Welcome to AATG's Newest Board Members!
The AATG is pleased to announce the 2024 election results for the national board of directors. The AATG Board of Directors represents teachers of German throughout the United States. The Board is an elected, policy-making body, with members at pre-collegiate and post-secondary teaching levels from various regions of the country.
Equity Officer 2025-2027: Julia Ruck, Emory University
Julia Ruck has spent the last 15 years teaching German in Austria, Russia, Uruguay, and the United States. She received her PhD in German Applied Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has held academic positions in Austria and the U.S. before landing at Emory University as an Assistant Teaching Professor in 2023. She has taught German language/culture courses from elementary to advanced levels, seminars on language and power, multilingualism and identity, and has directed study abroad programs in Vienna, Austria. Her research has explored language ideologies in German language education, representations of diversity in German language textbooks, and cognitive/social aspects of individual learner differences. She has offered professional development seminars and workshops for German language educators world-wide on behalf of the Austrian Ministry of Education's program Kultur und Sprache, has served on the IDV's DACHL-Gremium, and has been an active member of the Austrian Association of German as a Foreign/Second Language (ÖDaF) before moving back to the U.S.
Northwest Representative 2025-2027: Alysha Holmquist Posner, Enumclaw High School
Alysha Holmquist has been teaching German at Enumclaw High School since 2013. Alysha is the current social media chair and webmaster of the WA state AATG chapter and has also held the chapter positions of president, vice-president, and testing chair. She has served on the board of the WA Association of Teachers of Foreign Language (WAFLT) and is a member of the Pacific Northwest Council for Languages (PNCFL). Alysha has won the AATG Certificate of Merit and the German Embassy Teacher of Excellence Award. In 2022, Alysha was voted GAPP teacher of the month and recently celebrated the 30th anniversary with their GAPP partner school. Alysha holds a masters degree in German Language and Literature and completed a Fulbright teaching assistantship in Austria.
Southeast Representative 2025-2027: Stefanie Ohnesorg, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Stefanie Ohnesorg (Ph.D., McGill University) is an Associate Professor of German at the University of Tennessee who passionately promotes the study of German at all levels (K-16). Her research interests include travel literature, gender studies, sustainability, community engaged learning, and German as a second language. She is a strong advocate of shared governance and through her service on numerous advisory boards and committees, she brings a wealth of experiences and expertise to the office. She served on UT’s Faculty Senate in various leadership functions, was chair of UT’s Graduate Council, chaired the German Program, was Language Program Director and currently serves as Graduate Coordinator. Throughout her career, she has fostered networking among K-16 educators, emphasized community outreach, and created several exchange programs. She is running an active SPARK Lab that connects college students with students K-8 and has been Testing Chair for the Tennessee Chapter of AATG for more than a decade. As a founding member of the German Saturday School of Knoxville, she has served as its president since its inception in 2004. In 2022, she was honored with AATG’s Outstanding German Educator Award as well as with the UT Chancellor’s Award for ‘Extraordinary Community Service.’
