May 8, 2001 Contact: Karissa L. Shivley (614) 292-8295
Columbus -- Diane W. Birckbichler, chair of the Department of French and Italian and director of the Foreign Language Center, recently received the Ernest L. Boyer International Award for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology.
Birckbichlerwas selected from among nominees from 22 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Brazil.
The award, sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, was presented at the 12th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Boyer Award includes a $5,000 cash prize provided by Blackboard Inc., a company that provides software platforms for Web-based course and portal management. Birckbichlerhas announced she will donate the $5,000 to Ohio State’s World Media and Culture Center.
“This money is something I have earned through the good words of so many in the college,” Birckbichler said. “I would like to give it back so that it can be used on projects that are important to us all.”
Ohio State’s World Media and Culture Center is a collection of services and facilities that will be implemented in a newly renovated Hagerty Hall in 2003. This center will help Ohio State’s language and culture programs integrate technology and international media (TV, radio, print, film, Web and others) into courses and academic programs. It also will enable the university to reach out to new audiences at OSU, in corporations, government agencies and local community groups.
Michael Hogan, dean of the College of Humanities, said “The College of Humanities takes enormous pride in this latest recognition of Professor Diane Birckbichler’s accomplishments. The Boyer Award honors the innovative ways Diane has used her foreign language expertise and technological savvy in the service of teaching. It’s this same dynamic combination -- faculty expertise paired with technological imagination -- that will make our World Media and Culture Center succeed.”
As one of today’s most respected experts in foreign language and learning, Birckbichler has inspired thousands of undergraduate language students, improved the teaching abilities of countless foreign language graduate teaching associates, and facilitated the language training of high school students across the nation by providing their teachers with unprecedented pedagogical tools.
Birckbichler also is president of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages; a member of the Modern Language Association Advisory Committee on Foreign Languages and Literatures; a board member of the Central States Association of Teachers of French; and a member of the Advisory Editorial Board of the American Association of University Coordinators. She has been instrumental in developing and implementing French Individualized Instruction at OSU, now being replicated at some 100 institutions nationwide.
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