• About
  • Board of Directors

ACTR Board of Directors

Officers
All terms are from the Annual Membership Meeting to the Annual Membership Meeting in the years listed

President: Olga Klimova, 2024-2026, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Vice-President: Elizabeth Lee Roby, 2024-2026, Friends School of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
 Executive Director: Dan Davidson, CEO, Emeritus Professor, Bryn Mawr College,  Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA
 Secretary: Susan Kresin, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
 Treasurer: Kristen Welsh, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY
 Chair of ACCELS: Richard Brecht, Emeritus Professor, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Board Members
All terms are from the Annual Membership Meeting to the Annual Membership Meeting in the years listed
Aselle Almuratova
2024-2026
  • Graduate Student Representative
  • Post-Secondary Awards Committee
  • Chair, Bridge-Building Committee, Graduate Student Outreach and Support Sub-Committee
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Brooke Ballenger
2025-2028
  • National co-chair, Olympiada of Spoken Russian
  • Olympiada Development Steering Committee
Central High School, Bellevue Middle School, TN

Catharine Cooke
2025-2028

  • Bridge-building Committee (K-12 Outreach) (2023-current)
  • Convener of the Middle School Professional Sharing Group (2024-current)
  • Co-chair, National Russian Essay Contest Committee
Mill River Union High School, N. Clarendon, Vermont
Dan Davidson
 Executive Director
  • Co-chair, The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
  • Summer Russian Language Teacher Professional Development Program (Almaty)
  • Editorial Consultant, Russian Language Journal
  • Official Delegate of ACTR to MAPRYAL
Emeritus Professor, Bryn Mawr College,  Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA
Julia Denne 
​2025-2028
  • Bridge-Building Committee, Advocacy Sub-Committee Chair
  • Chair, Secondary Teaching Excellence Awards Committee
  • Olympiada Development Steering Committee
By the Onion Sea Program, Chicago, IL


Elizabeth Ewaskio
2023-2026
  • Co-chair, National Russian Post-Secondary Essay Contest
  • Service Award Committee
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Elena Farkas
 2023-2026 Project Light of Manatee, Inc., Bradenton, FL
University of Alaska Anchorage
Raquel Greene
 2024-2027
  • Chair, DEAI Committee
  • Co-chair, National Russian Post-Secondary Essay Contest
  • ACTR Summer Teachers' Program Selection Committee
Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA
Maria Khotimsky
 2024-2027
  • Professional Development Committee
  • Co-chair, National Russian Post-Secondary Essay Contest
  • Bridge-Building Committee, Mentorship Program Sub-Committee
  • The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Olga Klimova
​2024-2027
  • President
  • Co-chair, Professional Development Committee
  • Bridge-Building Committee, Advocacy and Mentorship Program Sub-Committees
  • Public Relations/Social Media Committee
  • Regional chair, Western Pennsylvania Olympiada of Spoken Russian
  • Web Services Committee
  • Co-chair, The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Irina Kogel
 2024-2027
  • Professional Development Committee
  • Vice-President, Dobro Slovo The National Slavic Honor Society
  • Web Services Committee
  • The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
Boston University, Boston, MA
Susan Kresin
​2024-2027
  • ​Secretary
  • Bridge-Building Committee, Graduate Student Outreach and Support Committee
  • Nominations Committee
  • Post-Secondary Awards Committee
  • Professional Development Committee
  • Summer Russian Language Teachers (SRLT) Program Selection Committee
  • The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Olga Mesropova
 2023-2026
  • ​Membership Secretary
  • The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
  • Chair, Nominations Committee
Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Kathryn (Kit) Pribble
​2025-2028
  • Post-Secondary Teaching Awards Committee (2024-2027)
Wake Forest University, Salem, NC


Lara Ravitch
2025-2028
  • Bridge-building Committee (K-12 Outreach)
Concordia Language Villages and University of Oregon


Lauren Nelson​
2025-2028

  • DEAI Committee
  • Co-chair, The ACTR Secondary Laureate Award
Pritzker College Prep, Chicago, IL  
Ben Rifkin
 2023-2026
  • ​Parliamentarian
  • Chair, Olympiada Development Steering Committee
  • Chair, Service Award Committee
  • Chair, Fundraising Committee
Fairleigh Dickinson University, NJ
Elizabeth Lee Roby  
 2023-2026
  • Vice President
  • Chair, Bridge-Building Committee
  • Bridge-Building Committee Chair, Advocacy, K-12 Outreach, and Mentorship Program Sub-committees
  • Co-chair, Professional Development Committee
  • Regional co-chair, Maryland Olympiada of Spoken Russian
  • DEAI Committee
  • Olympiada Development Steering Committee
  • East Regional Vice President, SLAVA
  • Co-chair, The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
Friends School of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
John Rook
 2023-2026
  • Co-chair, National Russian Essay Contest Committee
  • Secondary Teaching Excellence Awards Committee
Smith Middle School, Glastonbury, CT
Izolda Savenkova
2025-2028
  • Co-chair, Post-Secondary Russian Scholar Laureate Award Committee
  • Organizer and Host, Advanced Russian Language Conversation Meet-Ups and Summer Book Club
Fordham University, New York, NY





Alexandra Shapiro 
2025-2028
  • Chair, Post-Secondary Teaching Awards Committee
  • Professional Development
  • ACTR 50th Anniversary Conference Organizing Committee
University of Georgia, Athens, GA


Thomas H. Tabatowski
2025-2028
  • Bridge-building Committee (K-12 Outreach)
  • Pre-college Teaching Awards Committee
  • Olympiada Development Steering Committee
Noble Academy, Chicago, IL
Nataliya Ushakova 
 2024-2027
  • Bridge-Building Committee, Mentorship Program Sub-Committee
  • Nominations Committee
Staten Island Technical High School, Staten Island, NY
José Vergara
 2024-2027
  • DEAI Committee
  • Bridge-Building Committee, Mentorship Program Sub-Committee
Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA
Kristen Welsh
 2024-2027
  • Treasurer
  • DEAI Committee
  • Fundraising Committee
Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY

ACTR Past Presidents

  • Dan Davidson
  • ​Irwin Well
  • Don Jarvis
  • Elizabeth Neatrour
  • Zita Dabars
  • Peter Merrill
  • Jane Shuffelton
  • Robert Channon
  • Betsy Sandstrom
  • Tom Garza
  • Nataliya Ushakova

Copyright 2024 ACTR


Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software