Prof. Susan Fiksdal has studied conversation in seminars since 1990 as a sociolinguist and as a faculty member interested in improving teaching and learning. She has published a book, The Right Time and Pace: A Microanalysis of Cross-cultural Gatekeeping Interviews, and articles and book chapters on uncomfortable moments, rapport, timing in conversation, and metaphor and gender. She is a professor of Linguistics and French at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington where she also served as Academic Dean for International Studies and Evening/Weekend Studies for five years. She has taken students to France for experiential learning 8 times. As an exchange faculty she taught in Kobe, Japan for one semester. Currently she is a Fulbright Scholar at Hong Kong Baptist University helping with the transition to a four-year undergraduate degree and the GE curriculum planning.