academics
Sulzen sees a significant improvement in the relationship with the Franklin County community and a much more diverse student population. “There is such good energy here, and Dr. Braaten has refocused the direction of the College.” Sulzen is an integral part of that new direction; he has received two Fulbright Awards for exchange travel and teaching
in Russia, in 1999 and 2007. He and his wife loved the community there so much they adopted two young girls from Russia. As a result of his Fulbright Awards, he was asked to serve on a peer review panel for a three-year term. He recently completed the review process for candidates for Fulbright grants for study in Central Eurasia. Additionally, through his work on the Floyd County School Board over
the last 16 years, he is a member of the Board of Directors for the Virginia School Board Association and is Chairman of the Supervisory Board for the VSBA’s Worker’s Compensation Insurance Group and Property and Casualty Insurance Pool. “I teach in the middle of a very active life and am very happy to be a part of Ferrum College.” n
Ferrum Professor Named Best in Region Sasha Saari wins Platinum in Roanoker Magazine Survey
F
errum College Associate Professor of Russian, Sasha Saari was named the best teacher in the region by readers of the Roanoker magazine. Saari won first place, or Platinum, in this past summer’s annual “Best of Roanoke” edition. The magazine quotes John Bruton, Dean of the Ferrum College School of Arts and Sciences as saying, “There is nothing simple about learning to speak and read Russian, but she has found a way to make the experience enjoyable as well as intellectually stimulating.”
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Before her position at Ferrum College, Saari served for two years in Kenya in the Peace Corp, worked for the government in the U.S. Information Agency in the former Soviet Union and was a Russian language announcer for the Voice of America. Ferrum Magazine | Winter 2011–2012
Saari, a Roanoke, Virginia, native has been teaching courses in Russian at Ferrum College for 30 years. A longtime student favorite, she also serves as Director of International Programs. Says Ferrum alumnus Kelly Herrick ’84, “In my professional life as an educator, Sasha is my role model. She made the Russian language come alive through her passion and love for all things Russian, especially stories and song—30 years later most of her students still can recite a Russian poem and sing a verse or two of a Russian folk song.” Saari pioneered a popular exchange program that brings a student each semester from the Pskov Pedagogical Institute in Pskov, Russia, to the Ferrum campus. Ferrum students are then able to
take advantage of both short- and longterm internships and study opportunities in Pskov. They work in orphanages, on restoration projects, and participate in specially designed classes at the Pedagogical Institute. The Ferrum College program also offers a cultural immersion e-term trip to Russia in May of alternating years. “Sasha Saari is a perfect example of the kind of dedication our faculty has to our students,” said Ferrum College President Jennifer L. Braaten. “We have long known that students appreciated her dedication and ability to teach a difficult subject. How wonderful that she has now received this public recognition.” n