Meet Our Team

Lee Forester

Lee Forester

Cofounder + President

Learn more about Lee
David Antoniuk

David Antoniuk

Cofounder + Design and Technical Director

Learn more about David
Tin Wegel

Tin Wegel

German Author + Sales and Relationship Manager

Learn more about Tin

tin@evialearning.com

Sara Budarz

Sara Budarz

German Author + Editor

Learn more about Sara
Daniel Woolsey

Daniel Woolsey

Spanish Author

Learn more about Daniel
Christina Casarez-Heyda

Christina Casarez-Heyda

Spanish Author + Editor

Learn more about Christina

Lee Forester

Cofounder + President

Lee is Professor of German at Hope College, where he teaches all levels of German. When looking for a project for his first sabbatical, his friend David Antoniuk suggested they team up to do a major multimedia project. With funding from Ameritech and FIPSE, this project turned into Auf geht’s!, published in 2005. His research and curricular work focus on effective use of instructional technology, intercultural learning, and creating language materials that promote personal transformation for students. In his copious spare time, Lee enjoys live music, is a boardgame fan (and has a few of his own designs), runs the occasional (half) marathon and has been known to flatpick on occasion.

David Antoniuk

Cofounder + Design and Technical Director

David is fascinated by the intersection of pedagogy, technology, and the visual arts, especially when spending time abroad gathering visual and audio materials for Evia’s projects. After starting Live Oak Multimedia in 1993, his first cross-cultural CD-ROM was the critically acclaimed interactive “4 Paws of Crab”. With an MBA and MA in International Relations from U.C. Berkeley, thirty years of business and software management experience, and 40 years as an active photographer, he brings a multidisciplinary approach to New Media. Plus driving over 200,000 km in German and Spanish speaking countries for project photography has created a deep interest in German and Spanish culture – he wants to pass that fascination on to new language learners. In his spare time he’s methodically gutting his mid-century Florida house to reimagine it for the 21st century.

Tin Wegel

German Author + Sales and Relationship Manager
tin@evialearning.com

Tin first learned of Auf geht’s! and Weiter geht’s! in 2007 and immediately joined the Evia Learning team. While teaching German across the curriculum and directing the language program at UNC Chapel Hill for twelve years, Tin co-wrote and edited Evia’s German textbooks, online interactive programs, and grammar materials. In her teaching and her on-going work with both textbooks, she aims to ensure that learners interact with culturally relevant and real-world materials, so that they can foster connections with other people through language. Since moving to Berlin in 2019, Tin has realized time and again that speaking a language encompasses so much more than putting words into the proper order and that interculturality opens doors and minds. In her free time, Tin explores Berlin on foot and bike while sometimes dreaming of importing LA’s blue skies, where she received her PhD at UCLA, to Berlin, and cooking, regardless of the weather. She also loves hiking and seeing ever more European cities up close and personal.

Sara Budarz

German Author + Editor

Sara received her PhD from the University of North Carolina and then went on to direct the German program at the University of Texas at San Antonio, while also working on the 4th edition of Auf geht’s! as author and editor. Having grown up as a third-culture-child  (a Finnish-American raised in Germany), questions of intercultural communication and competencies have always been more than just an academic pursuit; they have been a lifelong practice, and the understanding that learning a language is both deeply rewarding and deeply terrifying is something she keeps front and center while working on crafting language learning tools. Although it was hard to leave behind a fantastic cohort of students and colleagues and the Texas sunshine, in 2018 Sara relocated to her favorite city in the world (that happens to have the worst weather for most of the year): Berlin. Her work as an author and editor for Evia includes currently co-authoring a new edition of Weiter geht’s! and continuing to create content for Auf Geht’s! In her life away from work, Sara’s great passions include running long-ish distances while listening to audiobooks, drinking copious amounts of coffee with heavy cream, practicing yoga, and exploring the world on bike.

Daniel Woolsey

Spanish Author

Daniel is the Department Chair and a Professor of Spanish at Hope College, where he teaches courses in Hispanic linguistics, foreign language teaching methods, and language and culture. He was raised and educated in Santiago, Chile, where his parents served as missionaries for more than 25 years. Daniel also directs the Spanish Immersion Continuation Program that brings local high school students to campus for college-level Spanish courses. He has experience in teaching in study-abroad programs and online summer courses. Daniel was the lead author of our intermediate Spanish book Rostros. The textbook emphasizes the development of oral proficiency and cultural competency by exploring big ideas in the history, literature, and culture of the Spanish-speaking world. One of his ongoing interests has been to bridge the fields of SLA and FLE by bringing sound acquisition principles into the classroom. His current textbook project and the Spanish Immersion Continuation Program reflect that interest.

Christina Casarez-Heyda

Spanish Author + Editor

Christina is co-author of the Spanish language and culture textbooks, including the first-year title Ritmos and the new second-year title Rostros. Since joining the Evia Learning team in 2009, she has co-authored and edited the Spanish textbooks, grammar materials, unit exams, online cultural content, and teacher edition texts. Christina earned an MA in Spanish from Western Michigan University where she taught as a graduate assistant before teaching Spanish at Grand Valley State University. The primary objectives for her students in the classroom and with the textbooks are language proficiency and cultural competence, which she is equally passionate about. Outside of work, Christina is a food and craft beer enthusiast, avid world traveler, USTA league tennis player, half marathon runner, and supporter of Tottenham and Barça. She is also the mother of three young bilingual children who she enjoys teaching the most.