Students in the Department of German Studies benefit from belonging to a small, supportive learning community with ample opportunities to engage in research, critical thinking, and special projects.
An Outstanding Student Experience
Student Success Stories
May 5, 2023
Rachel Lundeen wins the prestigious Herman S. & Dorothy B. Lederman Endowed Scholarship of the College of Arts & Sciences for the 2023-24 academic year!
Here is her winning statement so that you learn more about Rachel’s ambitions and goals:
“’But what’s the point of that?’ My friend’s words gave me pause. I had just described one of my most rewarding classes, a German literature course whose instructor emphasized questions over answers. I pondered how to do… Read more
May 3, 2023
This year-long seminar was structured around the idea of the Anthropocene and how this concept challenges us to rethink our basic humanistic values: the centrality of speech for human expression, rational thought, the ability to reason and communicate, the demand for freedom, democracy, justice and human rights, and the creation of cultural expressions based on enlightenment values. Seminar participants critically examined the literature and culture of humanism on select examples drawn from the… Read more
April 27, 2023
A Message from Münster
It may seem somewhat strange to accompany a piece of writing titled “A Message from Münster”with an image taken in the port of Hamburg. Yet, I was inspired to do so by what that imagerepresents: the value of exchange. Taking part in the Seattle-Münster program a second time, I amwell aware of the benefits of exchange. Hamburg Port, tied with L.A. as the 17 th busiest port in theworld, exemplifies the sort of activity and growth that accompanies engagement with other… Read more
April 26, 2023
Hi everyone,
I am Rebecca, the current exchange graduate student from Münster. I came to Seattle last
September to start a teaching program here in the German Department of the University of
Washington. After the years of privation due to the pandemic, I wanted to do something
different and gain new experiences. This exchange offered me not only the great opportunity
to spend some time abroad and teach and study German in a non-German speaking country,
but also to meet many new people, and find… Read more
April 26, 2023
Hi there! I’m Martina, the current DAAD-Teaching Assistant at the University of Washington. I arrived in Seattle in September 2022 and was supposed to stay until June of this year. However, I’ve had such great experiences and decided to apply for the German MA Pedagogy and Culture and stay another year. As a native German speaker, it is great to see that so many learners from different backgrounds are interested in German. Therefore, teaching German classes to beginners has been a lot of fun. I… Read more
March 6, 2023
Hello, my name is Leo Ahlburg. I was born and raised in Port Angeles, Washington on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. I am an undergraduate engineering student at UW who is taking German 201 to improve enough to eventually study abroad in Berlin for a year. I have strong ties to Germany through my family and would like to visit or perhaps even live there for a time after graduation. In my German class with Anna we practiced writing poems about Hamburg and I soon earned the nickname “Schiller”,… Read more
March 1, 2023
Outstanding Student Project: Franklin Mao
Franklin Mao, from Guangzhou China, is a junior student majoring in Political Science: Political Economy. He started to take German lessons a year ago and is currently taking the 201 class with Anna Gerke. At first he was just looking for a fun class to add to his schedule; but now he is using his knowledge of German culture for an essay that he had to write as a project in POLS 409.
He was introduced to many… Read more
February 23, 2023
Winter 2023 Departmental Seminar
War rages in Europe. Technological advances are transforming work, travel, and leisure. And the world is more globalized than ever before. The year isn’t 2023, it’s 1939 - and the Swiss author Annemarie Schwarzenbach is searching for meaning amidst the chaos. In the span of just one year, she drove from Switzerland to Afghanistan, sailed back to Europe by way of India, and traveled on to New York City.
For this departmental seminar, we’ll read and discuss two… Read more
February 8, 2023
The German Studies programs at the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, and the University of Washington Seattle are teaming up to host the second annual German Studies Undergraduate Research Showcase.
Each student will have a chance to present their project during a 5–7-minute presentation, which will be followed by a 5-minute discussion.
We hope to provide a dynamic venue that will stimulate conversation and give students a relaxed platform to get constructive… Read more
February 2, 2023
Early Fall Start (EFS) allows incoming first-year students to enroll in a University of Washington course about a month before the start of the autumn quarter. With EFS, out-of-state and in-state students like Theo Llewelyn and Rachel Lundeen get a head start on classes and make a smooth transition to life at the UW.
As an out-of-state student from California who graduated from high school during COVID, Theo Llewelyn… Read more