Administration
Del Hausman, Ph.D. – Principal
Dr. Hausman has Master’s degrees from Villanova University in German and English and a Ph.D. from Penn State University. He has taught German in the Lower Moreland School District, Villanova University, LaSalle University, and Manhattan College; English in a German Gymnasium as well as graduate courses in Educational Administration at Penn State. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the German Language School Conference. He is the former Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Lower Moreland Township School District, and served as a consultant to the College Board for Advanced Placement German for over two decades.
Jeanette Hausman, Ph.D. – Head of School
A graduate of Temple University, Jeanette has Pennsylvania certification in physics, general science, mathematics, and the Principalship. She has a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Arcadia University and a Ph.D. from Penn State. She is the former Science Department Head & Physics teacher at Lower Moreland High School.
John Scholtz – Treasurer
Earned his BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology and his ASEE from Penn State. He serves on the finance committee of Immanuel Lutheran Church and is Treasurer of the Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft USA and Canada. He is a former student of the Immanuel German School.
Matthias Hausman – Director of Technology
Matthias has a Master of International Affairs from Penn State and a B.S. in International and Global Studies and Mechanical Engineering with minors in German and Russian from the Rochester Institute of Technology and is a member of the national collegiate German Honor Society, Delta Phi Alpha. He studied European Politics for a semester in Freiburg im Breisgau, interning with the Gemeinderat (City Council). An IGS alumnus, he received the Kalmus Scholarship, Deutsche Sprachdiplom and other awards. Matthias received a Fulbright scholarship, to be an English Teaching Assistant at an Oberschule in Saxony during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, in the Foreign Language Assistant program of the German government’s Pädagogischer Austauschdienst (Pedagogical Exchange Service).
Marianne Haug – Chair of the IGS Committee
Education training received from Temple University. Taught German at the Immanuel Lutheran School in Burholme for 25 years. Co-author of Jump Into German textbook. AATG member. Former board member of the German Language School Conference. Founder with her husband, Hans R. Haug, of the Immanuel German School.
Faculty
Barbara Afanassiev
As a native of Munich, she was educated both in Germany and the United States with degrees in Business Administration and Marketing. Co-founder and President of the German-American Chamber of Commerce-Philadelphia for almost 25 years and simultaneously Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany for 10 years. Served on boards of several German-American organizations, including the German Society of Pennsylvania, as well as on the Executive Boards of the National and Local Diplomatic Corps. She co-authored the textbook Jump into German, and has served as long-time supporter of and teacher at the Immanuel German Language School.
Handan Ayranci
A native speaker of German, who was born and raised in Germany. She completed Gymnasium in Wiesbaden and has a B.A. in Secondary Education/World Languages in German from Temple University. She joined Immanuel German School as a substitute teacher in 2016. She is a member of the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG).
Imke Brust
Born and raised in Schleswig-Holstein, Imke Brust came to the United States in 2002 after receiving her first Staatsexamen, and MA in English from the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel. After the completion of her Ph.D. at the Pennsylvania State University, she first taught for a year at Bucknell University. Since the fall of 2009, she has been teaching at Haverford College, where she currently serves as an Associate Professor and Head of the German Department. Her research and teaching interests focus on language instruction, 20th and 21st German literature and film, nationalism, globalization, European and African Studies. Her research engages issues of gender and race, and investigates the images of, and the tensions between, nation and state in contemporary literature and film.
Roy Harvey
Herr Harvey has been a German teacher with the Council Rock School District since 1992. He earned a B.A. in Secondary Education (German, Russian, Social Studies) at Kutztown University and a M.A. in German at Millersville University. He has coordinated the German American Partnership Program (German Exchange) for Council Rock students for 25 years. Since 2001 he has been an adjunct professor of German at Bucks County Community College.
