Jill Trites
Senior teaching specialist

Educational background

• Certificate in Chinese language and linguistics
  Nankai University, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China
• B.S. in chemistry, Chinese, and communications
  Minnesota State University, Moorhead, Minnesota
• M.A. in teaching English as a second language
  University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Additional graduate coursework in second languages and cultures education, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Jill (JT) Trites is a senior teaching specialist in the Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning in the new College of Education and Human Development. Prior to teaching in PSTL, JT taught in several other programs at the University of Minnesota, including the Minnesota English Center (CLA), international teaching assistant program (CLA, IT), Neighborhood Programs (CCE), and the General College. JT has also taught English at Nankai University and Tianjin University in the People’s Republic of China and cultural orientation courses for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Nairobi, Kenya. Trites’ activities include traveling throughout the U.S. and overseas; volunteering annually for Hurricane Katrina relief in Ocean Springs, Mississippi; talking to anyone who will listen to her in English, Spanish, or Mandarin Chinese; and spending quality time with friends and family.

Trites’ research interests include the impact of disrupted education on higher education attainment in East African immigrants and refugees living in the Twin Cities, the acculturation of the Lost Boys to life in Fargo, North Dakota, and infusing identity in the formal oral communication styles of non-native English speakers.

During 2007-08, JT’s courses will include Oral Communications in the Public Sphere, Introduction to College Reading for Physical Geology (Fall 2007), Reading in the Content Areas: Human Anatomy and Physiology (Spring 2008), as well as Asian-American Literature (College of Continuing Education). Trites will be adding new technologies to her teaching this year, including instructional and student performance podcasting, digital recording of student speeches, and blogging. For more information on her courses, visit her course blogs through the following links:

Oral Communications

Introduction to College Reading: Physical Geology

Reading in the Content Areas: Human Anatomy