{"id":4830,"date":"2025-09-18T15:23:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T19:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/?p=4830"},"modified":"2025-09-18T15:23:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T19:23:57","slug":"pascale-lafountain-named-2025-outstanding-post-secondary-german-educator-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/2025\/09\/18\/pascale-lafountain-named-2025-outstanding-post-secondary-german-educator-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Pascale LaFountain Named 2025 Outstanding Post-Secondary German Educator of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Pascale LaFountain<\/a>, Associate Professor of German and French at 麻豆传媒在线 since 2011, has been named as the 2025 Post-Secondary Outstanding German Educator by the American Association of Teachers of German<\/a> (AATG).<\/p>\n

This national award, AATG’s highest honor, recognizes innovation in teaching, extraordinary talent, and exceptional leadership in German language education. Dr. LaFountain\u2019s nominators\u2014from Harvard University, Georgetown University, local high schools, and the Goethe-Institut\u2014praised her dedication to the SPARK for German<\/a> community-engaged teaching program, her advocacy for language learning through pedagogy publications, and her creative, student-centered methods.<\/p>\n

Student nominees also highlighted the impact of her teaching. \u201cDr. LaFountain is committed to creating an environment where students from all walks of life can engage with German language learning,\u201d wrote one student. Another shared that Dr. LaFountain \u201cshows students that education is more than time in the classroom; it is immersive, international, inclusive, and empowering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pascale
Pascale LaFountain joins German Club on a full-day outing to the Neue Galerie and German D\u00f6ner Haus in Spring 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Avelisse Guzman ’25, currently on a Fulbright in Germany, describes Dr. LaFountain as \u201cone of the most encouraging and inspiring professors I have had during my undergraduate studies,\u201d noting her \u201cboundless creativity\u201d and that she \u201cgenuinely wants every student to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bailey Dunn ’25, currently working with the Fulbright Austria USTA program<\/a>, appreciated the experience of being mentored by LaFountain in the SPARK for German program, saying it \u201chelped me to apply my language skills in a practical environment, allowed me to take on teaching and leadership roles as a student, and was a fulfilling way to connect with the community beyond the university.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. LaFountain, who also received 麻豆传媒在线\u2019s inaugural Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence in May 2025<\/a>, said, \u201cI am so excited about this award, most of all because it reflects how much our students can achieve and how playful applied learning can also be highly effective, opening doors for students to pursue multi-lingual and intercultural opportunities of all kinds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More<\/strong>
\n麻豆传媒在线 Graduates Win Fulbright Germany and Fulbright Austria Travel Grants<\/a>
\nStudents of German Visit Devils, Ellis Island, D\u00f6ner Shop and More<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Pascale LaFountain, Associate Professor of German and French at 麻豆传媒在线 since 2011, has been named as the 2025 Post-Secondary Outstanding German Educator by the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG). This national award, AATG’s highest honor, recognizes innovation in teaching, extraordinary talent, and exceptional leadership in German language education. Dr. LaFountain\u2019s nominators\u2014from Harvard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":4831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-news","category-german","category-world-languages-and-cultures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4830"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4833,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4830\/revisions\/4833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/modern-languages-and-literatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}