Professor Katja Halle was born and raised in East Berlin before moving to the United States in 1995.  An alumni of Long Beach City College, Prof. Halle earned both her B.A. and M.A. in German (Honors cum Laude) at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). She began her teaching career as a Teaching Assistant at CSULB where she was honored as German Teaching Associate of the Year 2002-2003 by the Department of Romance, German, Russian Languages and Literatures. Prof. Halle has previously taught German at Santa Monica College, CSULB, and Fullerton College and was the German Language Director at University of California, Irvine in Spring 2007. “Teaching German is my passion and I’d love to pass on that passion about the German language and culture to my students”, she says.