Faculty and Staff

Program Administrators

Bill Wallace, Director
Ed.D. University of Alabama

Bill has been involved in the teaching and administration of English as a Second Language on a full-time basis since 1978. In addition to serving as an instructor and an administrator at the University of Alabama's ELI, he has taught in the Republic of Korea, as well as in Texas, Illinois and Tennessee. He has also conducted teacher-training courses and workshops in Colombia and Guatemala as well as in the U.S., and has presented numerous times at professional conferences.

Bill Merriman, Associate Director for Internal Programs
M.A. TESL, University of Kansas

Bill has lived in Alabama since 1988, when he joined the faculty of the ELI. Before coming to Alabama, he taught English overseas for more than 10 years. He has worked in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Ann Ramos, Associate Director for External Programs
M.A. Linguistics/TESL, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Ann has been working with and teaching English to International students for more than 25 years. Before coming to Alabama, she taught in university Intensive English programs in Illinois, Missouri and Niigata, Japan. She has lived in Japan and visited countries in Asia and Europe.

Instructors

Kim Andrus
M.A. TESOL, Bowling Green State University

Kim is originally from Hagerman, Idaho. He earned a B.A. in English at Idaho State University, through which he gained a great appreciation for poetry and English literature. Kim spent two years in Guatemala, where he became a fluent speaker of Spanish.He has taught English since finishing his M.A. in TESOL in 1997, first spending two years at the Center for English as a Second Language at Southern Illinois University. He has been teaching at the ELI since 1999. Kim's professional interests are in use of multimedia and technology in the classroom.

Marci Daugherty
M.A. TESOL, Monterey Institute of International Studies

Marci has taught EFL overseas for 3 years in Hefei, Anhui, China and for 2 years in Liberec and Jablonec nad Nisou in the Czech Republic. She has also taught ESL in Texas and California.

Catherine Dockery
M.A. TESOL, University of Alabama

Catherine completed her master’s degree in May, 2006, and is proud to be a member of the ELI faculty. She has taught ESL to children, college students, and adults. She is especially interested in teaching English through Literature, but enjoys all aspects of ESL education.

Tony Hall
M.A. TESOL, The University of Alabama

Tony taught in Japan and in Florida. While in Florida, he created and taught English for Flight courses while earning a private pilot certificate. His favorite course to teach at ELI is writing. He enjoys travel, flying, and playing guitar.

Laura Hebert
M.A. Teaching English as a Foreign Language, American University in Cairo, Egypt

Laura has been at the ELI for 12 years but has also taught ESL in Illinois and California. She has 7 years of experience teaching abroad in Egypt, France and most recently Japan. As an undergraduate, Laura spent a year studying in France.

Bill Henderson
M.A. TESL, The University of Alabama

A native of Selma, Bill earned his BA in German Studies and his MA in TESL at the University of Alabama. He has taught at universities and in corporate settings in Korea and Hungary where he specialized in Business English and preparing students for overseas study.

Brad Hodges
M.A. Applied Linguistics/TESL, Georgia State University

Originally from western North Carolina, Brad taught in Gabon (central Africa) for three years, in the ESL program at Georgia State University, and in Canada during an exchange. His second language is French, and he especially enjoys teaching speaking, listening, and pronunciation.

Cristina Johnson
M.A. TESL/TEFL, Colorado State University

Originally from Colorado, Cristina came to the ELI in October 2006. Cristina received her English:TESL/TEFL MA from Colorado State University in 2004. Prior to coming to Alabama, she taught basic composition at a community college and "subbed" within the public schools. She also taught EFL at a university for two years in Tianjin, China and at an academy for one year in Yeosu, South Korea.

David Laurence
M.A. TESL/TEFL, Ohio University

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, David has been teaching English as a Second / Foreign Language since 1996. After teaching for nearly 10 years in Japan, he returned to the United States to earn his Master's Degree from his alma mater Ohio University, which he completed in 2007. He has been at the ELI since then, and is proud to be a member of its faculty.

Kelly McPherson
M.A. TESOL, University of Alabama

Kelly is originally from Nashville, TN. He taught for 2 years in Okinawa, Japan and has been teaching classes in Alabama since 2003. Kelly enjoys travelling and has visited 23 different countries.

Jay Robbins
M.A. TESOL, Boston University

Jay has been teaching at the ELI since 1987. He also taught English for one year in Pusan, Korea, and one year in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Jay enjoys reading, playing tennis, and learning about other cultures.

David Taylor
M.A. TL - TESOL, The University of Southern Mississippi

David comes to the ELI after a year teaching at the Alabama Language Institute in Gadsden. He also taught ESL, Literature, Art and History for 3 years overseas in Ecuador, South America on the high school and college levels. He earned his master's degree from USM in 2000. David is also an accomplished photographer. He has taught photography on the university level and has had numerous gallery shows of his images across the south. He enjoys the creative process, whether it is in the field of art or in the classroom.