Project Team

Heather Rice is an assistant professor of instruction of Russian for the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies. Dr. Rice completed her PhD in Linguistics and Slavic languages at Indiana University Bloomington in 2016. Her dissertation examined the second language phonological acquisition of the palatalization contrast in Russian. She teaches first and second-year Russian. In coordination with the Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services (LAITS) at UT, Dr. Rice created the content for the three-semester online Russian language sequence and textbook Будем на связи (We’ll be in Touch / Online)*.

Christian Hilchey completed his Ph.D. in Slavic Linguistics in 2014 at the University of Chicago. His work has focused on the grammatical category of aspect and certain verbal categories which manifest themselves in the aspectual system of Czech. He has also taught Czech extensively at all levels at the University of Chicago, Indiana University and now at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to working on Reality Czech, he teaches Czech language and culture courses at UT. He is also interested in food culture and the Texas Czech communities.

Frane Karabatić is an assistant professor of instruction in the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, where his work brings together language pedagogy, human-centered learning design, and educational technology. He received his Ph.D. in second language acquisition from the University of Kansas, with a dissertation on developing intercultural communicative competence in foreign language learning. His work includes the design of open, large-scale digital learning systems that integrate linguistic rigor, cultural context, UX-informed design, narrative structure, and real-world use. He is the author of two open-access Croatian language textbooks: Tako lako for beginner-level learners and Navrh jezika for intermediate-level learners.

Rachael Gilg is the Web Designer for COERLL and currently develops and maintains the projects in COERLL’s portfolio of online materials for language learning. Rachael studied English and Anthropology at Rice University and completed a M.S. in Information Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She began building websites professionally in 2005, and has developed numerous web-based projects in collaboration with educators, researchers, archivists, historians, and others