Devon Donohue-Bergeler, Ph.D

Professor of Instruction, Modern Languages and Literatures

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Bio

Dr. Devon Donohue-Bergeler grew up in Dallas and studied German language and literature at Boston University. After graduation, she supported U.S. study abroad participants and completed an M.A. at the Technische Universität Dresden in German Studies, Culture and Communication with a focus on teaching German as a foreign language. After a traineeship at the European Parliament in Luxembourg and an administrative job at the Universität Hamburg, she returned to her native Texas to complete a Ph.D. in Foreign Language Education at the University of Texas in Austin. Donohue-Bergeler's work teaching in the Department of Germanic Studies and with the Center for Teaching and Learning inspired her dissertation study. For this work, she developed and implemented a semester-long professional development opportunity in drama-based pedagogy aimed towards graduate student instructors teaching German in the collegiate lower-division curriculum. The dissertation explored graduate student instructors’ uptake of innovative pedagogy and the factors that help or hinder their engagement. She joined the faculty of the University of Texas at San Antonio in Fall 2018, where she leads the German program and offers summer study abroad in Dresden. Students know her as “Dr. D.”

Teaching

German language courses

GER 1014 - Beginner German 1
GER 1024 - Beginner German 2
GER 2013 - Intermediate German 1
GER 2023 - Intermediate German 2
GER 3023 - Advanced German

Courses in comparative literature, upper-division German, and media studies

CSH 1213: German Daily Culture
CSH 3023 / GER 4003 - Love Conquers All?
CSH 3823 / GER 4213 - Migration in Post-War Germany
CSH 3823 / GER 4213 - Dresden: Florence of the Elbe River
CSH 3823 / GER 4213 / MES 3113 - German Film
CSH 3823 / GER 4213 / HON 3233 - The Dresden Experience: Study Abroad in Dresden

Research Interests

experiential learning
study abroad outcomes
drama-based pedagogy
graduate student teaching development

Degrees

Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin (2018)
M.A., Technische Universität Dresden, Germany (2009)
B.A., Boston University (2002)

Publications

Donohue-Bergeler, D. & Schallert, D. (under review). A process model for foreign language graduate student teaching development.
Donohue-Bergeler, D., Hanka, D., & Goulet, C. (2023). Queer auf Deutsch: Positive classroom environment and LGBTQ+ inclusion through drama-based pedagogy in a collegiate beginner German course. Scenario Journal for Performative Teaching, Learning, Research, 17(2), 135-165. https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.17.2.8
Donohue-Bergeler, D. (2025). Drama-based pedagogy in the collegiate foreign language classroom: From first encounter to online improv. In K. Dawson, S. Cawthon, L. Dossett, & B. Link (Eds.), Drama for schools: Creating and sustaining learning communities through the arts (np). Intellect
Benjamin, J.D., Donohue‐Bergeler, D., Fuchs, K. and Lorenz, A. (2020), “Is nicht egal“: Guided Multimodal Reading of a Music Video Advertisement. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 53: 55-65. doi:10.1111/tger.12118
Donohue-Bergeler, D., Goulet, C., & Hanka, D. (2018). Flattened hierarchy through drama-based pedagogy: A graduate student instructor and two undergraduates partner on classroom research. College Teaching. 66(2), 104-110. doi:10.1080/87567555.2018.1437534
Kearns, K., Hatcher, M., Bollard, M., DiPietro, M., Donohue-Bergeler, D., Drane, L. E.,Luoma, E., Phuong, A. E., Thain, L., Wright, M. (2018). “Once a scientist…:” Disciplinary approaches and intellectual dexterity in educational development. To Improve the Academy, 37(1), 128-141. doi:10.1002/tia2.20072
Donohue-Bergeler, D. (2018). Is the drama worth it? Foreign language graduate student instructors’ experiences with drama-based pedagogy. Unpublished dissertation. The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved from https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/68080.

Devon Donohue-Bergeler, Ph.D