The graduate programs of French and SLATE are proud to announce that Dr. Tricia Thrasher (PhD 2022, French SLATE) has been awarded the 2022 ACTFL-NFMLTA/MLJ Emma Birkmaier Award for Doctoral Dissertation Research in World Language Education. She is the first UIUC student ever to have received this prestigious award from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ATFL). 

Dr. Thrasher submitted her doctoral dissertation, titled "Saying 'Au revoir’ to Anxiety in a Heartbeat: The Benefits of Virtual Reality for Language Learning", upon the recommendation of her doctoral dissertation advisor, Professor Aurore Mroz (FRIT and SLATE) who is the 2013 recipient of this award for her own dissertation work on L2 learning in virtual learning environments.

Congratulations to advisor and advisee on this extraordinary achievement!