Hindi instructor elected to board committee for foreign language education

LAWRENCE — Patrica Sabarwal, KU lecturer in Hindi, was elected to serve on the Board of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) Executive Committee as an at-large board member. 

The National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs) represents less commonly taught languages in the United States and is the national voice for organizations and individuals who represent the teaching of these less commonly taught languages at both the collegiate and pre-collegiate level. NCOLCTL’s mission is to increase the number of Americans who choose to learn an LCTL, to improve the teaching and learning of these languages and to make them more generally available.

“This is very exciting news for KU,” said Esra Predolac, coordinator of the Critical Languages Consortium (CLC) and Turkish lecturer at KU. “Less commonly taught languages are becoming increasingly vital to the security and economic, social and political welfare of the United States. It proves once again that KU is a national leader in the study of foreign languages, and Patrica will do an outstanding job representing KU and increase awareness of the importance of LCTLs at the national level.”

With the election to the NCOLCTL Executive Committee, Sabarwal becomes the second person within the CLC to serve as a board member of a national foreign language education centered organization: She is joining Predolac, who serves on the board of the American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages (AATT). Sabarwal's appointment expires in December 2021.

Sabarwal and Predolac are instructors at the KU School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures. KU offers over 40 languages and is ranked as national leader in the field of foreign language education.