Dear Friends of Germanics and Alums:
It’s been an eventful spring and I hope you will enjoy some of our departmental news. We said goodbye to another group of remarkably gifted graduates at our convocation ceremony earlier this month. Over the summer now we will start preparing for our move back to Denny Hall in early September. The return will give us a chance to finally exhibit the generous gifts we received from Peter Neurath two years ago. At that time, Peter presented us with an oil painting of his late mother, Hilde Bial Neurath, by the renowned artist Edith London, and a condolence note by Albert Einstein. We will display the portrait and a facsimile of the note along with several interesting photographs from Peter’s album in our restored quarters in Denny Hall and celebrate the occasion with a special event next year. To our emeritus colleague, Manfred Bansleben, a historian by training, we owe special thanks for his extensive research of the Neurath-Bial family history in order to provide more of a narrative context for this wonderful gift. I am delighted to report that the new Neurath website is up and running now and ready for interested viewers.
We extend our sincerest thanks to all of our gracious donors and look forward to hearing from our alums.
Best wishes for a pleasant and joyful summer.
Brigitte Prutti
Seth Berk recently defended his dissertation, Preformations of the Amazonian: Strong Women in German Literature of the Early Enlightenment, and has now officially graduated from the UW's Department of Germanics as part of a dual doctoral degree with the Graduate School Practices of Literature at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster. This coming fall, Seth will be starting a one-year post-doc position at the University of Tübingen as part of the Teach@Tübingen… Read more
The department congratulates all students of the graduating class of 2015-2016!
Bachelor of Arts - Germanics
Christine Marie Billing
Laila Collins
Sarah Jane Dietderich
Adam Gregory Easter
Emily Ewell
Darren Sean Langston
Sophie St. George McDonnal
Lauren Michelle Nemitz
Samantha Marie Romanelli
Dominique Gabriele Sohnly
Stuart Vaughn Williscroft
Fan Yang
Minor - Germanics & German Linguistics:
Krista Jean Betzler
Stephanie Margit Brune
Xueying Chi
Olivia… Read more
German 304 provides students with the opportunity for language learning through performance. Led by instructors Kristina Pilz and Olivia Albiero, spring 2016 undergraduate students took to the stage with "Deutschsein für Fortgeschrittene: Grenzenlos und Unverschämt." Visit the course webpage to find out more!
Willkommen zu unserem Theaterstück des Deutsch Kurses 304. Unser Zweck für diese Aufführung ist die Herausforderungen von… Read more
Laila Collins graduated this spring with a BA in Germanics and completed the translation of Goethe's "Der Zauberlehrling" for ad hoc honors credits in German 423, under the guidance of Professor Jason Groves.
Read Laila's project description and access a PDF of her translation here.
We are very proud of Hamda Yusuf, who just graduated with a major in European Studies and a minor in Germanics. You can read more about her Fulbright Award here:
https://jsis.washington.edu/cwes-euc/news/european-studies-graduating-s…
And read a featured interview with Hamda here:… Read more
INSIDERS, OUTSIDERS, & IN-BETWEENS: NARRATIVES CONVERGING FROM WITHIN AND WITHOUT
Over a dozen graduate students and professors stepped away from their projects this spring quarter on April 15 and 16, to take part in an interdisciplinary conference at the University of Washington, Seattle. “Creating the time and creative space to share ideas, concepts and simultaneously enjoying yourself within the academic community…” was just one of the… Read more
Every spring quarter, Germanics is sending a group of students to Vienna to learn and improve their German, study Austrian history, culture, and art, and appreciate the Viennese way of life.
This year’s group was particularly large (17 students) and, at the same time, particularly well functioning. They all live in a private hostel near the main train station, attend intensive language courses at their individual level of proficiency at a language school every morning, and meet with a local… Read more
Study Abroad at the University of Washington: Spring in Vienna 2016
Our students produced this video as part of their final project, highlighting Viennese street food.
For the German 390: Excavating Diversity in the Metropolis Berlin course (taught by instructors Kye Terrasi and Andre Schuetze), students were asked to collaborate on a final group project focused on diversity and contemporary Berlin. Leo Thom, Marilyn Moehlmann, Steve Benaloh, Sam Scherer and Eric Zhu chose to examine the burgeoning startup scene in Berlin and created a truly excellent project that showcased meticulous research on startups that was flawlessly condensed into their presentation… Read more
For the final meeting of German 423 (Writing Travel: Migration, Translation, Memory) Jason Groves invited Michael Swaine, a colleague from School of Art + Art History + Design, to facilitate a walk. While German 423 explored the link between travel and narrative, particularly in the context of the mobility and displacement that is characteristic of life in Europe from 1989 to the present, class meetings were for the most part sedentary. Moreover, the classroom was windowless, which made it… Read more
Sabine Wilke has been involved in teaching and researching the environmental humanities for a number of years. After focusing on the concept of nature in philosophy and literature, she is now turning her attention to the history of environmental issues reflected in literature and culture with an emphasis on waste, climate change, pollution, and the concept of the Anthropocene. Last fall, UW hosted the director of the Rachel Carson Center in Munich, Christof Mauch, and Wilke taught a… Read more
Jason Groves, together with Jesse Oak Taylor (English), have received funding from the Simpson Center to establish an Interdisciplinary Research Cluster on the topic of the Anthropocene for the academic year 2016/17. This cluster brings together scholars from across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences to discuss cutting edge research, engage with prominent visiting scholars, and visit field sites around the Pacific Northwest in order think both about the implications of the… Read more
In 2015, André Schütze came to Seattle from Berlin via Los Angeles. He joined the Department of Germanics at the University of Washington after receiving degrees from Humboldt Universität and UCLA.
As lecturer at the University of Washington, André taught a range of interesting courses and worked with a diverse and talented group of students. He taught an Urban Humanities course on diversity in Berlin, a topic he will explore further at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute in Victoria in… Read more
Colin Marshall: Does Kant Debunk Metaphysics?
Colin Marshall (PhD, New York University) is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington. His research focuses on 17th-19th century European philosophy and contemporary meta-ethics. He is currently finishing a book defending a historically-inspired meta-ethical view entitled Compassionate Moral Realism.
The department wishes to extend heartfelt congratulations to Professor emeritus Hellmut Ammerlahn on the occasion of his 80th birthday! We would also like to congratulate adjunct professor, Marshall Brown (Comp Lit), on his retirement in spring 2016. Best of luck to you both and may you have many adventures in the years to come!