Maria Villalobos-Buehner earns second appointment as Department of State’s English Specialist

By Samantha Clark

Professor María Villalobos-Buehner was selected for a second appointment by the Department of State as an English Specialist, serving as one of three representatives abroad.

The program allows representatives to develop one project per year in a foreign country, aiming to assist the U.S. Embassy in maintaining quality English language programs.

“There is a list that the Department of State creates with all of the applications, and if they select you, they send that list to the different embassies around the world,” Villalobos-Buehner said. “Once you’re on that list, you stay on it.”

Bridging language for global collaboration

In her second appointment, Villalobos-Buehner utilized her background in artificial intelligence in language to Peru, creating a content-based experience to better develop linguistic skills in South America.

Villalobos-Buehner served as the secretary of technological innovation while in Peru, where she aimed to assign projects that apply such topics to the real world, asking students to create ways technology could improve areas in health, education and transportation departments.

“That experience was almost like I was creating my own canvas, if I were to use art as a metaphor to that process,” Villalobos-Buehner said. “And that really excited me in big ways.”

These real-world scenarios set students up for success after developing their basic linguistic skills, Villalobos-Buehner said, since English serves as the main language in collaboration with other countries which helps expansions and developments overseas. 

“We cannot work in isolation, so when it comes to topics such as technology, … if you want to be part of that conversation, English becomes extremely important for that development,” she said.

Local impact

Villalobos-Buehner’s work in Peru also coincides with her work in Lawrenceville. 

At Rider, she is a professor that teaches across 14 different Spanish courses, ranging from introductory levels to graduate student programs and certificates. 

In the classroom, she designs similar content-based experiences and real-world language simulations, offering direct synergy between her teachings in the United States and Peru.

Additionally, she serves as the coordinator for Rider’s TESOL Program, or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, which allows graduate students to put their education into action and instruct the language to adult learners.

Kathleen Pierce, the director of Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Certification and an affiliate with the TESOL Program said, “[Villalobos-Buehner] understands how vital global connections are to our world’s very survival. … Her passion for and understanding of the world’s need to positively connect to each other informs all her teaching and service here at Rider.”

Villalobos-Buehner work in the program is what first put her on the map, as the list from the Embassy is “considered a list of experts in the field of TESOL.”

She enjoys challenges, as she sees new and seemingly uncomfortable situations as an opportunity to learn. With that, her experiences abroad from her time as an English Specialist have also become experiences to grow as she grapples with the responsibility of representing the U.S. abroad. 

“It’s really an honor,” she said. “I feel that life has presented me with something bigger than myself.”