This milestone conference event will take place April 25-26, 2025, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR). We will reflect on significant achievements in the field of teaching Russian language and culture while exploring innovative approaches to meet the challenges of the future. All sessions will be recorded and posted on the ACTR Youtube channel.  

ACTR welcomes submissions from both early-career and established scholars, teachers and researchers from all countries and regions where Russian is taught as a second, third, or heritage language. We especially encourage submissions from colleagues from under-represented groups and/or who teach at institutions serving minority, inner-city, or rural populations. 

Conference languages: English, Russian

Keynote Speakers:

• Judith Kroll, "Being and Becoming Bilingual: New Insights About the Mind and the Brain Reveal the Openness of Language Learning" (University of California, Irvine, USA)
  

• Eleonora Suleimenova, "The Current Language Situation in Kazakhstan: From Language Shift to Russian to Language Diversification" (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan)
  

Important Dates:

Submission deadline: December 15, 2024
Notification deadline: January 31, 2025
Conference dates:  April 25-26, 2025

Organizing Committee:

• Olga Klimova, ACTR President, University of Pittsburgh, co-chair
• Lee Roby, ACTR Vice President, Friends School of Baltimore, co-chair
• Dan Davidson, Professor Emeritus, Bryn Mawr College, co-chair 
• Richard Brecht, ACCELS and University of Maryland
• Evgeny Dengub, University of Southern California 
• Irina Dubinina, Brandeis University  
• Maria Khotimsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Olesya Kisselev, University of South Carolina
• Irina Kogel, Boston University
• Susan Kresin, University of California, Los Angeles
• Olga Mesropova, Iowa State University
• Olga Mukhortova, Defense Language Institute, The Defense Threat Reduction Agency
• John Rook, Glastonbury Middle School
• Alexandra Shapiro, University of Georgia  

Contact Information:

Submit proposal here