In our Scholar Development program, emerging scholars (known as Pike Scholars) are mentored by established scholars (the Fellows of the Pike Center) as they practice the craft of scholarship. We now invite you to get to know each of them a little better.
Pike Center Fellows (A-M)
The Fellows of the Pike Center are established scholars who are currently participating in Pike Center programs. Recognition as a Fellow is based on having a strong publishing record.
Fellow
René van den Berg
René is a Senior Linguistics Consultant for SIL International. He earned a PhD in Linguistics from Leiden University in 1989 and has done fieldwork in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. His main research contributions have been in the areas of language description, lexicography, and historical-comparative linguistics of Austronesia. See publications.
Fellow
J. Albert Bickford
Albert is Director of the Summer Institute of Linguistics at the University of North Dakota and is Linguistic Services Coordinator for the Global Sign Languages Team of SIL International. He earned a PhD in Linguistics from the University of California at San Diego in 1987 and has done fieldwork in Mexico. His main research contributions have been in the areas of sign languages and the indigenous languages of Mexico. See publications.
Fellow
Michael Boutin
Michael Boutin is an Associate Professor and the Chair of the Applied Linguistics Department at Dallas International University. He earned a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Florida in 1994 and has done fieldwork in Malaysia. His main research contributions have been in studies of the Bonggi language and culture. See publications.
fellow
Brenda Boerger
Brenda Boerger has filled roles in language and culture documentation for SIL International since 2010. She is currently an Adjunct Professor at Dallas International University (DIU). Her PhD in Linguistics is from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984 and her fieldwork site is the Solomon Islands. Her main research contributions have been in language and culture documentation, Oceanic descriptive linguistics, and translation of poetry. See publications
Fellow
Mike Cahill
Mike is the Orthography Services Coordinator for SIL International. He earned a PhD in Linguistics from the Ohio State University in 1999 and has done fieldwork in Ghana. His main research contributions have been in the areas of phonology, tone analysis, and the design of practical orthographies. See publications.
fellow
John Clifton
John Clifton is a Senior Linguistics Consultant with SIL International. He earned a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University in 1980, and has field experience in Papua New Guinea and Azerbaijan. His main research contributions have been in the areas of orthography, sociolinguistics, and language documentation. See publications.
Fellow
Diane Dekker
Diane Dekker is a Senior Literacy and Education Consultant with SIL International, and Literacy and Education Coordinator, LEAD Asia. She earned a PhD in Language and Literacies in Education from the University of Toronto in 2016, and has done fieldwork in the Philippines. Her main research contributions have been in mother-tongue-based multilingual education planning and implementation, as well as first language materials development and teacher training and development. See publications.
Fellow
Helen Eaton
Helen is a Senior Linguistics Consultant with SIL International. She received a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Reading in 2002 after doing fieldwork in Tanzania. Her main research contributions focus on the grammar and discourse of Bantu languages, with earlier research concentrating on the Sandawe language (an isolate or arguably Khoisan language of Tanzania). See publications.
Fellow
Dave Eberhard
David Eberhard earned a PhD in linguistics from Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam) in 2009. The title of his dissertation was Mamainde grammar: a Northern Nambikwara language and its cultural context. At present he serves as General Editor for the Ethnologue. Dave’s research interests center on gaining a deeper understanding of how minority communities facing language shift use their language repertoires in unexpected ways, and on how such an understanding can guide efforts of language development within such communities. See publications.
fellow
Karl Franklin
Karl Franklin is a Senior Anthropology Consultant with SIL International, and an Adjunct Professor of Linguistics, Dallas International University. He earned a PhD in Linguistics from the Australian National University in 1969; he has extensive field experience in languages of Papua New Guinea. His main research contributions have been in studies of the Kewa language and culture, as well as comparative studies of the Engan family (of which Kewa is a member). See publications.
Fellow
Maik Gibson
Maik is a senior consultant in sociolinguistics for SIL, an area for which he also serves as international coordinator. He earned a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Reading in 1999, and has done fieldwork in Peru and in North, Central and East Africa. His main research focus has been on sociolinguistics as it relates to language development - for example language shift, the types and impacts of multilingualism, and digital language vitality.
fellow
Tom Headland
Tom Headland is Senior Anthropology Consultant with SIL International. He earned a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Hawaii in 1986, and has field experience among the Agta Negrito hunter-gatherers of the Philippines. His main research contributions have been in Ecological anthropology, Hunter-gatherer societies, and Philippine Negritos. See publications.
fellow
Angela Kluge
Angela Kluge is a language assessment consultant with SIL International and LEAD Asia. She earned a PhD in linguistics from Leiden University in 2014, and has done field work in West Africa, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Her main research contributions focus on various aspects of language assessment and the discourse of Papuan Malay as a contribution to the ongoing language development and Bible translation efforts in the language. See publications.
Fellow
M. Paul Lewis
Paul is a Senior Sociolinguistics Consultant for SIL International. He earned a PhD in Sociolinguistics from Georgetown University in 1994 and has done fieldwork in Guatemala. His main research contributions have been in the areas of language planning, language maintenance and shift, and the sociology of language. See publications.
fellow
Sherwood G. Lingenfelter
Sherwood G. Lingenfelter is Provost Emeritus and Senior Professor of Anthropology, Fuller Seminary. He earned a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971, and his field research includes three years in the Yap Islands of Micronesia and short-term research projects with the SIL International in Brazil, Cameroon, and Suriname. His main research contributions have to do with cross-cultural issues in areas like ministry, teaching, and leadership. See publications.
Fellow
Bernadet van der Louw-Hendriks
I am Bernadet van der Louw-Hendriks and I work for the Global Sign Language Team as a translation and linguistics consultant. In 2008 I received my doctorate in linguistics from the University of Amsterdam for my thesis on the grammar of Jordanian Sign Language. Most of my research contributions have focussed on the linguistics of sign languages, although my earlier research also covered tone and pitch-accent. See publications.
Fellow
Johannes Merz
Johannes is a Senior Anthropology Consultant with SIL International. He earned a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Leiden University in 2014, and has done field work in Benin, West Africa. His main research contributions have been in the areas of religion, witchcraft, and media. See publications.