Renate Ludanyi, Ph.D., is co-founder and president of the national umbrella organization for German heritage language schools in the United States and the organizer of its annual teacher development conference at the German Consulate General in New York. She is also the co-founder and president/principal of the German School of Connecticut, with two teaching sites. With the assistance of the Central Agency for German Schools Abroad, Germany, she introduced the German Sprachdiplom Examination (an official language prerequisite for studying at a German university) into the U.S., for which she received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Many German heritage language schools in the U.S. now offer this examination and have their students study at German-speaking universities. Through her leadership, her school has received the national American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) designation, Center of Excellence, and also became a member of the world-wide network of “Schools - Partners for the Future” initiated by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. She has published and lectured widely nationally and internationally on topics of community-based heritage language schools and on language maintenance and the history of German immigration into the United States. She is a professor of German and the director of the German Studies Center of Western Connecticut State University. She has received numerous awards for her work.