Meet the PD Committee
Steve Campitelli (University of Melbourne) – PDC chair, returning
Steve has been involved in education since 1988, first as a Primary Teacher then as an English Language teacher working in Japan for 6 years. He moved into the University sector spending 15 years at RMIT as an academic English teacher and curriculum and assessment manager, before moving to UniMelb in 2010, where he has been since, as an Academic Skills Adviser and Learning Strategist. His teaching interests lie in language and assessment.
Alice Lee (Australian Catholic University), returning
Alice is a Team Coordinator in Australian Catholic University’s Academic Skills Unit. She has 33 years of experience in the education sector developing learning resources, teaching English and cultural studies, and working as an Academic Skills Advisor. Before arriving in Australia, she worked in Japan and the USA. Her professional areas of interests include online learning/resource design, edutech, learner autonomy and feedback literacy.
Alexandra Garcia (University of Sydney), returning
Alexandra is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney leading the Learning Hub – Academic Language and Learning. The Learning Hub provides support in the areas of academic language and learning to UG, PG and HDR students. In addition to research in the field of academic support for tertiary students, she also investigates language and ideology from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics and Corpus Linguistics.
Dr Huifang Li (University of New England), returning
Huifang is a lecturer in academic skills, University of New England (Armidale, Australia). She has held various teaching positions in universities in Australia and China: Academic literacy, applied linguistics, TESOL and Chinese. Her research interests include classroom interaction, task-based language teaching and learning, and academic writing.
Sue Gollagher (James Cook University), returning
Sue has been an academic language and literacy educator in universities in Australia and overseas since the early 1990s. Besides her specific interest in collaborating with academics to design, deliver and manage adjunct and embedded discipline-specific support programs, she is a teacher trainer with 20 years’ experience supporting ELICOS academic language teachers on DELTA and university lecturers on CLIL and HEA Fellowship programs. She hopes to use this experience to contribute to the professional development of ALL practitioners.
Rachel Barber, new PD committee member for 2025
Rachel has 20 years’ higher education experience spanning English for Academic Purposes, widening participation, enabling education, and 10 years learning advising. Rachel is committed to social inclusion and is passionate about supporting students from diverse backgrounds in her ALL-advising practice. Rachel has a keen interest in education research and, in her doctoral research, is investigating the first-year student experience of academic language and learning and its intersection with disciplinary learning.
Martin McMorrow, new PD committee member for 2025
Martin has been an academic skills advisor for 20 years in NZ and Australia. He coordinates a small team of ALL advisors at the University of Notre Dame. His background is in ESOL teaching and teacher training. He has recently published “A Student Guide to Reflective Writing” (Bloomsbury, 2024) and a series of videos on tricky aspects of English grammar and is currently researching the experiences of Catholic international students in Australia.
Michelle Sowey, new PD committee member for 2025
Michelle is entering the ALL field while completing her Master of Education with a focus on applied linguistics. For over a decade she worked as managing director of The Philosophy Club, a social enterprise promoting critical thinking, collaborative dialogue and argument literacy in schools. Michelle is passionate about helping students thrive as learners, as active citizens and as thoughtful individuals. She brings experience in educational design, facilitation, academic editing, and social justice advocacy.
2025 PD
2025 PD sessions will again consist of the Connect Inspire Share (CIS) series held every other month from March, the Talking AALL series of podcasts and the AALL Biennial Conference in December.