Mary Freday has spent 14 years helping improve Virginia Tech’s Language and Culture Institute from the classroom out.

She has taught international students, developed curricula, mentored colleagues, onboarded adjunct instructors, and helped strengthen academic programs — the kind of work that has shown her firsthand what LCI faculty need to succeed.

Now, as the LCI’s assistant director for academics, Freday can put that experience to work beyond her own classroom. The position, vacant for several years, centers on faculty support and development while allowing her to continue teaching.

“Since she joined the LCI, Mary has distinguished herself through her excellence in teaching, commitment to student success, and tireless efforts to strengthen our academic programs,” LCI Director Elsie Paredes said. "Her leadership, creativity, and collaborative spirit have made a lasting impact on the LCI.”

Freday never set out to become an academic leader. Her guiding principle has been to make wherever she is the best it can be.

Even while teaching full time, she sought opportunities to improve the experiences of faculty and students. An accreditation project helped her put a name to the instinct behind that work.

“I realized I’m a systems thinker,” Freday said. “I can look at the whole picture, see where something isn’t working, and think about how to improve it.”

That instinct was evident even before she began working at the LCI.

After earning her master’s degree at Ohio University, Freday planned to apply for a position at the institute. An opportunity in Saudi Arabia took her overseas first, but she made her intentions known before she left.

“I came and met the LCI leadership at the time,” Freday recalled. “I told them, ‘I’m going to Saudi Arabia for two years, and then I’m coming back, and I want to work here.’” 

The LCI hired her when she returned to the United States in 2012. She soon made it clear that she intended to build her career there.

“I told LCI leadership when I was hired, ‘I live here. I’m not going anywhere,’” she said. “I want to work together to make our programs even better.”

Since then, Freday has watched the LCI adapt to shifts in international enrollment and the broader global landscape. Until now, the demands of full-time teaching allowed her to take on institutional improvements only alongside her classroom responsibilities.

Freday believes the timing of the role is important. As enrollment grows and more experienced instructors approach retirement, the LCI will need systems that help attract, support, and develop the next generation of faculty.

“Looking a few years into the future, the LCI will be hiring faculty. We need to prepare now for this to be sustainable,” Freday said. “We’re bringing students in. We need to ensure we’re able to hire high-quality, well-supported instructors to meet those students.”

In her new position, Freday will expand professional development, build peer observation programs, strengthen mentorship and onboarding, and help new faculty members step into their courses successfully.

She also sees the position as a bridge between the classroom and administration, helping instructors better understand academic decisions while ensuring that faculty perspectives inform those decisions.

Maintaining that connection is one reason the position includes a teaching component.

“If the whole point is faculty support, that keeps whoever is in the role connected to what it’s actually like to be in the classroom,” she said.

As she begins the role, Freday remains guided by a saying that has shaped her career: “Whatever you are, be a good one.”

For Freday, the new title is less a departure from the classroom than an opportunity to extend what she has always done there: help students, instructors, and the institute grow stronger.

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