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Learning a foreign language means more than memorizing vocabulary and grammar rules. Dr. Bettina Cothran views studying a language as an exciting way to expose students to other cultures, history and the truly global nature of today's world.
Cothran, an associate professor of German in the School of Modern Languages, brings her enthusiasm and genuine caring for the well being of her students to the classroom. She has won several teaching awards including the 2004 E. Roe Stamps Award for excellence in teaching, Georgia Tech's Outstanding Teacher of the Year award (1993), and the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) Georgia Professor of the Year Award twice (1991 and 2002).
In addition, she is highly innovative and has been a pioneer in developing new ways to teach German, which other language departments across the country have adopted. Cothran developed the first curriculum for the applied-learning language program called Languages for Business and Technology (LBAT), for which the Georgia Tech School of Modern Languages has a national reputation.
Cothran also developed the highly collaborative teaching approach in the Languages Across the Curriculum courses, where courses are co-taught in the foreign language by a faculty member from Modern Languages and from the course discipline, such as International Affairs. Cothran began this program with German courses and subjects. Later, after receiving a grant from the Department of Education, the School expanded the program to courses in French, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese. | 