Laura Biesecker teaches English as a Second Language. She received her B.A. in Intellectual History from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.A. TESOL from The American University. Prof. Biesecker has returned to the local area after living and working in Hungary for thirteen years, and is thrilled to be back “at home” working with Wilson's international students. Prof. Biesecker’s work in teaching English as a Foreign Language grew out of her desire in the late 1980s to help recent immigrants to the U.S. become acclimated and gain confidence in their new home.

Her sights later turned to teaching abroad. Prof. Biesecker soon found herself teaching in a Hungarian High School Military Academy. As an eager student of the Soviet period, this placement was a fascinating adventure into a post-Soviet time. During those thirteen years, Prof. Biesecker served as an ESL intern for the Center for Immigration Policy and Refugee Assistance and later as a fellow of the National Security Education Program. She was most recently the Director of the Language Teaching Center at Central European University in Budapest. While at CEU Prof. Biesecker had the opportunity to work with students and faculty hailing from more than 25 countries and initiated CEU’s first intensive writing program in English for Academic Purposes. Today, she enjoys focusing on comparative rhetoric as it applies to the contrasts and similarities among various language groups. As such, she is very excited to be teaching an international group of students at Wilson and helping non-native speakers of English further develop their own voice in another language.

Prof. Biesecker has a wide range of interests and hobbies that include dance, music, sports, and travel. Prof. Biesecker was a Special English writer for the Voice of America's Special English program broadcast from Washington, DC, a CNN intern, and a paralegal in telecommunications law.