WSU Foreign Language Professor Wins National Award

PULLMAN, Wash. – Rachel J. Halverson, associate professor of German, Washington State University Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures, has been selected to receive the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) and the Goethe-Institute Certificate of Merit Award.

Halverson is one of seven recipients of the 2005 award for outstanding achievement in furthering the teaching of German in schools in the United States. AATG and the Goethe-Institute have presented the award annually since 1978 to a select group of educators in the field of German. The presentation will be made Nov. 19, during the AATG’s annual meeting in Baltimore.

“I feel very honored to receive this award, but I also feel very indebted to Petra Fiero, my colleague at Western Washington University, who nominated me, and very flattered that my former students, my colleagues here at WSU, and my colleagues both in Washington and across the U.S. who took the time to write in support of my application,” Halverson said.

Halverson teaches a 300-level seminar on German culture in the Honors College linked to a UH 300 course on Nazi Medical Ethics taught by Wes Leid, professor of animal sciences.

“This interdisciplinary team-teaching venture has been invaluable to me as I continue to learn more about being effective in the classroom,” said Halverson. She is working also with Libby Walker, associate dean of the WSU Honors College, on an undergraduate assessment grant project examining the issues of foreign language proficiency and foreign language requirements in the Honors College.

“Professor Halverson’s excellence in the classroom and her interest in collaboration make her an excellent choice for the award,” said Erich Lear, dean of the WSU College of Liberal Arts. “Her work embodies the crosscutting nature of higher education today.”