Kettering University’s new English as a Second Language program aims to bring a more international atmosphere to campus while helping students be more successful.

Kevin Fedewa, Director of Kettering’s ESL program, came to the University in July 2016 to launch the program and expects it only to grow and prosper as time goes on. In the 2016 fall term, the program was opened to nine delegates from Chinese auto manufacturing companies.

This term, there are 16 delegates being taught by Fedewa and his staff. For the time this year they are also teaching a student who hopes to attend Kettering after their English proficiency is improved.

“After a couple of years we hope to have 30 to 40 students here. After five to 10 years we are thinking probably 80 to 100 students,” Fedewa said. “This is important for bringing more international students on campus and making Kettering more of an international university. This growth will be good for prospective and current students on campus.”

Fedewa is also teaching Chinese at Kettering to help open up the possibilities for students to work with people and businesses from different areas or possibly travel internationally.

In the past if international students were accepted to Kettering University but did not have a high enough English proficiency, they would have to go to another institution first to get help.

Now Fedewa is working on developing the program, recruiting at partner universities in China, and teaching.

Fedewa’s background is in foreign language studying German and Chinese during his undergrad and earning a Master’s degree in Chinese. He’s taught English at an academy in Korea and taught English to international students at his Alma Mater in Wisconsin, until he began teaching Chinese there and later at Michigan State University.

His career also includes summers at Minzu University in Beijing coordinating a teacher training program for non-native speakers of Chinese. While working at Kettering, Fedewa is working on his Master’s for teaching English to speakers of other languages.

Working alongside Fedewa is Natalie Marzonie Parra, English as a Second Language instructor. She has a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a minor in French, along with an M.A. in TESOL and 10 years of experience teaching English to speakers of other languages. Marzonie Parra has worked in language instruction at two other post-secondary institutions and abroad.

She specializes in literacy and vocabulary learning. However, her most recent focus has been researching the use of Internet-based technologies for language teaching.

Together, Fedewa and Marzonie Parra hope to introduce more international students to Kettering and Flint, while bringing more diversity and cultures to campus.

"We are excited about the potential that this program has and the role that we can play here at Kettering by serving international students," Fedewa said.