100 Years of PSMLA; Conference announcement; Membership Discount

PSMLA Conference Keynote Speaker Announcement

Join us for our 100 Year Anniversary celebration at The Penn Stater Hotel in State College on October 24-26.  We are pleased to announce our keynote speaker for October 25, Don Gentile.  Since August 2016, Mr. Gentile has served the Intelligence Community as its Senior Language Authority and Chief Learning Officer.  Prior to taking his current position, Mr. Gentile worked in the National Counterterrorism Center’s (NCTC) Directorate of Intelligence.  Prior to his time with NCTC, Don’s career included numerous positions with the National Security Agency (NSA). Among his assignments, he served as a Language Analyst, Manager, and Senior Intelligence Analyst representing NSA in the White House Situation Room, including on 9/11. Don has also held NSA linguist certifications in Italian, Portuguese, French, and Spanish and served as a past member of NSA’s Standing Committee on Language Testing. 

Visit our conference website for rates and to register, with more details to be posted throughout the summer.

Celebrating 100 years of PSMLA!

A glance into the archives...

Writers of the 1923 Bulletin were concerned about increasing the PSMLA membership:

“ If we felt that advertising were necessary, we should adopt the practice of some business houses and offer a prize for a satisfactory reason why every modern language teacher in this State should not join our own association and read each month the Modern Language Journal. 

But why enforcer une porte ouverte? The door is open, and the admission fee is a check for two dollars, a two cent stamp and a note to Mr. Shelton.”  

(PSMLA had 257 members in 1922 and they estimated that there were at least 900 foreign language teachers in the state.)