Megan Wadas is a PhD Candidate in German Linguistics and Language Science. Her research interests broadly fall under the Second Language Acquisition umbrella and focus on learner motivation. She is currently interested in how internal motivational selves manifest externally in the classroom. More specifically, she wants to figure out what factors may contribute to fostering classroom engagement and persistence in German study beyond an academic language requirement.

She teaches all courses in the beginning German language sequence (GER 1-2-3) and loves to attend Kaffeestunde. Megan has also taught English to middle schoolers and college students at the Pädagogische Hochschule Vorarlberg with the US Teaching Assistantship (USTA) administered by Fulbright Austria during the 2023-2024 academic year. While in Austria, she joined a traditional marching band and rollerbladed from Austria to Switzerland across Liechtenstein.

Additionally, she has been a recipient of the Max Kade Summer Research Grant to take a C2 German Intensive course at the Goethe Institut Frankfurt, Erasmus+ funding to study abroad at the Technische Universität Dresden (2018), and has spent time volunteer teaching English in Zakliczyn, Poland (2019, 2023). Finally, she enjoys dabbling in Italian, knitting, and travelling (especially via train!).