BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has selected University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Associate Professor of Spanish Sheri Spaine Long, Ph.D., for the Florence Steiner Award for Leadership in Foreign Language Education, Post-Secondary. The award is the highest leadership award bestowed by the ACTFL to members in higher education.

The award will be presented at the 2009 ACTFL annual convention Friday, Nov. 20 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego.

Long teaches Spanish and Spanish culture and literature in the UAB Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Her research specialty is contemporary Spanish prose focused on Madrid. She has written numerous journal articles and co-authored a Spanish textbook, Nexos.

Long recently served as a member of the College Board's Best Practices Commission on the teaching of Spanish Literature. She is currently a member of the College Board's Advanced Placement Spanish Literature and Culture Curriculum Development and Assessment Committee.

She is the incoming editor of Hispania, a journal devoted to the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese the official journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). Long recently completed a term as editor-in-chief of Foreign Language Annals, the journal of the ACTFL.

About the UAB Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

The UAB Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures offers a full range of language, culture, literature and civilization courses that are designed to meet the diverse global challenges facing today's students.