An Outstanding Student Experience

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.

Student Success Stories

Early Modern Women on Politics and Ethics, 5.-7.10.2023 at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden Panel: Public and Private Agency – The Ethical and Political Body Paper: Catharina Elisabeth Velten. Defending the Stage and the Acting Profession At this interdisciplinary conference I got to present my research on Catharina Velten’s manifesto, in which she argues vigorously against antitheatrical accusations by Johann Joseph Winckler. It was illuminating to see so many connections between… Read more
Conferences attended:   72nd National Postgraduate Colloquium in German Studies (London, 28–29 April 2023 Panel: Memory and Landscapes Paper Title: “The Ethics of Narrating Catastrophe: Kleist’s Das Erdbeben in Chili” In my paper, I explore the position of narrative texts in relation to broader public discourses on catastrophe, inquiring after the ethical implications of placing disasters within the framework of a story. Using Heinrich von Kleist’s Das… Read more
Opera 101 at SEATTLEOPERA.ORG begins November 7! In this six-part beginner’s guide series, join Associate Director of Community Engagement Lokela Alexander Minami for lively and informative multimedia presentations that will help you make sense of this larger-than-life art form by giving you some essential terms and taking you on a listening tour of some of the most popular… Read more
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
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
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
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
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
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
  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
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