Biography
Olivia (she/her) first set foot on the UW campus as an international student in 2009, when she started her graduate studies in Germanics. After completing an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Germanics, she was first Assistant and then Associate Professor of German and Italian at San Francisco State University. After returning to Seattle, she held a visiting faculty position in German Studies at the University of Puget Sound. Her research interests include storytelling in contemporary German-language literature and the ways in which comics and graphic novels portray individual and collective stories, in particular related to issues of mobility, migration and the (re)definition of identity. Her work has appeared in Colloquia Germanica, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, DIEGESIS, Pacific Coast Philology, and literatur für leser:innen.
Throughout her time in higher education, Olivia particularly enjoyed working with students, advising, and mentoring them in their academic journeys, which has led her to pivot into a role in student affairs. As Assistant Director for the Mary Gates Endowment for Students in the Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships & Awards, she has the fantastic opportunity to advise all applicants who want to embark on a research or leadership experience and to support the new Scholars and their mentors as they pursue their outstanding projects.