Auf Wiedersehen, 2024! Hallo, 2025!

[Photo from Aaron Burden via Unsplash]

As I walked down the street toward my house in Aachen earlier this week, clutching an arsenal of cold medicine and paraphernalia, my elderly neighbor caught up with me and lamented the many negative aspects of 2024. In her case, a bad fall last winter had caused a serious health setback. In the case of Germany itself, the political developments, culminating in the dissolution of the government after the lost confidence vote this Monday, and the events leading up to the vote have left many uncertain about what the new year has in store for them. The already sluggish economy is threatening to accelerate the negative momentum.

For me personally, the year’s dynamics completely countered the trends. A sluggish to dismal first quarter gave way to lively and ultimately overwhelming second to fourth quarters. While beating the bushes was definitely time-consuming, completing long and, at times, tedious, jobs has translated into few moments to spare.

While I remain committed to doing everything in my power to advance the German Language Division, some days don’t allow for all that much time to devote to it. This makes me even more grateful for the ongoing hard work of our faithful GLD Leadership Council members, who see to it that the Division’s activities are carried out without fail.

Assistant Administrator Robin Limmeroth picks up a lot of the slack. For instance, Robin coordinated the GLD Networking Dinner in Portland with Susanne Kretschmer, she collated the results of our GLD “Ethics” survey we ran in the fall, and prepared slide decks for our GLD Annual Meeting in October and the GLD Professional Forum at the ATA Annual Conference, to name just a few of her many contributions. She has also ensured that speakers and presenters at both our in-person and digital events have shared their presentations on the GLD website. I am extremely grateful to Robin for all her hands-on and moral support.

Website Manager Randal Gernaat is nearly always “on,” seeing to it that the GLD website is up-to-date and blog posts are published on time. In addition, Randal is constantly optimizing our web presence. Kerstin Trimble and Tatjana Dumic have lent a hand with their German editing skills, ensuring that our wording is professional in both our division’s working languages.

Ellen Yutzy Glebe, European Coordinator, and her team (Bettina Schreibmaier-Clasen, Susanne Henke, and Robin Limmeroth) have spent countless hours crafting the upcoming GLD Members in Europe workshop in Vienna (February 21 to 23, 2025), the 10th such gathering of Europe-based GLD members. Workshop participants will be joining from four European countries, the UK, and the US. LC Consultant Ruth Boggs and GLD members Petra Rieker and Matt Bunczk also arranged in-person GLD meetups this year.

To complement these in-person events, Digital Events Coordinators Katrin Rippel Galati and Megan Falk have run nearly monthly on-line gatherings, whether as “silent” Co-Working events, member socials, or GLD webinars.

Noah Alter, our GLD Social Media Coordinator, has seen to it that all these activities are broadcasted through our GLD social media channels on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X. Our LinkedIn page now has over 1,600 followers and attracts attention from individuals and organizations throughout the globe.

Heike Holthaus continues to coordinate the GLD Collaboration Pool on LinkedIn. The division and, in particular, the Digital Events Coordinators, have aimed to place a particular focus on raising the profile of the Collaboration Pool in 2025 to leverage the many skills represented by GLD members and their counterparts in ITI GerNet and Universitas.

New and potential GLD members regularly reach out to New Member Coordinator Kristina Cosumano for guidance and advice.

Interkativ Editor-in-Chief Sabine Seiler and her team produced their first “post-Marion” (former Editor-in-Chief Marion Rhodes) issue in October, focusing on GLD members’ volunteer work. Perusing interaktiv is a great way to spend those dark fall and winter evenings with a cup of tea—or glühwein.

Finally, GLD Listmaster Rainer Klett serves as a gentle behind-the-scenes presence in the at times boisterous exchange among the more than 300 GLD List members. At the Leadership Summit in Portland, other divisions expressed their envy about the list’s lively activity and, especially, the many language- and translation-related exchanges. Have a look at Rainer’s Listmaster Report for 2024 to get a taste of the discussions.

Being surrounded by this team of engaged Leadership Council members, including our newest appointee, Jennifer Mendez (Student Consultant), keeps me optimistic about the future our division – and our association. I couldn’t be prouder of them and I thank them for everything they do for the GLD.

We wish you and your loved ones all the best for the holiday season and a happy and healthy new year 2025.

Karen Leube
GLD Administrator

Robin Limmeroth
GLD Assistant Administrator