Susan Hojnacki is an Assistant Professor of Education and World Languages at Aquinas
College. She teaches German in the World Language Department and multiple Education
courses including World Language Methodology, Second Language Acquisition, ESL and
Bilingual Methodology, Educational Technology, and Engaging Diverse Learners. She
has a Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University in German and English Literature; a
Post-Bachelor Secondary Teaching Certification from Michigan State University; and
a Ph.D. in German with an emphasis on language pedagogy from Michigan State. Dr. Hojnacki
has taught in the U.S. and Germany at levels from middle school to university graduate
courses. She studied at the University of Hamburg and taught in a German high school
through the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program in Duisburg, Germany. Her work at Aquinas
has also included serving as the Instructional Design Liaison for faculty and as a
professional development provider for curriculum reform. She is currently directing
the First Year Seminar program.
Her professional and research interests, like her teaching interests, span a wide
range of topics focusing primarily on social justice and efficacy in teacher preparation
programs. She is interested in ways to build a curriculum across disciplines that
engages all learners and builds community through intentional pedagogy. She has published
chapters on integrating social justice topics into the world language curriculum and
looks at ways to use technology to improve teaching and learning. Her dissertation
examined the flipped classroom in an introductory level German course and found ways
to increase vocabulary acquisition through a hybrid approach to language learning.
During COVID-19 she taught all faculty at her institution how to best transition their
courses to remote delivery and supported the college’s efforts to maintain best practices
throughout the pandemic. She is currently assisting faculty again as the college transitions
to a new academic model that integrates more engaged, inclusive, and experiential
learning.
Professor Hojnacki presents widely at language teaching conferences including ACTFL
and the Michigan World Language Association (MIWLA). She will serve as President of
MIWLA in 2023 when the annual conference will focus on the topic, “Valuing a Multilingual
Society.”
