Dear Alums and Friends of German Studies:
We’ve seen a lot of changes at UW in the past year, but one thing remains constant: our students’ passion and curiosity continue unabated. We had another packed autumn, with film screenings, stimulating talks, and bracing conversations. Rafael Balling invited filmmaker Sam Feder to campus to show and discuss their urgent new documentary, Heightened Security. Two scholars visited campus to speak about different aspects of memory, language, and reparations after the Holocaust: Michael Rothberg from UCLA and Miriam Chorley-Schulz from the University of Oregon. We also engaged in a spirited department-wide discussion about musical adaptations of Goethe’s “Erlkönig” – from Schubert to Techno and Rap – in the autumn edition of our quarterly departmental seminar. All these events brought faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates together in intellectual inquiry and mutual discovery.
There was a lot to celebrate this past fall. We send our hearty congratulations to Emeriti Professors Jane and Marshall Brown for winning a highly prestigious Translation Prize from the MLA. We’re incredibly proud of our graduate students’ phenomenal success this year. Martin Schwartz won a Dissertation Fellowship from the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies and published his first article. Inga Schwemin won so many awards (including the Presidential Dissertation Fellowship) that we have trouble listing them all. Congratulations to both!
We’ve also said some bittersweet farewells. Beloved teacher and scholar, Professor Richard Block, is retiring and moving to Italy. Our brilliant and wonderful Department Administrator, Stephanie Welch, has moved on to a new position at UW after keeping German Studies afloat for over twenty years. We wish both Richard and Stephanie all the best on their new adventures!
We’re looking forward to the upcoming year. This winter, we’ll be taking students on a backstage tour of the Seattle Opera before their concert production of Richard Strauss’s Daphne. In the spring, F.W. Murnau’s sensational 1926 silent film, Faust, will be screened with live musical accompaniment at the Paramount on April 27. In conjunction with this movie, we are planning some exciting German Studies events to be open to the public. Stay tuned for those invitations soon, and in the meantime, keep an eye on our calendar: we’d love to see you at a talk or seminar!
As the new year begins, I am inviting you to make a donation to our fund, Friends of Germanics, which supports students and faculty who present papers at conferences, guest speakers in courses, student awards, and many other activities that are so vital in a small department. We strive to create enriching and memorable experiences for our students, and your donations truly make this possible.
Thank you so much for your help and your continued support of the Department and its programs. The faculty joins me in wishing you “einen guten Rutsch” into a healthy and happy New Year!
Best wishes,
Ellwood