Director
Miglena Nikolova
Miglena Nikolova is an Assistant Professor of German at College of DuPage. She holds a PhD in Germanic Studies from University of Illinois at Chicago. She has also earned a 6-12 Illinois Teaching Certificate. During her graduate studies, Miglena Nikolova was a Head Teaching Assistant at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received the Excellence in Teaching Award and the Graduate Research Award from University of Illinois at Chicago. Currently she is the Language Program Director of the Language School at DANK Haus German American Cultural Center in Chicago. Miglena Nikolova also teaches German language at Dominican University and has taught for seven years English as a Second Language at Triton Community College. She was the co- director of last year's COD Study Abroad Program to Berlin. Her academic interests are in the area of Second Language Acquisition. In addition to dedicating a lot of time to her academic interests, Nikolova enjoys spending time with her family and traveling in Europe.
Co-Director
Zhi Y. Liu
Zhi Y. Liu is an Instructor of French and Chinese at College of DuPage since 1992.
A native of Shanghai, China, she holds a B.A. in Modern and Classical French Language
and Literature and a minor in Chinese Language from the Shanghai Foreign Language
Institute, a M.A. in French Literature from The Ohio State University and finished
her Ph.D. courses at University of Maryland. Liu has extensive teaching experience
in French and Chinese. In addition to COD, she has taught different levels of Chinese
classes at Bradley University and different levels of French and Chinese classes at
Elgin Community College. Her teaching philosophy is to guide and mentor students with
a caring, inspirational, challenging and secure environment where ideas can be shared
and respected. Twice she has been awarded the outstanding adjunct faculty award at
COD. During the summers of 2013, 2017 and 2019 she was the co-director of COD's French
Study Abroad programs to Bordeaux, France and co-directed the COD China programs to
Xian, China in the summers of 2014, 2015 and 2016. In addition to her academic interests,
she enjoys reading, and exploring different cultures and arts. She has traveled to
multiple European countries. Travels help her expand her knowledge and understanding
of different cultures and history. She is looking forward to the German Study Abroad
Program in the summer of 2020.
Contact Information
Field and Experiential Learning, Study Abroad and Global Education
Berg Instructional Center (BIC), Room 3520
General inquiries: (630) 942-2356
Email: fssa@cod.edu