Dieter A. Waldvogel is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and former Air Force Latin America Foreign Area Officer and Regional Affairs Strategist. He served in tours of duty under the Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs – Latin America, the System of Cooperation among the American Air Forces, and the National Security Agency, among others. He has a doctorate degree in Foreign Language Education from the University of Texas at Austin. He served as an Assistant Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies, and the Chief of the Spanish and Portuguese Division at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs prior to retiring after 23 years in active duty.

Prior to coming to Samford, Waldvogel also served as the Director of Operations for the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) from 2018 to 2020.

His research interests include Spanish teaching methodologies, vocabulary acquisition and assessments, Spanish for specific purposes, and the role of foreign language education in our government and international relations. Waldvogel and his wife, Staci, live in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, with their three children.

Degrees

PhD, University of Texas, Austin
MS, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
BA, Texas Tech University

Presentations

• “Spanish L2 for Specific Purposes: Teaching Spanish to Members of our Military,” American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Annual Conference. San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 2022.   
• “Spanish Second Language Education for Military Purposes,” Seventh Annual Air University Language, Regional Expertise and Culture (LREC) Symposium. Maxwell Air Force Base, AL, July 2021.
• “Teaching languages online during a global pandemic: Perspectives from language educators in higher education,” American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, June 2021.
• “World Language Education in an Era of Growing Nationalism,” American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, June 2021.
• “Foreign Language Education and National Security: The State of Foreign Language Education in the U.S. Military,” 5th International Symposium of Language for Specific Purposes, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, March 2020.
• “Assessing Language Performance or Proficiency? What is the Difference?” University of Alabama Languages Conference, February 2019.
• “Using ACTFL’s Performance Indicators and Can-Do Statements to Assess Spanish Proficiency” (presented in Spanish),  Alabama World Language Association (AWLA) Conference, University of Montevallo, February 2019.
• “Foreign Language Education from a global and governmental perspective,” Alabama World Language Association (AWLA) Conference, University of Montevallo, February 2019.
• “ACTFL’s performance indicators for language learners and using the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements as the basis for developing classroom activities and assessments,” AATSP-Colorado Congreso sobre clases de español a nivel universitario, Metropolitan State University of Denver, June 2018.
• “L2 Education in the DOD – A National Security Issue,” American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo, Nashville, TN, November 2017.

Publications

• (Forthcoming) Waldvogel, D. & Peart, S. (2024). El Español para el Ámbito Militar, Campos del Español para Fines Específicos, Académicos y Profesionales, in Lafford, B., Sánchez-López, L., Ferreira, A., Arnó Macià, E. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Spanish for the Professions. Routledge.
• Waldvogel, D. & Robayna, T. (2022). Teaching languages online during and after a global pandemic: Perspectives from language educators in higher education. Dimension 2022, 57-79.
• Waldvogel, D. (2021). World Language Education in an Era of Growing Nationalism. Hispania 104.1, 37-41
• Waldvogel, D. (2017). Foreign Languages & National Security: The State of FL Education in the U.S. Military, Journal of Culture, Language and International Security, 2(3), 5-27.
• Waldvogel, D., & Sales de Souza, I. (2017). Brazil's Rise and Portuguese as a Strategic Foreign Language: Preparing Tomorrow's Military Leaders. Hispania 110(5), 289-294.
• Waldvogel, D. (2017). Social Media in the DoD: Risks and Mitigations, Air and Space Power Journal, 31(2), 119-125.
• Waldvogel, D. (2014). An Analysis of Spanish L2 Lexical Richness. Academic Exchange Quarterly 18(2).
• Waldvogel, D., Youtz, B., Laser, E. (2013). The Importance of Foreign Language & Culture Training: Should SOF Increase Training Opportunities for this Crucial Combat Skill? Foreign Area Officer Association Journal of International Affairs 16(3), 9-53.