Dan E. Davidson

Dan E. Davidson, Narrative Bio 

Professor Davidson received the A. M. and Ph.D. degrees in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Harvard University, studying under R. O. Jakobson, V.S. Setchkarev and K. F. Taranovsky.  He studied as well at the University of Bonn, Moscow State University and the Harvard Institute for Social Enterprise. He is author, co-author or editor of twenty-four textbooks and collections, over 50 refereed scholarly articles and 50 professional publications in the fields of language, language policy, culture, and educational development, including a landmark 20-year longitudinal investigation of adult second language acquisition in the overseas immersion context.  His most recent study, “Comparing Linguistic and Cultural Contacts and Learning Outcomes in Virtual vs In-person Immersion learning contexts,” appeared in UC Berkeley L2 Journal, Vol 15, Issue 2 (2023). https://doi.org/10.5070/L215260148   His edited and co-authored volume, Transformative Language Learning and Teaching, appeared in 2022 with Cambridge University Press and received the Kenneth Mildenberger Prize in 2024 from the Modern Language Association (MLA) as well as the prize for the best volume in Slavic language pedagogy from the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) in 2023.

Dr. Davidson is now emeritus professor on the Myra T. Cooley Lectureship in Russian Studies at Bryn Mawr College, where he served as Department Chair (1978-1987), directed or co-directed 37 Ph.D. dissertations and a similar number of M.A. theses in the field of Russian and second-language acquisition, and taught undergraduate courses on language,  literature, language policy and identity in Russophone Eurasia and the social dynamics of Russian. Dr. Davidson has taught previously at Harvard University, Amherst College, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland/College Park. 

Dr. Davidson is founding president of the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, and current Director of the American Councils Research Center in Washington, D.C.  American Councils, which marks its 50^th Anniversary in 2024, is now a major federally funded academic exchange and international development organization, focusing its expertise on the design and implementation of advanced level international research, exchange and training programs, internationally-focused professional development, and educational reform initiatives within the US and across 130 countries of the world.

From 1992–1995, Dr. Davidson was co-chair of the Transformation of the Humanities and Social Sciences initiative sponsored by philanthropist George Soros in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The program produced over four hundred experimental textbooks for use in schools and universities in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union. His long-standing collaboration with Academician Anatoliy Mikhailov and support of the European Humanities University dates from this period.   

Dr. Davidson has also served as a member and former chair of the World Language Academic Advisory Committee of the College Board and was elected president of the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL), chair of the Alliance for International Education and Cultural Exchange, member of the Board of Governors, University of California International Studies Consortium and of the European Humanities University; vice president of the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature (MAPRIAL), chair of the Board of the Center for Educational Testing and Methodology (Kyrgyzstan), the first independent educational testing center in Central Asia, and member of the Commission on Language Learning in America, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015-2017).  He currently serves as a member of the International Advisory Board for America250.  

Davidson is an elected foreign member of the Russian and the Ukrainian Academies of Education and recipient of an honorary professorship from Kyrgyz National University (Bishkek) and of honorary doctoral degrees from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (2022), the Abai State Pedagogical University, Almaty (1998), the Russian Academy of Sciences (Division of Language and Literature) 1991, the State University of World Languages, Tashkent (1994), and the European Humanities University, Vilnius (2024).   

He has received awards for distinguished service to the profession from every US national association connected with his area of teaching and research including the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) in 1995, the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages of the Modern Language Association (ADFL/MLA) in 1997, the American Council of Teachers of Russian (2015), the Language Flagship (2017), and the Joint National Committee of Languages (2023) and the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (2024).   He is holder of the the A.S. Pushkin Medal (1983) conveyed by the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature, the “Order of Friendship,” conveyed in 1990 by Order of President Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Kyrgyz Medal of Distinction (“Dank”) in 2005, conveyed by former President Akaev, both the highest recognition accorded to a foreign citizen in those two nations. 

Updated September 2024