Lída is a specialist and innovator in the field of Czech language study whose series of textbooks, Czech Step by Step I and II and Czech Express, is used as an essential resource for Czech language learning in Europe as well as in American university courses. Lída holds a doctoral degree in English and Russian languages and early in her career was twice awarded in the Young Translators Competition of Jirí Levý. She has been a member of the Association of Teachers of Czech as a Foreign Language (AUCCJ) since 2002 and served as a vice president of the executive committee from 2005 to 2009. Lída has published numerous articles on teaching Czech as a foreign language, given papers at conferences on her topic in Europe and the United States, and translated books such as Hidden History by Otokar Bezina and the English sections of The Correspondence of Karel Capek.
A native of Philadelphia, Sarah received her MA in art history from Syracuse University and her BA in art from the University of Massachusetts. She has worked in Prague as an art history lecturer, an advisor to Czech NGOs, an arts critic, and a manager of the US Embassy’s nonprofit portfolio and grants program. She also served as co-curator of the exhibition of Czech and Los Angeles artists entitled “Certain Traces: Dialogue 2004.” Recently she spoke on the topic of Bridging Histories and Cultures: Creative Arts Practice & Analysis in International Education at the 2019 Arts in Society Conference at the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute. Her primary research interests are alternative arts spaces in Central Europe and arts-based research methods.
Having lived in Prague during the vital post-communist transition period, Sarah’s work with SIT has been greatly influenced by her affiliation with Czech civil society leaders and artists. In her words, “There is no better way to learn about the social and cultural complexity of the post-communist period than to speak directly with specialists or to join them in arts and community programs.”
Sarah became academic director of the Czech Republic program in 2005, overseeing every aspect of the program. In addition to giving lectures, coordinating seminars, and structuring educational excursions, Sarah works individually with students to ensure that they develop unique, creative, and academically relevant Independent Study Projects drawing upon the wide range of academic advisors, artists, and NGO activists available to the program.