Dianne Hopen

Dianne Hopen has been on staff at Concordia Language Villages for 36 years, serving as dean of the French Language Village for 13 years and leading the French abroad programs for 29 years. She is fluent in French and has led student groups to France more than 50 times.

Dianne earned her bachelor's degree in French and social studies education as well as her master's degree in secondary education and psychology from the University of Minnesota; she also has completed 60 credits towards a Ph.D. She has studied in Angers and Nantes, France.

Dianne has been a French teacher since 1969. In addition to teaching six levels of French, she is the world language department chair at Humboldt Secondary Complex (St. Paul, Minn., Public Schools), their international studies and communications specialty planner, A.P. (Advanced Placement) coordinator and consultant on staff development.

Dianne teaches advanced language methods as adjunct program associate professor at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota in their master's in education program. She consults on the development of French materials and teacher training most notably for the Discovering French series for (McDougal-Littel) and for EMC Corporation and has translated educational games into French for Arteric, International.

She is co-author of the recently published and nationally promoted C'est a toi textbook series for EMC Corporation. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her professional accomplishments including the 1989 Educator of the Year Award from the Rotary Club of St. Paul and the 1991 Outstanding Educator Award from the University of Minnesota and has been a finalist for Minnesota Teacher of the Year.