Steve Leveen

Steve Leveen is a cofounder and former CEO of the Levenger Company.
He is the founder of the America the Bilingual project. Leveen created America the Bilingual as an ongoing initiative to bring together Americans who believe that bilingualism can be an instrument of positive social change.
Leveen was named a Fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) of Harvard University in 2015 and a Fellow of the Distinguished Career Institute (DCI) at Stanford University in 2016. He used both fellowship years to conduct research for his book on bilingualism.
Developing America’s Bilingual Century
America’s Bilingual Century is Leveen’s third book.
In his book, Leveen explores methods for adults to become bilingual and to raise their children as bilinguals, even if they themselves are not. He also addresses about bilingualism that he says Americans are slaying.

His research included interviews with Luis von Ahn, the founder of Duolingo; American Sign Language educators at Gallaudet University; education leaders in North Carolina and Utah who have dramatically expanded the number of dual language schools in their states; members of the Foreign Service, military and other branches of the federal government that support bilingual programs as part of the country’s national security efforts; the civic activists and political leaders who spearheaded the Seal of Biliteracy programs for states; numerous ACTFL teachers; and members of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, who operate a school whose curriculum is in the Cherokee language.
In his research for the 12 language myths in particular, Leveen drew on the works of linguistic scholars Joshua Fishman, John McWhorter.
A midlife monolingual awakening
Leveen himself is not bilingual, even though he grew up in San Diego, California, a short distance from the Mexican border. It was not until midlife that he committed to learning Spanish. He describes himself as an emerging bilingual, and Spanish as his adopted language.
Earlier professional life
Leveen's first book, The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life, was published in 2005. Among the publications that featured it were The New York Times Book Review, the Christian Science Monitor, the Boston Globe and the Miami Herald. The book was named a BookSense pick by the independent bookstores of America, and its author was part of a panel presentation at the 2005 Miami Book Fair International. It was also the basis for a series of workshops Leveen conducted for companies such as Starbucks and Target, and that focused on finding more time to read the books that mattered.
Leveen's second book, Holding Dear: The Value of the Real, was published in 2013 and includes original essays from guest contributors Patti Smith, David McCullough, among others.
Leveen was a longtime board member of the National Book Foundation and, through the Levenger Foundation, supported the National Book Foundation Innovations in Reading initiative.
Leveen's writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times. He holds a B.A. in Biology from the University of California, San Diego. His master's and doctoral degrees in sociology are from Cornell University, where his professors included William B. Provine, Robin M. Williams Jr. and Rose K. Goldsen, whom he quotes in America’s Bilingual Century.

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