Kallin Recognized for Furthering Teaching of German

Posted October 19, 2021

Britta Kallin, associate professor of German in the School of Modern Languages, has been awarded the 2021 Goethe‐Institut/AATG Certificate of Merit. She is one of only five educators nationally to be recognized this year.

Germany’s cultural institute, the Goethe-Institut, and the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) jointly administer the award for achievements in furthering the teaching of German.

“I love working with our highly motivated students, who want to learn more about the world, want to go abroad, learn about other cultures, and speak another language,” said Kallin. “Being selected for this award was only possible because my colleagues and I work as a wonderful team, and because the leadership in the School of Modern Languages provides tremendous support to the faculty and the students in the German program.”

Fellow recipients of the 2021 award include Heidi Lechner, teacher of German at Libertyville High School in Libertyville, Illinois; Pamela Scholz, teacher and language school director at the German American School of Palo Alto, California; Kathryn Sederberg, assistant professor of German at Kalamazoo College in Michigan; and Mark Wagner, teacher of German at Nicolet High School in Glendale, Wisconsin.

“With their dedication to excellence in German language instruction, these award recipients promote the transatlantic friendship between the US and German‐speaking countries and foster the much-needed intercultural awareness, so their students lead successful lives in a globalized world,” said Doug Philipp, president of the American Association of Teachers of German.

The Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural association that operates worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations.

Founded in 1926, the AATG is the “only individual membership organization in the United States dedicated to the teaching of the language, literature, and culture of the German-speaking countries,” with members in all 50 states and 20 countries internationally.

Kallin’s recent honors also include the Georgia Tech Serve-Learn-Sustain UN Sustainable Development Goals Faculty Fellowship in 2019, and AATG-Georgia Duden Award for Professor of the Year in 2018. She also serves as a faculty affiliate for the Atlanta Global Studies Center.

Kallin joined Georgia Tech as an assistant professor of German in 2000, after receiving her Ph.D. in German Literature from the University of Cincinnati. She advanced to associate professor in 2008. Since 2016, she has led the Weimar/Husum/Hamburg Language for Business and Technology (LBAT) summer study-abroad program as its director. In 2017, she started serving as the director of the German program. Kallin was appointed as the director of graduate studies for the School in August 2021.

Her involvement in the Atlanta German community over the last two decades includes leadership roles in the AATG-Georgia Chapter, the Metro German Group, and the Board of Directors at the German School of Atlanta. Kallin also holds active memberships in the Modern Language Association, the German Studies Association, the Austrian Studies Association, the American Association of Teachers of German, the Women in German Coalition, and the Kafka Association of America.

Kallin and her fellow 2021 AATG award recipients will be recognized at a virtual presentation hosted by the AATG on Nov. 20. The link for the awards presentation will be made available on the AATG website.

The German program in the School of Modern Languages offers a minor and three bachelor’s degrees with concentrations in German (Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies, Global Economics and Modern Languages, and International Affairs and Modern Languages), as well as two master’s degrees in Global Media and Cultures (jointly with the School of Literature, Media, and Communication) and Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies.

The School of Modern Languages is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.