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Tel.: +385 1 3786 214
irena.prpic.djuric@morh.hr
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SECRETARIAT

One key duty of the Secretariat is keeping ACT and other NATO authorities informed regarding the BILC activities and projects undertaken in support of its mandate.

Leadership


Since its establishment in 1966, leadership of the BILC Secretariat has been provided by the UK, Germany, the US, Canada, Bulgaria and Slovenia. Croatia holds the Chair since May 2022.

CHAIR

Irena Prpic Djuric

Irena Prpic Djuric is the director of the Katarina Zrinska Foreign Language Center at the Dr. Franjo Tudman Defense Academy. She has been working there since 1996. She is an English teacher graduating from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. She also holds a M.Sc. degree in American Studies. She started working in the Center as a teacher. In 2001 she was appointed head of the Teaching Department. She has been the head of the Center since 2014. Besides teaching and translating/interpreting, she was a member of the STANAG 6001 examination board for a couple of years.
E-mail: irena_ines@yahoo.com
 
Secretaries

Suzana Horvat

Suzana Horvat works at the Katarina Zrinska Foreign Language Center at the Dr. Franjo Tudman Defense Academy. She has been working in the Croatian Testing Team since 2006 and has been responsible for development, administration and evaluation of tests. Prior to this position, she worked as a teacher of English in public and foreign language schools. She has been a member of the Shared Item Bank Working Group since 2019, working on the development of anchor items for listening and reading skills. She graduated from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Borjana Soldo

Borjana Soldo has been working at the Katarina Zrinska Foreign Language Center at the Dr. Franjo Tudman Defense Academy, Osijek Department, since 2004. She graduated from the University of Osijek, Croatia, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, with a degree in English and German language and literature. As an experienced language teacher her job includes course work at different levels of English/German as well as developing learning/teaching/testing material on everyday basis. She co-facilitated BILC Language Standards and Assessment Seminar (LSAS) in 2018.

Dr Ray Clifford
 
Ray Clifford served as the Chair of the NATO Bureau for International Language Coordination from 1997 to 2008, and he continues to serve as the organization’s Senior Advisor.  He was Dean, Provost, and then Chancellor of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, California from 1981 to 2005; and he is currently Director of the Center for Language Studies and Associate Dean in the College of Humanities at Brigham Young University.  He has served as president of several professional organizations including the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages, the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations, and the Joint National Committee for Languages.  
His awards include the FIPLV International Award, (presented by the Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes, an official partner NGO with UNESCO), a National Performance Review Award (from the Vice President of the United States for reinventing government), the Medallion for Meritorious Service (from the U.S. Director of Central Intelligence for service outside of the intelligence community), the Language Flagship Leadership Award (from the U.S. Department of Defense), the Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession (from the Association of Departments of Foreign languages), and a Creative Works Award (from Brigham Young University).
He received a PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1997 and a Doctor Honoris Causa from Middlebury College in 2003.  He has published extensively on foreign language teaching and testing, and among his publications is the research that empirically validated the STANAG 6001 reading and listening proficiency scales.
 

Associated secretaries

dr. EDELMIRA NICKELS

Dr. Edelmira Nickels is the Director of the Partner Language Training Center, Europe (PLTCE) at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. Leading a team of highly skilled professionals, she oversees the delivery of advanced language courses for U.S. linguists and graduate-level training for national security-sector language testers and teachers from NATO and partner nations. Dr. Nickels provides expertise to NATO allies and global partners in support of language interoperability efforts. She serves as the Requirements Authority Representative for Language Standards within NATO’s ETEE Discipline and as Associate Secretary for BILC. Previously, Dr. Nickels was the Head of the Strategic Languages Department at PLTCE, where she oversaw courses in critical languages and managed workshops on interpreting techniques. Before joining PLTCE, she served as Chief of the English Language Testing Flight at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center (DLIELC), overseeing the development, distribution, and security of language tests essential for security cooperation, military accessions, and U.S.-sponsored exercise programs. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Indiana University and a B.A. in Secondary Education TESS from the University of Puerto Rico.

Peggy Garza


Peggy Garza is the Chair of the English Language Programs Department at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Partner Language Training Center Europe (PLTCE) in Garmisch, Germany, where she is responsible for overseeing the different English for Specific Purposes (ESP)/English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs, faculty development workshops and BILC language testing seminars. She previously worked at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center (DLIELC) in San Antonio, Texas in various teaching, testing, curriculum development and managerial positions. She was the BILC Secretary from 1997-2008, the Associate BILC Secretary for Testing Programs from 2008-2014 and as of May 2014 serves once again as the BILC Secretary. Ms. Garza is an active member of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and has given numerous presentations at TESOL Conventions on the topics of ESP, testing, program administration, and teacher training. She has a M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from the State University of New York at Albany and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas in San Antonio.
E-mail: GarzaP@marshallcenter.org

Julie J. Dubeau, M.A.
Chief Standards Foreign Language Programs
Canadian Defence Academy

Julie J. Dubeau has been involved in foreign language education, training and testing throughout her career: working as a trilingual court interpreter, French teacher, test specialist, tester and tester trainer.  She has been working for the Department of National Defence of Canada since 1990.  She currently works as of Chief of Standards, Foreign Languages, for Military Personnel Generation (MILPERSGEN HQ), managing the national foreign language standards’ section.  She holds an Honours B.A. in Foreign Languages (Spanish) and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics both from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.  Ms. Dubeau attended her first BILC in 1994 and has been collaborating with BILC for many years on a number of interoperability-related initiatives such as updating the NATO STANAG 6001, developing the ‘plus’ levels, elaborating the Benchmark Advisory Test (BAT) and conducting research on language testing and language needs analyses. She travels frequently on behalf of Canada and NATO to assist requesting nations in setting up or modernizing their language training and testing programmes. In 2008, Julie was appointed BILC Secretary and Chair in 2013. 

E-mail: Julie.Dubeau@forces.gc.ca

Jana Vasilj-Begovic, M.A.
Foreign Language Standards Officer

Canadian Defence Academy

Jana Vasilj-Begovic holds an M.A. degree in Philology from the University of Belgrade, B. A. degrees in English and German literature and languages from the University of Sarajevo, as well as a B.Ed. degree in Dramatic Arts and English from Queen's University, Canada. She has worked for the Department of National Defence of Canada since 1993 and has occupied various positions including those of a Foreign Language Test Specialist, Curriculum Development Manager, and Foreign Language Standards Officer (responsible for testing and curriculum development in foreign languages). She has many years of teaching experience, and is also a certified translator of the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario. Under the auspices of BILC, Ms. Vasilj-Begovic has participated in numerous projects, such as the delivery of the Language Testing Seminar, design and delivery of the Advanced Language Testing Seminar, development of the Benchmark Advisory Test and the Prototype Level-4 Reading Test, amplification of STANAG 6001 language descriptors, assistance visits to nations with the goal of helping them set up their testing programmes, etc.

E-mail: Jana.Vasilj-Begovic@forces.gc.ca



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