Olga Klimova was re-elected as president of the American Council of Teachers of Russian

Olga Klimova, director of the Russian program in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, was re-elected as president of the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR), one of the leading national organizations in the field. She first assumed the role in 2024, following service as vice president and earlier work on the ACTR Board of Directors.

Klimova’s teaching excellence has been recognized with major awards, including the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2025, the Tina and David Bellet Teaching Excellence Award in 2023, the Provost’s Award for Diversity in the Curriculum in 2022 and the 2022 Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages.

From 2017 to 2025, Klimova served as director of the federally funded STARTALK Russian Program for high school students — also offered for college students as of 2025 — where she led curriculum design, faculty training and student recruitment. Her national leadership extends across multiple organizations, including the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the American Association of University Supervisors and Coordinators and the American Councils for International Education. Through her work, she continues to shape the future of language education at both institutional and national levels.

Photography provided