Rose Fisher
Rose Fisher is an assistant professor of German and Linguistics at Michigan State University and completed her PhD at Penn State University in May, 2025. The Pennsylvania Dutch Dialects Project arose out of her desire to document and compare Pennsylvania Dutch dialects on a large scale. Rose was born into an Amish family in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and her parents decided to leave the Amish church when she was 11 years old which allowed her to complete her education (high school > bachelors degree > PhD) on a typical timeline. As a teaching and research professor at Michigan State, Rose teaches German and Linguistics but also continues the work she began as a graduate student at Penn State doing research on the Pennsylvania Dutch language.
Nolan Rachocki
Nolan is a Graduate student at Michigan State University pursuing a Master’s in German Studies. As a graduate research assistant, he supported the project’s transcription process as well as creating the website.