KUrier Volume 3, Issue #2

Newsletter of Germanic Languages and Literatures The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS Editor: Leonie Marx • Layout: Pam LeRow

KUrier Vol. 3, No. 2, Spring 2015

Graduate Studies

Graduate Examinations

Spring 2015 was a successful semester for our graduate students:

Four graduate students passed their M.A. degree examinations this academic year. Our congratulations go to: Shane Billig (December 2014) Schirin Kourehpazhassanalizadeh (April 2015) Stephanie Wille (April 2015) Marcus Höhne (May 2015)

Dissertation Colloquium

In March Emily Hackmann and Michael DeHaven, PhD candidates in German Applied Linguistics, each gave a presentation on the progress of their dissertation work: Michael DeHaven: “Navigating the Niemandsland of Two-Way Prepositions” Emily Hackmann: “The Expression of Temporal Events in Narration by L2 Learners of German”

Graduate Student Conference

The graduate students organized their 19th annual conference which was held on April 11th.

This year’s theme was “Niemandsland/No Man’s Land: Lost in the Homeland and Searching for a Third Space” with an opening keynote lecture by Dr. Majid Hannoum from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kansas: “Is there a ‘Third Space’? On Exile and Returning ‘Home’“.

Schirin Kourehpazhassanalizadeh, M.A. candidate in German and this year’s president of the Graduate Association of German Students (GAGS), was instrumental in keeping the program running smoothly and bringing the conference to a successful conclusion.

Schirin Kourehpazhassanalizadeh

Two of the M.A. students defended a Master's thesis: Marcus Höhne: “Tradition und Moderne im deutschen Wald: Wilhelm Hauffs Das kalte Herz“ (directed by Professor Lorie Vanchena).

Schirin Kourehpazhassanalizadeh: “Das Gedicht als ‚Bedürfnis nach einem Ort‘: Zur Situation und Bildersprache des Exilanten Said“ (directed by Professor Leonie Marx).

Graduate Student Awards

Stella Knecht Graduate Teaching Award Stephanie Wille

Montana Huslig Award for Outstanding Service to the Department Schirin Kourehpazhassanalizadeh Summer Research Fellowship Awards Stefany Van Scoyk Emily Hackmann Max Kade Dissertation Fellowship Award Stefany Van Scoyk Dissertation title: “Wie viel Heimat braucht der Mensch?”

Conceptualizations of Lost and Restored Heimat in German-Jewish Narratives” (directed by Professor Leonie Marx).

In this issue: Graduate Student News..............................................1 Recognizing our Graduates........................................2 Undergraduate Achievements....................................4 Undergraduate Class Project Achievement...............7 Max Kade Center News...............................................8 Faculty News................................................................8 Culture and Careers.....................................................9

Undergraduate Studies Recognizing our Graduates Lorie A. Vanchena Dear German Studies Majors and Minors, On May 16, 2015 the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures celebrated your diverse and impressive academic achievements. We were pleased that your families could join you and your friends for the ceremony and reception.

The undergraduate awards began with an initiation ceremony, led by Prof. Ari Linden, for Gamma Pi, the University of Kansas Chapter of the Delta Phi Alpha National German Honor Society, which was reactivated last year. Delta Phi Alpha “seeks to recognize excellence in the study of German and to provide an incentive for higher scholarship. The Society aims to promote the study of the German language, literature and civilization and endeavors to emphasize those aspects of German life and culture which are of universal value and which contribute to man’s eternal search for peace and truth.”

New members include Sara Anderson, German Studies/ Global & International Studies major (Sara became a member last year but could not attend the ceremony because she was studying at the University of Regensburg); Jamie Eschrich, Psychology major/German Studies minor; John Fredrickson, Mechanical Engineering major/German Studies minor; Joshua Lodoly, Business Administration major/German Studies minor; and Kat Youtsey, German Studies/History major. Stephanie Wille, M.A. candidate, Germanic Languages & Literatures, was also initiated. The students, who pledged to continue pursuing their interest in German language and culture, each received a certificate from the national organization. Congratulations, new members of the German National Honor Society!

We then recognized individual students who received special awards this past year at the University of Kansas. We are very proud to count among our majors and minors five students who have been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honor society in the United States. Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa embraces the principles of freedom of inquiry and liberty of thought and expression. PBK members include Mitchell Pruett, German Studies/ Psychology major and Business minor; Sara Anderson; Helen Bradley, History of Art major/German Studies minor; Kat Youtsey; and Christie Ralston, Biology (Genetics) major/German Studies minor. Congratulations, Mitchell, Sara, Helen, Kat, and Christie!

Mr. Jim Morrison, Coordinator of the German Business Language Program and Managing Director of the Max Kade Center, recognized three students who passed the Goethe-Zertifikat B2, an internationally recognized exam requiring advanced skills in German: graduating seniors Mitchell Pruett and John Fredrickson, and also junior Casey Craig, Business major/German Studies minor. Last fall, Sara Anderson passed 2

the Goethe-Zertifikat C1, which calls for very advanced language skills. Congratulations, Mitchell, John, Casey, and Sara!

This year the department continued a tradition established last year of providing Professional Development Awards to exceptional German Studies majors and minors. The awards help students pursue educational opportunities related to their work in German Studies, such as study abroad, research projects, conference presentations, and internships. Recipients are selected based on their academic record and the extent to which the educational opportunity will enrich their academic experience.

Three undergraduates received awards this year. Senior Sara Anderson received an award to help cover expenses for attending the Global Ties National Meeting in Washington, D.C., in February 2015; Global Ties is a nonprofit partner of the U.S. Department of State. Sara learned about the conference in fall 2014, while participating in the U.S. Department of State’s Virtual Student Foreign Service e-internship program, which is administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (more specifically with the International Visitor Leadership Program within the Office of International Visitors). The conference contributed to Sara’s professional development in the field of international education and cultural exchange.

Chase Buntain, a sophomore pre-Microbiology major/ German Studies minor, also received a Professional Development Award to support a year of study abroad at the University of Bonn 2015-14; Lukas Lesslie, currently a junior Chemical Engineering major/German Studies minor, received an award to support his participation in our summer language institute in Holzkirchen.

We congratulated five students who graduated in December 2014: •

Ricky Barkosky, Global & International Studies major/ German Studies minor

•

Gretchen Hess, Linguistics major/German Studies minor, currently working as Finance Assistant on Jason Kander’s Senate race in Columbia, MO.

•

Vincent Jerkovich, Political Science major/German Studies minor

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Joshua Lodoly, Business Administration major/German Studies minor, began working earlier this year as an Operations Support Specialist at Cerner Corporation; he was hired to help with “anything and everything German.” Before graduating in December he received the Outstanding Student Employee Award in the KU School of Business.

•

Joshua McMullen, German Studies major, plans to pursue graduate work in Library Sciences.

Several students received their undergraduate degrees on May 17 or will complete their degrees in August 2015: Sara Anderson, German Studies/GIST major, a member of the University Honors Program, has earned Honors from the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures and is a candidate for graduation from the College with the designation of Distinction, which is granted for outstanding academic achievement and given to no more than 10% of the graduating class. She earned Certification with Distinction in the Global Awareness Program and Certification in the Research Experience Program. was a finalist for KU Student Employee of the Year. This summer Sara will join Meridian International Center, a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C., as a Special Projects Coordinator in the company’s Professional Exchanges Division.

Hannah Barling, Journalism major (News & Information)/ German Studies minor, will continue volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence while she looks for a position in digital promotions/marketing. She eventually wants to move to the greater Dallas area.

Helen Bradley, History of Art major/German Studies minor and a member of the University Honors Program, is a candidate for graduation from the College with the designation of Distinction. Helen, who had a choice of four excellent Master’s programs in art history, decided to attend the University of Denver, in part because its close partnership with the Denver Art Museum will allow her to build on her experience at the KU Spencer Museum of Art. Erin Christiansen, Environmental Studies major/German Studies and French minor, will move to New London, CT to begin an AmeriCorps position this August. She will teach marine science to middle school students with New England Science and Sailing through after-school programs and field activities such as sailing, kayaking, and snorkeling. She later hopes to pursue graduate work in marine science and or marine policy, either in the US or in Germany.

Landon Elliott completed a double major in German Studies and Astronomy. He continues to conduct research for the KU Galactic Physics Team.

Jamie Eschrich, a Psychology major/Ger-man Studies minor, will earn her degree in August 2015. A new member of Delta Phi Al-pha, she has also earned certification in the KU Global Awareness Program (GAP).

After graduation she plans to travel and continue learning the German language; she will eventually earn a Master’s degree in Global Media and Commu-nications.

John Fredrickson, Mechanical Engineering major/ German Studies minor, is searching for a job in mechanical engineering.

Nadina Goddard, Social Welfare (Social Work) major/ German Studies minor, received the Behavioral Health Scholarship this spring, which will allow her to complete KU’s Advanced Standing Social Work Mas-ter’s Program.

She will be working at the Bert Nash Commu-nity Mental Health Center and serve as a Teaching Assistant for the introductory Social Work class. Featured in the CLAS of 2015, Nadina is quoted as saying: “Throughout my college career I have grown to realize how crucial it is to become an active member of society. I have learned to pay close attention to policies that govern our state, to express my beliefs in an open-minded and professional manner, and to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves.”

