MARY WILDNER-BASSETT earned her M.A. (with distinction) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and her Ph.D. (Dr. Phil.)  in 1983 at the Ruhr-University of Bochum in the Federal Republic of Germany. She joined the faculty of the University of Arizona in 1986 after teaching for two years in the Zentrales Fremdspracheninstitut at the University of Hamburg. Her publications include Improving Pragmatic Aspects of Learners' Interlanguage (Tübingen, 1984), Zielpunkt Deutsch (N.Y., 1992) and many contributions to anthologies and journals on foreign language pedagogy and second language acquisition, applied linguistics, and computer- mediated second language communication. She is a Professor of German Studies and Second Language Acquisition and Teaching.  She served as Head of the Department of German from 2004-2008, and as the Dean of the College of Humanities from 2008-2016. She teaches professional development, pedagogy, applied linguistics and L2 acquisition theory, and theories and practice of academic leadership on the graduate level; on the undergraduate level, she teaches German Studies language and culture courses and a new Health Humanities course.  Her current research covers the areas of her teaching and explores the possibilities of experiential and contemplative learning contexts for language, culture and leadership.