Fall 2021 UW German Studies Newsletter

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Dear Alums and Friends of German Studies:

We are back to in-person teaching and loving it! It is so great to see our students again even if everyone is wearing a mask. Lectures and events are mostly online though, but campus is buzzing with student activities, the quad and red square are as lively as ever, and it feels great to be back in Denny Hall and be able to enter the libraries.

It is a pleasure to share our latest news in this holiday edition. We are changing the format of our newsletter to fewer but hopefully more meaningful stories. Our featured faculty member in this issue is Annegret Oehme who is sharing with you some insights into her life as a scholar and teacher. We are also introducing you to the two newest members of our graduate student cohort: Hannah Bradley and Sam Romanelli who joined us in the fall as Kade Fellows. And you will be hearing what three of our alums are doing in Berlin: Nicole Henzler who just finished another MA, Sylvia Rieger who teaches at the TU and FU, and Japhet Johnstone who is heading the translation office at the FU. We are so blessed with such talented alums who decided to move to this fantastic place. They are doing great!

During this season, 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 or Zoom webinars, scholarly publications, student awards, and many other activities that are so vital in a small department.

Thank you so much for your help and your continued support of the Department and its programs. The faculty joins me in wishing you a very pleasant holiday season, robust health, and a great start into the New Year!

Best wishes,

Sabine

After more than a year of online teaching, we are now back on campus. This quarter, I get to explore representations of diversity in the Middle Ages (with special focus on race, religion, gender, disabilities) in person with undergraduate students from the German Studies / Honors class “Diversity in the Middle Ages,” and some highlights of medieval German literature with our graduate students as well. While I certainly learned A LOT about how to teach online effectively over the course of the… Read more
Looking for some good German tunes to practice your language skills while rocking out?  Check out these playlists from students in German 307 (spring 2021)!  Warning: you're likely to catch an Ohrwurm! In this conversation and translation course, we practiced German by listening to and talking about music. Much of the course material was chosen by students, as they discovered and shared German songs… Read more
Seit 2014 wohne ich nun mit meinem Sohn Miles in Berlin, nachdem wir nach sechs Jahren in Montréal zurück nach Deutschland gezogen sind. Seit 2016 bin ich in an der TU Berlin als sog. Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben tätig und arbeite freiberuflich an der FU für die Austauschprogramme FUBEST und FUBiS. Im Oktober 2021 beginnen an der TU nach drei Semestern reinen Onlineunterrichts die Kurse nun wieder in Präsenz bzw. hybrid. Mit letzterem machte ich schon gute Erfahrungen, als ich im… Read more
When I started working at Freie Universität Berlin in 2019, I was tasked with setting up a translation office that could provide language services for the entire university. That was quite a tall order, but things quickly got rolling during my first year in the new position: We implemented a translation software package to manage projects. I was able to advertise two positions for staff translators. Requests for translations were coming in from all corners of the university. Then, the pandemic… Read more
Nicole hat im Juli ihre Masterarbeit zum Thema Feldpostbriefe im Zweiten Weltkrieg abgegeben und wird diese in den kommenden Wochen mündlich verteidigen. Die Arbeit wirft Fragen über das Verhältnis von Makro vs. Mikro-Historie auf, sowie über die möglichen Aussagen des schriftlichen Beschweigens im Kontext der Okkupation in Warschau. Sobald die Arbeit verteidigt ist, freut sich Nicole darauf, wieder zu unterrichten, denn sie vermisst den Austausch mit den Studenten und noch mehr den mit… Read more
Autumn Film Series: Aimee & Jaguar   DATE Tuesday, October 19, 2021 TIME 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm PDT… Read more
My name is Sam Romanelli, and I am a returning student to UW. I finished my undergraduate degree in 2016, and now I am back for a Masters program. I am starting my year off with Professor Oehme's Seminar in Medieval German Literature, a reading course with Professor Wiggins, and a mentorship in Professor Wiggins' German 120 class. This quarter I will be co-hosting a film series with my fellow graduate student Hannah Bradley Kondo on Jewish life in Germany. Anyone who is interested is welcome to… Read more
In my first quarter at University of Washington I am taking a course here in the German department with Prof. Annegret Oehme on medieval literature, and a course with Prof. Alys Weinbaum from English on feminist theory. I’m also doing a reading course with Prof. Ellwood Wiggins. I’m enjoying my studies and feel that I’m gaining a lot of essential foundational knowledge. Outside of course work, Sam Romanelli, Jeffery Jarzomb, and I organized the departmental film series for this quarter. In… Read more
The University of Washington’s German Club is organizing weekly meetups (Stammtisch) for students to hang out, practice their language skills, and play some German board games. Recently, they facilitated a ‘Study Slam’ to help prepare 100 and 200 level language students for their final exams.  German Club will continue to meet for Stammtisch every Wednesdays from 5:30-6:30pm, starting the second week of the autumn quarter 2021 at Denny Hall, Room 359. Come and join… Read more
Next offered:  Spring 2022 Spring in Vienna is offered every spring quarter and is open to all students at all language levels. This exciting program includes two four-week intensive language courses during the months of April and May at a local language school located in the heart of Vienna (10 credits). During these two months students also take part in guided tours in English… Read more

Your donation helps us to:

  • Provide student fellowships and awards
  • Enhance study abroad and internship options
  • Support student and faculty research
  • Fund student-centered activities and events   

If you would like to share your story or any news about recent projects, publications or travels, please contact the newsletter editor, Misha Neininger at nein@uw.edu   

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