Candice Lleses

Home Institution: University of Mindanao

Host Institution: Michigan State University

Award name: Fulbright Foreign Language Assistantship Program

Discipline: Language teaching

Award Year: 2022

Ms. Candice Faye Kristen Lleses is an associate professor at the University of Mindanao. She graduated with an academic excellence award from the AB English Language program of the University of Mindanao. She holds a TESOL certification from Arizona State University and a M.A. in English from the Ateneo de Davao University where she wrote her thesis on exploitation and identity in Philippine news media. She is a public speaker at heart and has competed and won various public speaking competitions in Southeast Asia. She is active in advocacy work and cultural and educational exchanges in international organizations such as Women in AI and ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership. Currently, she serves as the ecosystem lead of IDEAS Davao, a non-profit organization in Davao City, Philippines. Outside work, her heart lies in competitive debating, literature and animal rescuing. Candice will serve as a primary instructor of Filipino at the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. As an FLTA at MSU, she aims to establish meaningful relationships in academic and cultural spaces between the Philippines and the US by expanding her network in and beyond academia and enabling cultural exchanges through active community work in Michigan.