This year proved to be another filled with many special achievements and recognitions of our faculty, students, and staff. While we regularly update our news feeds with news of these exciting announcements, we hope you will take a moment to look over some of this year's highlights!
We always encourage our current students and faculty, as well as our alumni, to nominate and recognize their mentors, colleagues, and former instructors! Let us know if you would like to get involved.
Dr. Alisa Ballard Lin, Graduate Studies Chair
Dr. Lin received several important recognitions this year! She was appointed at Graduate Studies Chair at the SEELC, and she also received her promotion to fully tenured Associate Professor.
Dr. Angela Brintlinger, Department Chair
Our hard working, ever diligent Departmental Chair Dr. Angela Brintlinger was named the 2024‑25 Harlan Hatcher Arts and Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award recipient!
The Hatcher Award recognizes a full professor in the College of Arts and Sciences who, over a period of years, has developed a truly exceptional record in teaching, research, scholarly/creative work, and service. We cannot think of anyone more deserving of this award.
Dr. Yana Hashamova
This year Dr. Hashamova had the tremendous achievement of receiving the prestigious Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession by the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages. The SEELC is grateful to have Dr. Hashamova with us and hope we can continue benefit from her hard work and dedication in the future
Please see the letter from the AATSEEL Nominations and Awards Committee Chair, Gabriella Safran on our news feed.
Dr. Brian Joseph
Our beloved Professor Emeritus Dr. Brian Joseph has been honored with the Brian D. Joseph Chair in Classics, recently established and made possible through the generosity of a College Year in Athens benefactor.
We continue to wish Dr. Joseph well and appreciate the many years of service to our department.
You can read more about the Chair on the College Year in Athens site.
Dr. Joseph also published his long-awaited volume—The Balkan Languages—with Dr. Victor Friedman of the University of Chicago. See announcement on the CSEEES website here.
Dr. Sunnie Rucker-Chang
Dr. Sunnie Rucker-Chang was appointed this year to The Ohio State University Press Board. This appointment is well-deserved and we hope it provides exciting opportunities for Dr. Rucker-Chang.
Dr. Philip Tuxbury-Gleissner, Undergraduate Studies Chair
Dr. Tuxbury-Gleissner, as part of an interdisciplinary team from the Colleges of Engineering and Arts and Sciences, has received the 2025 Battelle Engineering, Technology and Human Affairs (BETHA) Endowment grant. The project core is the creation of a 12-hr undergraduate certificate in interdisciplinary engineering and humanities studies, in which students explore citizenship and AI while developing real-world skills to increase their competitiveness in the job market.
Read more on the College of Engineering's "News" Page
Additionally Dr. Tuxbury-Gleissner was promoted to the position of tenured Associate Professor! He also continues this year in his capacity as the Undergraduate Studies Chair at the SEELC.
Liz McBean, Ph.D. Student
Liz McBean, studying under Dr. Brintlinger as our Ph.D. student, was hired as Visiting Lecturer in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at Bowdoin College starting in Autumn 2024.
Liz teaches first and third semester Russian language classes as well as a course in Modern Russian literature, with a focus on poetry and short prose works, taught entirely in Russian for upper level students.
Michelle Verbitskaya, GTA and Ph.D. Student
In September of this past year, Michelle Verbitskaya, a PhD student and graduate teaching assistant, received the Teacher of the Year award from the Florida Foreign Language Association (FFLA). Michelle has worked with STARTALK at the University of Central Florida’s Russian Intensive Program since 2018, serving as a teaching assistant, instructor, and curriculum developer. As the treasurer for the Critical Languages of the Southeast Region Organization, an affiliate of the FFLA, Michelle was recognized for their contributions to the development of Russian language programs in Florida.
Joe Ernst, Program Coordinator
Our ever present "man behind the scenes" and Academic Program Coordinator, Joe Ernst, was awarded the Imagined Futures Career Allies Academy grant and membership. This initiative "offers faculty, staff and graduate programs tools for guiding graduate students’ career exploration; teaching students to translate skills to seek jobs beyond the professoriate; and integrating career diversity across the breadth of graduate education."
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We always encourage our current students and faculty, as well as our alumni, to nominate and recognize their mentors, colleagues, and former instructors! Let us know if you would like to get involved.
See below just a few options that are available for recognizing students and faculty: