W&L’s Kiki Mittner ’25 Earns U.S. Teaching Assistantship to Austria Mittner will teach English in her grandmother’s Austrian hometown before attending law school.
Washington and Lee University graduate Kiki Mittner ’25 has been awarded a U.S. Teaching Assistantship (USTA) to teach English in Austria. At W&L, Mittner majored in environmental studies and politics and minored in German. Mittner is from Lake Worth Beach, Florida.
The USTA Program is administered by Fulbright Austria on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research. Teaching assistants are placed in secondary schools throughout Austria to teach English language and linguistic skills, serve as informal cultural ambassadors, and promote mutual understanding between the United States and Canada.
The USTA is a particularly meaningful opportunity for Mittner, as she will be placed at an all-girls boarding school in Linz, which is the town where her grandmother was born. Mittner’s mother grew up in Germany and still communicates with her parents in German, and Mittner is looking forward to improving her ability to speak her mother’s first language.
“Living in Linz will allow me to connect to my heritage, visit my family in Europe, and help improve my German enough to speak with my mother and grandmother in their mother tongue,” Mittner said.
Mittner is also looking forward to working at a “green” school that focuses on sustainable agriculture, which was the focus of her environmental studies senior capstone project. Teaching at this school will introduce her to the sustainable methods Austrian farmers implement into their work and serve as an important step in her plans to practice environmental law and focus on sustainable agriculture.
This interest in different countries’ environmental efforts was sparked during Mittner’s sophomore year, when she traveled to South Dakota for a Spring Term class taught by Joseph Guse, professor of economics, and Harvey Markowitz, professor emeritus of anthropology, where they stayed on a reservation to learn about the culture, history and economics of the Lakota tribe.
“Learning about another culture’s struggle within the U.S. regarding agriculture efforts and natural resource management sparked my interest in exploring how different countries deal with environmental sustainability efforts,” Mittner said.
Mittner is grateful for the faculty mentors she met at W&L, who supported her academic interests and encouraged her to pursue her passions. She credits Robert Humston, the John Kyle Spencer Director for Environmental Studies and professor of biology, and Debra Frein, the environmental studies program coordinator, for introducing her to and supporting her enthusiasm for sustainable agriculture by teaching her about cattle farms in Lexington and helping secure funds to complete her own independent research on the topic. She is also grateful to Debra Prager, associate professor of German and department head, and Jaime Roots, assistant professor of German, who guided her USTA application; and to Brian Alexander, associate professor of politics, and Rebecca Harris, professor of politics, who helped her focus her area of interest in energy and agriculture.
“Kiki has been a special student in my courses, the kind of student who is professional and practical about her projects and goals in life,” said Harris. “I was especially delighted by her interest in sustainable agriculture and day-to-day farm practice and had the privilege of mentoring her on several environmental public policy projects assessing USDA and EPA programs. I hope Kiki will continue to work in public service on kitchen table policies.”
At W&L, Mittner was involved in Greek life, the German Club and the Student Environmental Action League. She volunteered with the Campus Garden and Habitat for Humanity and taught German to fifth graders at Central Elementary School. She also conducted research on GMOs with faculty in the university’s Department of Earth and Environmental Geoscience.
With the USTA, Mittner will depart in September 2025 for her nine-month program. Upon completion of the program, Mittner plans to visit family in Austria before returning to the U.S. and applying to law school.
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