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Linguistics alum accepts position at Chinese university

Boise State alum Curtis Green-Eniex
Boise State alum Curtis Green-Eniex

Writer Halie Kidd is a senior studying communications and public relations and a member of the student-run Blue House Agency.

The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, announced the appointment of Curtis Green-Eneix (BA, English, 2016) as its new research assistant professor for the English Language Education program. He will bring experience and expertise in research, grant writing and more to the role.

As an English graduate with an emphasis in linguistics and a minor in Chinese studies, Green-Eneix took part in “Project Shine,” a service-learning student organization that helps in the naturalization of elderly refugees – including teaching language skills – in the Boise area. This work, Green-Eneix said, helped solidify his interest in applied linguistics, a field of study that looks at how linguistics can make sense of real-life problems in areas like psychology, sociology and education.

Green-Eneix attributes his success to his mentor, Gail Shuck, a professor in the English department, who helped him grow personally and academically. Shuck, he said, was instrumental in helping him receive a McNair Fellowship. Green-Eneix “is, and remains, one of the hardest working students I have ever seen. When I mentored him, he always did all this extra work because he wanted to learn as much as he could. He is as tenacious as they come,” Shuck said.

Green-Eneix’s decision to move to Hong Kong came with cultural challenges such as learning social norms on top of adjusting to his new position, he said. But he looks forward to focusing on research intercultural communication, how language shapes our world/society and the role language policy planning has on equitable education. Aside from his research, Green-Eneix has published journal articles, book chapters and other papers and has made 30 academic and professional presentations. He has received five grants and international accolades for his language and linguistics research. He received a doctorate in second language studies from Michigan State University.

“Everything I have done in some way has been tied back to Boise State one way or another… the beauty of Boise State, the little/big campus that it is, it’s big enough to explore what you want, but it is small enough to get the support and the care that you really need. I think the linguistics department really exemplifies that,” Green-Eneix said.