Mary Ellen Rutemeyer, a Ph.D. Candidate in German Studies in MSU’s Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures, is a 2025 recipient of Michigan State University’s Excellence-In-Teaching Citation.
Supported by MSU’s Office of University Development, Excellence-In-Teaching Citations are awarded to graduate teaching assistants who have distinguished themselves by the care they have given and the skill they have shown in meeting their classroom responsibilities in an effort to bring university-wide recognition to the best of the graduate teaching assistants and, by so doing, to underline the qualitative contribution they are making to the undergraduate program.
“I’m grateful to everyone who took the time and energy to support the nomination,” Rutemeyer said. “This award is part of a larger acknowledgement of what graduate workers contribute to the educational mission of MSU, and I count myself lucky to be surrounded by fellow students, faculty, and staff who recognize the different components of our collective efforts.”
Rutemeyer started her Ph.D. program at MSU in Fall 2020. Her research, coursework, and projects focus on language teaching and learning. More specifically, her current research focuses on language learner agency as well as multilingualism in the language classroom.
“This award is part of a larger acknowledgement of what graduate workers contribute to the educational mission of MSU, and I count myself lucky to be surrounded by fellow students, faculty, and staff who recognize the different components of our collective efforts.”
Mary Ellen Rutemeyer
During her time at MSU, Rutemeyer was awarded the Max Kade Fellowship. Max Kade Fellows shadow faculty mentors in upper-level German courses to gain a deeper understanding of and hands-on experience with a wider range of types of teaching and pedagogies.
As part of this fellowship, Rutemeyer piloted a small classroom-based research project, contributed to the ongoing efforts to adapt the curriculum of first- and second-year German courses from four credits per course to three credits, and developed open education resource materials for the first- and second-year curriculum.
Rutemeyer has an M.A. in Germanic Languages and Literatures from Ohio State University and a B.A. in History from East Tennessee State University. After receiving her M.A., she taught for three years at the German School of Madison, a community language school in Madison, Wisconsin, and was an Instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she taught first and second semester German courses.
She is on course to graduate from Michigan State University with her Ph.D. in German Studies in Summer 2025. In Fall 2025, she will begin working as a Lecturer at the University of Minnesota.
Rutemeyer was one of five graduate students to receive a 2025 Excellence-in-Teaching Citation, which were presented at MSU’s 2025 All-University Awards Ceremony on April 7 at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center.
“Mary Ellen is a beloved and effective teacher to our undergraduate students and an invaluable mentor to her peers.”
Senta Goertler, Professor of German and Second Language Studies
MSU’s German Studies program has demonstrated a history of outstanding support for its graduate student educators in their development as teachers. In the past five years, this is the second Excellence-in-Teaching Citation recipient from the German Studies program and the third winner from the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures.
Rutemeyer was nominated for the Excellence-In-Teaching Citation by Senta Goertler, Professor of German and Second Language Studies.
“Mary Ellen is a beloved and effective teacher to our undergraduate students and an invaluable mentor to her peers,” Goertler wrote in her nomination letter. “What is particularly fascinating about Mary Ellen is that she is able to take new knowledge she is gaining in her graduate courses and her scholarship and apply them to teaching. While it is not unusual for students taking courses in language acquisition and teaching to apply concepts of language acquisition and pedagogy to their language teaching, it is unusual for them to take theoretical concepts such as for example ideology and convert the theoretical concepts into practical and accessible teaching units in a second language for undergraduate students. She truly is a teacher scholar.”
For more information and a complete listing of MSU’s 2025 All-University Award recipients, see the article in MSU Today.
By Kim Popiolek
