About Us

Mission Statement

The mission of the Global Engagement and Language Learning (GELL) Center is to provide a space for NAU students to find guidance and resources in their study of global languages and cultures beyond the classroom in order to promote student success. We seek to empower and motivate students with diverse learning styles and needs through support in successful learning strategies, activities for independent language study, and opportunities for authentic intercultural communication.

This includes:

  • coaching in successful language-learning strategies

  • self-access resources to promote autonomous learning

  • targeted workshops, special lecture series, and cultural events

  • media library and multicultural games cache

  • opportunities for active, short-term immersion in the target language with:

    • small conversation groups led in the Center by native-speaking international students

    • language-partner exchanges with international students on campus

    • teletandem exchanges in online interactions with students across the globe

The Center also seeks to provide opportunities for interdisciplinary research in language acquisition and pedagogy, educational technology, applied linguistics, and other related disciplines. In this way, the GELL Center addresses several areas of NAU’s Mission, Vision, and Strategic Plan by engaging diversity, strengthening global ties, and expanding research and discovery.

As an extension of the department of Global Languages and Cultures at NAU, the GELL Center primarily supports those languages currently taught in our NAU courses, which may include: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Navajo, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.