He holds a doctorate from the University of Missouri-Columbia in Theatre History/Critical and Cultural Theory. Dr. Schmidt began working at Webster University in the ESL department as the pronunciation specialist beginning in 1997. Using his expertise in Lessac theatre voice training he has been developing pronunciation work that focuses on a type of oral grammar that works extremely well in the performance of the English language. Dr. Schmidt has worked in the EAP program at Saint Louis University for the past 6 years helping to change the curriculum to one that stresses content-based learning.