Campus Connection

Alum receives state organization’s highest honor

Lynn Sessler Neitzel, ’90, was introduced to world languages as a child at the family dinner table. Her father regularly invited his international business partners to join them for some traditional Wisconsin fare. Sessler Neitzel describes the family’s guests as “fascinating.” Her interest in world languages and cultures was solidified at UWL where she studied abroad and eventually earned degrees in secondary education and French. Sessler Neitzel became a foreign language teacher and spent nearly two decades of her career volunteering for state and national organizations that support other foreign language teachers. This included leadership positions such as president of the Wisconsin Association for Language Teachers. For her service, she earned the association’s highest honor in November 2015 — the Distinguished Educator Award. “Over the length of her career, Lynn has been an articulate spokesperson and advocate for world language study at all levels and has worked tirelessly to improve the learning and teaching of world languages as a means to further cross-cultural understanding,” says Jean Hindson, a UWL associate professor of Spanish who had Sessler Neitzel as a student. Early on it was evident that Sessler Neitzel had a gift for foreign language pedagogy, says Hindson. Similarly, Sessler Neitzel saw that gift in her UWL French and foreign language methods’ professors who she calls “amazing.” “From the first class I took, they helped us form personal relationships with the language and culture,” she says. “I loved UWL. It was the perfect fit for me.” She is also grateful for the teaching organizations which offered her support, fresh ideas and teaching tools. “They made me a better teacher and that came full circle to my students,” she says. Biography: Lynn Sessler Neitzel Currently a Curriculum and Assessment coordinator at Blackhawk Technical College, Sessler Neitzel is also a Japanese language instructor at the Wisconsin Virtual School (WVS) through CESA 9.  Previously, she worked as the World Language Curriculum Coordinator and K-5 Japanese teacher in the Menasha Joint School District, Menasha, where she planned and implemented a K-12 World Language program in multiple languages. Sessler Neitzel was an executive board member for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the American Association of Teachers of Japanese and the National Network for Early Language Learning. She was a special projects staff member for the Japan Forum and is a consultant for the American School in Japan (ASIJ) in Tokyo, as well as a regular presenter at world language conferences at the state, regional, national and international levels and a member of the State Superintendent's International Education Council.