East Central University’s Dr. Mara Sukholutskaya was recently the recipient of the prestigious national level American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) Award for Excellence in Post-Secondary Teaching.
Sukholutskaya, director of Russian Studies and ECU’s Global Education program, received the award at the Annual AATSEEL Conference in Washington D.C. She has been a member of that group of over 1,000 members since 2001.
“It’s a great honor to be recognized by that distinguished group,” said Sukholutskaya. “There are more than a 1,000 professionals that teach Russian and other Slavic languages in the United States. Each day, those individuals enter their classroom across the country to open a fascinating world of the Russian language and culture to their students.”
Sukholutskaya is president of the Oklahoma Council of Teachers of Russian (OCTR) and American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR), along with being a board member and founder of the Central Association of Russian Teachers of America (CARTA).
Excerpts from the citation read during the presentation include:
*She has affected the lives of myriad students as a foreign language education. Moreover, she has enriched the reputation of the institution immeasurable through her scholarship, through her efforts at raising critical awareness of the value of language study and through her tireless commitment to the creation of enriching cultural opportunities for the university and the surrounding community.
*Dr. Sukholutskaya artfully combines traditional “skill’ lessons (e.g., vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar) in engaging and perfectly timed united. She employs games and other kinetic activities to foster heightened levels of student engagement and thereby increased levels of student learning. She seamlessly integrates cultural lessons with her language instruction, building not only linguistic proficiency, but also cultural appreciation.
*Dr. Sukholutskaya teaches not simply a foreign language, but also in the methods and manners of life. She never ceases in her efforts as a teacher of foreign language. She does not stop working when students cross the threshold of the classroom. She teaches them inside the classroom and out, in the halls and one the quad, during their careers at ECU and for years beyond.
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