Dr. James J. Mischler has been named head of the Department of English, Foreign Languages and Cultural Studies at Northwestern State University. His appointment has been approved by the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System.
Mischler has been acting department head since 2015. In that time, he has worked to update and expand academic programs, revamp and improve the department’s class schedule and reimagine and remodel departmental classrooms.
“Most Northwestern students come through our department at one time in their college career, so we understand the important role we play in student retention which is vital in the current environment,” said Mischler. “The programs in our department plan to work to better serve the needs of students, faculty, the university and the community in the years to come.”
The department includes the Bachelor of Arts in English, Master of Arts in English, a graduate certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), a new graduate certificate program in writing for business, industry and technology, the NSU Writing Project, Louisiana Folklife Center and Argus Literary Magazine.
A member of Northwestern State’s faculty since 2008, Mischler has taught at Oklahoma State University, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Northeastern Illinois University, North Park University, several community and vocational colleges and Odawara Christian Center in Odawara, Japan.
At Northwestern State, Mischler was director of the Writing and Academic Resource Center for five years and has been coordinator of the graduate program in TESOL for four years. He designed the TESOL program and serves as its primary instructor and student advisor.
He received a bachelor’s degree at Wichita State University, master’s degrees from Pacific Lutheran University and Northeastern Illinois University and a doctorate at Oklahoma State University and did graduate work at Wichita State and The Pennsylvania State University.
Mischler was the 2016 recipient of the Dr. Mildred Hart Bailey Faculty Research Award for research in cognitive linguistics. Those nominated for the award are evaluated on scholarly or creative significance, national, regional or local impact; originality and ingenuity of project design and critical recognition by experts in the field.
He has made 17 presentations to national and international professional conferences in his academic career on TESOL, linguistics, grammar, language and related subjects. Mischler is the author of the book, “Metaphor across time and conceptual space: The interplay of embodiment and cultural models,” published by John Benjamins and several other peer reviewed publications.