Danko Sipka

Danko Sipka is a Professor of Slavic Languages and Applied Linguistics at Arizona State University (ASU), where he teaches in the School of International Letters and Cultures. He has held leadership roles including coordinator of Slavic Languages (since 2011), head of German, Romanian, and Slavic Faculty (2018–2020, 2022–), and head of the Linguistics Section (2020–2022). His global academic experience includes positions at universities in Sarajevo, Belgrade, Poznan, Wroclaw, Warsaw, Munich, Dusseldorf, Hokkaido, and others. He also served as a senior linguist/consultant for companies like Microsoft, Inxight, and Avant Assessment, and as an expert witness in U.S. and UK courts.

Education includes doctorates in Linguistics (University of Belgrade, 1992) and Psychology (Polish Academy of Sciences, 1998), and a master's in Russian from the University of Poznan. He holds a titular (presidential) professorship from Poland and is ACTFL-certified as an Oral Proficiency Tester for Polish and English.

Research focuses on lexicography, linguistic anthropology, computational linguistics, and Slavic languages. Key publications include monographs like Water, Whiskey, and Vodka: A Story of Slavic Languages (Georgetown UP, 2023) and The Cambridge Handbook of Slavic Linguistics (co-edited, 2024). He has authored over 150 papers and 30 books, including major dictionaries like the Comparative Reference Grammar of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (2007).

Awarded grants include STARTALK funding ($53,964), NCOLCTL Walton Award (2019), and a Humboldt Fellowship (2011). His mentorship has guided 39 MA theses, 5 PhDs, and ongoing research projects. He edits the Journal of Less Commonly Taught Languages and serves on boards like the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations.

His work bridges academic, industrial, and policy spheres, with contributions to language education, computational tools, and cultural diplomacy. Current courses include Slavic linguistics, BCS language instruction, and language and culture studies.