Alumni
Western Linguistics Alumni, we are genuinely interested in hearing what you've been up to. Drop us a line at linguistics@wwu.edu. Send us your stories and pictures and sign up to receive Linguistics Alumni news.
Alumni Spotlight
Our alumni are living, working, and contributing in exciting and important ways to their communities all over the world. They are teaching, creating, writing, analyzing, and serving in a vast array of careers and civic engagement. See what some of our grads are up to.
Elizabeth Bigwood, ’12, B.A., linguistics and communication sciences and disorders
Process Improvement Specialist at Neighborcare Health
Tally Callahan, ’08, B.A., linguistics
Lead Linguist at Appen
Scott Grinsell, ’10, B.A. linguistics
Elementary School Teacher at Maple Elementary
Nic Hartmann, ’10, B.A. linguistics
Senior Motion Designer and Director of Education at Killer Visual Strategies
Margot Lamy, ’18, B.A., linguistics
Proposals Coordinator for Language Link
Danielle Kim, ’17, B.A., linguistics
English Language Acquisition Instructor at Skagit Valley College
Tyler Peckenpaugh, ’08, B.A., linguistics and English literature
Software Engineer at Nylas
Samantha Prins, ’15, B.A., linguistics and Spanish
Program Coordinator for the Institute on Collaborative Language Research at the University of Montana
Nicole Riggin, ’17, B.A., linguistics
Corporate Sales Manager for Nobu
Katy Stevick, ’15, B.A., linguistics and creative writing
Employment Connection Specialist for the Washington State Employment Security Department
Learn more about these alumni and others in our newsletter archives
Here’s what our students and alumni are saying...
“It’s the best possible combination of fields – math, cognitive science, formal logic, anthropology, etc. It’s impossible to get bored and there’s always something to learn.”
“Linguistics has helped me to approach language scientifically, to appreciate the beauty of language, and to feel constantly surround by ambient language data that always leaves me with interesting questions to think about.”
"It encouraged welcoming and understanding of all other language and their cultures without criticism of any kind, but rather analysis.”
“Language is such an integral component of how humans interact and engage with the world around us, and what better way to appreciate the people around us than by engaging in other languages?”
"It feels like it’s kind of a unique major; it combines a lot of aspects of different social sciences and humanities. Also, everyone has some sort of language and it’s unique to them, so it has application to every person.”