
Dr. Marnie Jo Petray, Associate Professor of TESOL, teaches graduate applied and theoretical linguistics. She coordinates the Graduate TESOL Program, which she developed and founded in 2014-2015. Dr. Petray holds a BA in English (honors) from Arkansas Tech University and an MA and PhD in English linguistics and a Graduate Certificate in ESL from Purdue University, West Lafayette. She is certified by TESOL International Association in English Language Teaching Leadership Management and has earned numerous micro-credentials from the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE).
Dr. Petray previously served as Director of the TESL Program at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, CA from 2005-2013 and taught undergraduate linguistics, contemporary American literature, and various writing courses for Cal Poly and the SRU English Department.
Her current research focuses on linguistic discrimination and linguistic pedagogy, especially the status of linguistics in second language studies. She is also interested in humor studies and West African languages. Recent book-length work includes Linguistic Discrimination in US Higher Education (2021, Routledge) and Linguistic Foundations for Second Language Teaching and Learning: Bridging the Disciplinary Divide (Cambridge University Press, 2025) a comprehensive co-edited collection of 16 chapters by 23 international authors on applications of both linguistics to second language instruction and second language learner data to theoretical linguistics. Her peer-reviewed journal articles have appeared in the International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, the International Journal of Applied Linguistics, and HUMOR: The International Journal of Humor Research. She co-authored an op-ed for Times Higher Education and has been a featured expert in several national and international podcasts such as Because language, The Vocal Fries, and THE Campus. Dr. Petray has presented regionally, nationally, and internationally at academic venues including Three Rivers TESOL, INTESOL, the TESOL International Convention, the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), the Modern Language Association Convention (MLA), the International Society for Humor Studies, the International Association for World Englishes, and the World Congress of Applied Linguists.
Besides teaching and all things language, she enjoys traveling and watching films with her husband Dr. William Covey, cooking, listening to Afro-Cuban, alt-country, and blues music, antiquing, and hanging out with her torbie Siberian Forest Cat, Fia Mae.
Contact Information:
marnie.petray-covey@sru.edu
317H Spotts World Culture Building
724.738.4577