Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite

Adjunct Professor Dr. Babaci-Wilhite holds a PhD in Language and Development in the field of Comparative and International Education, which she completed with an Award of Excellence. She grew up bilingual and pursued her studies at the Sorbonne University in Paris, where she specialized in French Teaching for Foreigners (Français langue étrangère, FLE). She has been teaching at the University of San Francisco since 2014. Dr. Babaci-Wilhite has published extensively in the fields of languages and pedagogy and is currently conducting research on language teaching through Artificial Intelligence Pedagogy. She is the author and editor of seven books, the most recent of which is entitled The Joy of Being a Multilingual. In recognition of her contributions, she received the University of San Francisco Vicky Siu Award for Service in 2023 and the 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award.

• Languages 
• Critical thinking
• Languages in STEM and STEAM
• A.I. pedagogy
• International and comparative education

• Bilingualism and multilingualism
• Cross-cultural critical thinking
• Learning languages through A.I. pedagogy

• Co-Chair of the Language Requirement Committee (2023)

• University of Oslo, Norway, PhD

• Lecturer at SJSU (2017-Present)
• Research Affiliate at UC Berkeley (2013-Present)

• University of San Francisco Vicky Siu Award for Service in 2023
• University of San Francisco 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award

• 2025. Reimagined Artificial Intelligence Pedagogy for Equity and Diversity in Multilingual Classrooms: A Case Study of Hope in Comparative and International Education. UNESCO's Quarterly Review of Comparative Education. Springer. 
• 2025. Teaching and Learning for the Common Good. UNESCO's Quarterly Review of Comparative Education. Springer.
• 2023. Improving Critical Thinking in STEM for Girls: A Contextualized Education Integrating the Arts and Human Rights. In Robert Arnove, Carlos Alberto Torres, and Lauren Misiaszek (Eds), 5th Edition. Emergent Trends in Comparative Education: The Dialectic of the Global and the Local. Rowman & Littlefield.
• 2022. Critical Pedagogy in Language and STEM Education: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education. In Ali A. Abdi and Greg William Misiaszek (Eds). The Palgrave Handbook on Critical Theories of Education. Palgrave Macmillan.
• 2020. Linguistic and Cultural Rights in STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics. In The Palgrave Handbook of African Education and Indigenous Knowledge, edited by Jamaine Abidogun & Toyin Falola, 631-649. New York, NY: Palgrave 2020.