Professional Development Awards

2024 Professional Development Awards

The Texas Language Center is now accepting applications for Professional Development Awards in 2024!

These awards are made to instructors of languages at UT who are seeking to develop new materials, courses, or methods for teaching their languages, or who would like to attend a conference or purchase materials in order to improve their teaching.

To submit your application, please fill out the survey at this link.

All submissions are due January 31, 2024.

2023 Professional Development Award Recipients

The Texas Language Center is pleased to announce its Professional Development Award recipients for 2023!

This year’s recipients, including instructors from across six departments, are:

Riyad Alhomsi, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies - Padlet Subscription & Arabic Story Books
Oeyvind Bjoeru, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Germanic Studies and the Department of Middle Eastern Studies - Dialectal Materials for Intensive Norwegian
Teresa Blumenthal, Graduate Student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese - Critical Approaches to Heritage Language Education: Centering Identities, Race, and Power in Language Reclamation
Chikako Cooke, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Asian Studies - Learning and Spreading Awareness of DEI in Teaching Practice Through Nationwide Language Conferences
Marlena Petra Cravens, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and Yoel Villahermosa Serrano, Assistant Instructor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese - ¡El lenguaje en juego!: Immersive Video Game-Based Pedagogy for Spanish Language Acquisition
Vivian Flanzer, Professor of Instruction in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and Portuguese Language Program Director - Trip to EMEP conference in Chicago
Víctor Garre León, Assistant Instructor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese - Attending and Presenting at the 105th Annual Conference of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish & Portuguese (AATSP)
Junko Hatanaka, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Asian Studies - Presenting at AATJ: Post-production analysis of Generation Z viewers' reaction to multimedia OER: Generation Z's new trajectory of learning habits, media literacy and engagement
Patricia Kyle, Lecturer and Director of Online Learning in the Department of French and Italian - Connexions francophones: Identités culturelles et linguistiques
Alice McCoy-Bae, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Asian Studies - Promoting Learner Autonomy: Language Learning Strategies
Jeannette Okur, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and Turkish Program Coordinator - Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory (BEVI) Administrator Training
Ipek Sahinler, Graduate Student in the Program in Comparative Literature and Assistant Instructor in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing - Turkish from Austin to the World: Launching a Virtual Reading Group and Turning it into an International Podcast
Babak Tabarraee, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and Persian Program Coordinator - Persian Grammar in Practice: A Practical Refrence Book
Sarah Whitehead, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese - Adapting Hybrid Content for Traditionally-Taught SPN 610D
Shohko Yanagisawa, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Asian Studies - Developing Materials for Practical Readings in Advanced Japanese to Acquire Knowledge of Diverse Themes throughout Pop Culture

Congratulations to these instructors!