Natalie Mullen Leisher

Natalie Mullen Leisher is a Lecturer with a Ph.D. in Education Policy from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, specializing in language policy, multilingual populations, and internationalization of higher education. She currently serves as Director of the Institute for Cross-Cultural Training, where she supports Christian non-profits in language education. Her academic career spans over a decade as an ESL instructor focusing on listening, speaking, and pronunciation for adults in university settings, with fieldwork experience in China and Spain.

• Education: Ph.D. and M.A. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, B.A. from Illinois State University
• Courses Taught: Introduction to Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition in Intercultural Contexts, Cross-Cultural Qualitative Research

Her research explores language justice and inclusion, particularly in multilingual international student populations and non-profit religious organizations. Recent publications analyze multilingual ideologies in higher education and institutional English language policy implementation. Mullen Leisher combines academic rigor with cross-cultural practice through her directorship and teaching roles.

Notable works include the 2020 book chapter Language and Cultural Competence and her 2017 dissertation on UIUC's language policy. These reflect expertise in internationalization strategies, language pedagogy, and policy frameworks for multilingual inclusion. She actively bridges ESL instruction with broader cultural competence initiatives.