Allison Adelman earned her PhD in Linguistics from UC Santa Barbara, with an emphasis in Applied Linguistics. Her dissertation research focused on the second language acquisition of Japanese. She also holds an MA in Linguistics (from UCSB) and a BA in Linguistics and Spanish (from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania).

Allison has taught Japanese language classes at UCSB, as a graduate teaching assistant and later as a lecturer. She also works as a freelance academic editor, specializing in the humanities and social sciences and in the writing of non-native English speakers. Allison enjoys studying languages in her spare time; she speaks Japanese and Spanish, has studied Arabic and ASL, and is currently focused on learning Korean.

Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, she has also lived briefly in Spain and South Korea, and for three years in Japan, where she worked as a trainer of ESL teachers. In her role at the AUSB Writing Center, she enjoys working with Antioch students and seeing them grow as writers.