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ACTR Board of Directors

The ACTR Board of Directors' Fall Meeting, Washington D.C., September 14, 2024

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
2022-2025
  • National co-chair, Olympiada of Spoken Russian
  • Olympiada Development Steering Committee
Central High School, Bellevue Middle School, TN
Richard Brecht 
 2022-2025
  • The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
Emeritus Professor, University of Maryland, College Park, MD  
Robert Chura
2022-2025
  • Co-chair, National Russian Essay Contest
  • Co-chair, The ACTR Secondary Laureate Award
St. Louis High School, St. Louis, MO
Dan Davidson
 Executive Director
  • Co-chair, The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
  • Summer 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 
​2022-2025
  • Bridge-Building Committee, Advocacy Sub-Committee Chair
  • Chair, Secondary Teaching Excellence Awards Committee
  • Olympiada Development Steering Committee
By the Onion Sea Program, Chicago, IL
Meredith Doubleday
​2022-2025
  • Co-chair, Post-Secondary Russian Scholar Laureate Award Committee
Cencora, Philadelphia, PA
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
  • Chair, Post-Secondary Awards Committee
  • Bridge-Building Committee, Graduate Student Outreach and Support Committee
  • Professional Development Committee
  • The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
  • ACTR Summer Teachers' Program Selection Committee
  • Nominations Committes
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
Lauren Nelson
​2024-2027
  • DEAI Committee
  • Co-chair, The ACTR Secondary Laureate Award
Pritzker College Prep, Chicago, IL  
Heather Rice
2022-2025
  • DEAI Committee
  • Regional chair, Texas Olympiada of Spoken Russian
  • ​Olympiada Development Steering Committee
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
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
  • The 2025 ACTR International Virtual Conference Organizing Committee
Smith Middle School, Glastonbury, CT
Izolda Savenkova
2022-2025
  • 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
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


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