ACTR Excellence in Teaching Russian Award for Graduate Student Instructors

Recipient of the 2025 ACTR Excellence in Teaching Russian Award for Graduate Student Instructors: Mollie Messick

Mollie Messick is the recipient of the 2025 Excellence in Teaching Russian Award for Graduate Student Instructors. She teaches at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Click here to learn more about Mollie.

The nomination period for 2024-2025 is now closed. Nominations for 2025-2026 will open in the fall.

This award offers national recognition to a graduate teaching assistant who demonstrates effective and innovative teaching practices and the ability to serve as an influential advocate for teaching Russian on a regional and/or national basis.

To apply

Nominee Click Here

Nominator Click Here

The 2025-2026 Selection Committee

Alexandra Shapiro, University of Georgia (Chair)
Olesya Kisselev, University of South Carolina
Kit Pribble, Wake Forest University
Izolda (Iza) Savenkova, University of Maryland and Mercyhurst University
Wendy Whitehead Martelle, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

For questions, email Alexandra Shapiro at ashapiro at uga.edu.

Past recipients

Eligibility

The award is open to full-time graduate students (MA or PhD, including ABD) who teach or have taught within the past two years either as instructor of record or lead instructor in their graduate programs, or part-time as adjuncts at another post-secondary institution. ABDs with a full-time teaching appointment are not eligible.
Nominees must be current graduate students who have taught the Russian language for at least 2 semesters total or the equivalent (for example, a summer intensive program covering the curriculum of two semesters). The semesters do not have to be consecutive, and the current semester can count toward the minimum of two. Graduate students who teach or have taught only content courses in English are not eligible.
At least one faculty member of the department or program must be a current member of ACTR. The nominator who submits the nomination letter does not have to be an ACTR member.
Only two nominations will be accepted from each institution.

Nomination Process

The nomination packet should include the following:

From the nominator
Please submit a nomination letter in which you show how the candidate demonstrates excellence in teaching and inspires students in their study of Russian language and culture. Include the candidate’s full name and year of entrance into the MA or PhD program. You may wish to address the following factors:

The nominee’s dedication to students’ linguistic and cultural development;
The nominee’s commitment to professional growth, including participation in pedagogical workshops, conferences, programs, etc., and contributions or potential to contribute to the field of Russian language pedagogy;
The nominee’s innovations in teaching, including the development of teaching materials (traditional or digital);
The nominee’s efforts to promote Russian language and culture through organizing and participating in extracurricular activities or other outreach work;
The nominee’s commitment to fostering students’ understanding of cultural and linguistic diversity of the Russophone world, creating an inclusive classroom environment, and practicing equitable pedagogical approaches.

From the nominee
Please submit an application form which includes
1. a teaching statement (2-4 pages) in which you explain what makes you an excellent teacher. You may wish to address some of the following factors:

teaching innovations
materials and courses developed independently or in collaboration
development of inclusive classroom practices and curricular materials
undergraduate mentorship and/or community building at your institution
promotion of interest in Russian language studies and the Russian speaking world
contributions to the field of Russian language teaching
anything else that distinguishes you as an excellent teacher of Russian

2. CV, focusing on teaching activities (maximum 2 pages)
3. A one-page annotation of an effective language learning activity that you developed independently

Timeline

Nominations (from the nominator) must be submitted electronically by November 1st.
The nominee's materials (CV, teaching statement and description of a teaching activity) must be submitted electronically by December 1st.
Finalists will be notified by January 15th.
Awardees will be announced at the ACTR general membership meeting in February 2026 and recognized in the ACTR Newsletter.
All materials for this award must be submitted electronically through the ACTR website.