Ph.D., Illinois Institute of Technology, 1974

Linda Lonon Blanton spent her childhood in northern Arkansas, graduated from high school in southern California, and received her BA in English from the University of California (Santa Barbara). After two years of teaching English in Tunisia as a Peace Corps volunteer, she received her MA in Applied Linguistics from New York University. And after some years teaching English at a community college in Chicago, she studied for her Ph.D. in Linguistics at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Dr. Blanton specializes in second language writing, literacy, and sociolinguistics. Her academic and research interests have taken her to Morocco, Tunisia, Greece, Senegal, Portugal, and Spain. From 1999-2006, she served as director of the UNO Honors Program. During that time, she conducted seven UNO Honors Study-Abroad Programs in Greece. In retirement, she is still enjoying traveling the world. 

Selected Publications

• ESL textbooks: Composition Practice, Books 1-4, Boston: Heinle/Thomson (3/e, 2001); Multicultural Workshop, Books 1-3 (with Linda Lee), Boston: Heinle/Thomson (1994-1995); Writing Workshop (with Linda Lee), Boston: Heinle/Thomson (1998)
• A study of children’s literacy acquisition in a K-12 school in Morocco: Varied Voices: On Language and Literacy Learning, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum (re-published, 2006)
• Book chapters: to mention one, in Second Language Writing Research (Matsuda & Silva, eds.), Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum (2005)
• A collected volume (with Barbara Kroll): ESL Composition Tales: Reflections on Teaching, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press (2002)
• Journal articles: to mention one, in the Journal of Second Language (2005)