Rebecca Jones
Becky began a lifelong interest in German after moving to Amish country in middle school. She studied German Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Duisburg University. Becky obtained a Master’s in Education from Cairn University. She taught German levels 1-AP at various high schools, most recently at Strath Haven High School in Wallingford, PA.
Saskia Kelter
Is a native speaker of German, who earned her title of Kommunikation und Mediendesigner, B.F.A. from the WAM (Die Medienakademie) in Dortmund, Germany. She joined Immanuel German School as the Kindergarten teacher in September 2017. Raising her own two children bilingually, she knows how important it is to expose children to another language early on.
Edward McKenney
Completed his B.A. in German at Temple University & M.A. in Education at Holy Family University. Has taught German for 45 years (Philadelphia School District 1969-1999, Pennsbury High School 1999-2006, and New Hope Academy 2006 – Present). Participated in the Fulbright Exchange Program (1989-1990). Co-author of the German Curriculum for the School District of Philadelphia. AATG member. Ed has been an Immanuel faculty member since 1980.
Diana Morris-Bauer
As a graduate of Temple University, Diana taught English at Council Rock High School North for over 30 years, during which she also completed a Fulbright Teacher Exchange year at Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf in Bavaria. She holds Pennsylvania teaching certifications in secondary English and German, as well as an M.A. in English from Kutztown University and an M.A. in German from Millersville University.
Elisabeth Reap, – Computer Resource Coordinator
Earned a Master’s degree in Education from Temple University. She attended the St. Henry’s German School for many years. She is currently the Assistant Director of Student Financial Services at Temple. Liz has been with Immanuel since 2005.
Petra Rieker, – Testing Consultant
Graduated from the University of Bamberg, Germany, with the academic title Diplom-Kauffrau and graduated from Deutsche Akademie für Public Relations, with the title Public Relations Consultant (DAPR). She is a native German who currently works as a tutor, freelance translator, and journalist.
Melody Shoemaker
Biography coming soon!
Manuela Sieber-Messick
A native speaker of German and child of the Cold War, Frau Sieber-Messick holds a master’s degree in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University. In her professional career, she has managed international development programs and traveled extensively throughout the post-Soviet space and Eurasia. A firm proponent of the transformational power of language acquisition during early childhood, in 2010 she co-founded PhillyKinder, a non-profit German-language enrichment program that provides interactive experiences for aspiring bi-lingual children. Manuela resides with her husband and their three children in the Greater Philadelphia area, where she enjoys teaching, writing, and guest lecturing.
Ina Smith
Is a native speaker of German, who completed her education in Stuttgart, Germany. She first joined Immanuel German School as a substitute teacher in 2015 and since then has taught multiple class levels at IGS.
Doris Stiene-Adebanjo
Doris was raised speaking German and immersed in the Austrian and Gottscheer cultures of her parents and benefitted from visits with relatives in Austria. She is a graduate of the German American School Association of New York, earning a Goethe Institute – NY Zertifikat Deutsch and the NY Literary Society Foundation’s Gold Certificate. Doris has a BA in History from St. Francis College Brooklyn and is a member of Delta Epsilon Phi (German Honor Society). She has experience in childcare and teaching preschool and a variety of K-12 levels.
Ilana Torres
Ilana is a native speaker of German, and lived in Germany for several years while growing up. She holds a Masters degree in Forensic Linguistics from Hofstra University, and a Bachelors degree in Linguistics from Rutgers University – New Brunswick. During her time in academia, she studied and researched accent biases, court interpreting, and deception detection in political discourse. She is also a German interpreter, registered with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, and freelance interprets and translates. She worked as a substitute teacher at IGS in 2023, and started teaching full time in 2024.
Cornelia Witter
Cornelia, who is a native German speaker, has a degree in business administration/marketing and management from a business school in Ilmenau, Thüringen. Before immigrating to the United States she worked as a manager in the hospitality industry in Munich for many years. She joined IGS in January 2024 as a substitute teacher and started teaching full time in September 2024.