiences that keep learners motivated and engaged toward their personal and academic language proficiency goals.

In addition to managing the ALCI, Shawn teaches a graduate course on assessing English language learners as a Visiting Instructor in Salem State University's graduate TESOL program. Prior to working at Salem State, Shawn taught English in Japan and Mexico and was recognized in 2012 as West Virginia New Adult Educator of the Year for his leadership, advocacy, and support of culturally and linguistically diverse learners, and for improving learning outcomes of adult students in the community-based English program he oversaw. Shawn holds a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MA-TESOL) from the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education.

Professional Interests

Second Language Acquisition, Multiliteracies Teaching, Learning Design, E-learning Ecologies, Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT),  Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning (ICALL), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Applied Learning/Data Analytics

Responsibilities

Regularly review enrollment processes and institutional policies pertaining to American Language and Culture Institute (ALCI) and international students. Pinpoint opportunities to streamline enrollment from ALCI programs with SSU admissions. Manage ALCI budgets. Determine enrollment goals, revenue targets, and course scheduling. Manage hiring, contracts, regulatory compliance, complaints, admission, orientation, strategic planning, and student placement. Build assessment tools such as course and evaluation systems. Manage every aspect of target driven, student-centered curriculum development. Actively engage in professional organizations and present research at conferences. Guide teachers in selecting resources, materials, and tools to enhance instruction and lesson planning. 

  • Increased enrollment by 37+% by enhancing promotion, outreach, and engagement.
  • Created a unique instructor evaluation process that guides participants through reflection, goal setting, and observation.
  • Ensured student placement success by accurately assessing and certifying English proficiency while also organizing computerized placement and progress tests. 
  • Designed sleek, easy to use admissions and applicant review processes. 
  • Facilitated professional development of all instructors in mastering critical expertise such as College and Career Readiness Standards, Global Scale of English objectives, assessment methods, data analysis, and Understanding by Design Framework.
  • Mentored students as academic advisor to Intensive English Language Program.
  • Drove up international student retention by designing staff training to address challenges.
  • Partnered with Creative Services and Marketing to build optimal ALCI marketing materials
  • Demonstrated outstanding relationship building skills by reaching out to overseas EducationUSA advisers, third-party recruiters, agents, global organizations, universities, and parents.
  • Launched a leading edge CRM system to optimize marketing and outreach. 
  • Integrated Canvas LMS technology to develop ALCI courses. 

Selected Presentations

Davila, S., Schlate, A., & Wolfe, S. (2019, March 12-15). Revising and aligning curriculum to international scales to drive progress [Conference presentation]. TESOL International Convention, Atlanta, GA, United States. 

Schlate, A., Towler, S., & Wolfe, S. (2018, November 10). Revising and aligning curriculum to international scales to drive progress [Conference presentation]. MATSOL Private Language Schools / Intensive English Programs Conference, Boston, MA, United States. 

Davila, S. & Wolfe, S. (2017, November 11). Introduction to the Global Scale of English [Conference presentation]. MATSOL Private Language Schools / Intensive English Programs Conference, Boston, MA, United States. 

Personal Interests

History, World Languages and Cultures, Genealogy, Travel, Piano, and Comedy