Sylas May, German Studies/Journalism major, was recognized by the School of Journalism for having the highest GPA in his class. He was recently inducted into the Kappa Tau Alpha National Honor Society, which recognizes academic excellence and promotes scholarship in journalism and mass communication. He is a candidate for graduation from the College with the designation of Highest Distinction, granted for outstanding academic achievement and given to those students who graduate in the top three percent of their graduating class. Sylas will work for the Lawrence Journal-World this summer and continue searching for editing jobs in the Kansas City area.

Zachary McCarter, Psychology major/German Studies minor, will complete his degree in August 2015. A member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, he has secured an internship with Florida International University in Miami, to work in a treatment center and provide treatment services to children with learning and behavioral problems.

Alexander Montgomery has completed a Business major (Marketing) and German Studies minor.

Mitchell Pruett, German Studies and Psychology major/ Business minor and a member of the University Honors Program, is a candidate for graduation from the College with the designation of Highest Distinction. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Phi Alpha, Mitchell will soon move to Madison, WI to work as project manager for Epic, a medical software company.

Adam Quandt, Global & International Studies major/German Studies minor, plans to teach English abroad, most likely in Thailand.

Christie Ralston, Biology major (Genetics)/German Studies minor, is a member of the University Honors Program and a candidate for graduation from the College with the designation of Highest Distinction. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, this fall she will attend Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

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Alex Rankin, History major/German Studies and Business minor, plans to work in Washington, D.C. after graduation.

Samuel Walter, Anthropology major/German Studies minor, is a member of the University Honors Program. He plans to apply to KU’s Graduate Direct Exchange Program and perhaps for a Fulbright fellowship to spend more time studying in Germany before pursuing a PhD in biological anthropology.

Kat Youtsey, History major/German Studies minor, has completed her degree requirements but has delayed graduation because she received a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship to study Arabic in Morocco this summer. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Phi Alpha, and the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society, she earned certification in the Global Awareness Program and the Research Experience Program.

We congratulate all of our German Studies May, August, and December graduates!

Undergraduate Achievements Lorie A. Vanchena Outstanding Service to the Department: Sara Anderson Sara has served our department in numerous ways. She participated in departmental governance, representing our BA program at departmental meetings and on the Undergraduate Studies Committee 2013-14. Sara also created a listserv and helped us get information to our students with a high degree of creativity and enthusiasm. During her semester in Regensburg and throughout her senior year, Sara was instrumental in improving the department’s presence online, sending interesting links to post and wonderful photos of her and her fellow students in Germany. Sara’s academic achievement must also be viewed as service to the department. Her outstanding work on her departmental Honors thesis in particular has raised the profile of our undergraduate program. Finally, Sara has been a wonderful ambassador for the department, helping our students make connections here and elsewhere in the world. Congratulations, Sara, on receiving this award, and thank you for your service!

Outstanding Thesis for Departmental Honors: Sara Anderson „Wi snackt wedder platt!”: Die Charta der Regional- oder Minderheitensprachen und die Rückkehr der niederdeutschen Sprache in Bremen und Niedersachsen (Bringing Low German back to Bremen and Lower Saxony 4

through the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages) This year Sara wrote an exceptional 35-page senior thesis in German, and after a lively, successful defense with her committee members, earned Departmental Honors (please see article in this issue). Inspired by an exchange year she spent in Bremen, Sara’s interdisciplinary thesis builds on her coursework in both Global & International Studies and German Studies. Her research encompassed a wide range of sources, including EU and German federal and state documents, interviews, newspaper articles, and scholarship on both Low German and the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Sara worked systematically and with admirable focus and motivation to develop a bibliography, evaluate her sources, and produce a wellcrafted thesis. She presented her research at the Hall Center for the Humanities and at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Congratulations, Sara, and your impressive accomplishment!

Outstanding Academic Achievement: Sylas May Sylas May, a double major in Journalism (News and Information) and German Studies, has excelled in our program and attained advanced proficiency in the German language.

Indeed, his skills in German are such that he kept the Senior Capstone course laughing all semester with his insightful wit.

As mentioned above, Sylas is a candidate for graduation from the College with the designation of Highest Distinction. When Sylas turned in an outline for his senior capstone research project, an ambitious and insightful comparison of Time with Der Spiegel, the German news magazine initially inspired by the American publication, I was so impressed I told him that on a scale from 1 to 10, his outline was a 20. His weekly presentations on current events reflected his abiding interest in major political and social issues facing our world, and his informed opinions on the wide range of topics we discussed had a significant impact on our learning. Colleagues who had the great pleasure of having Sylas in class commented on his “consistently superior work” and his “academic progression over his undergraduate career…a remarkable example of achievement.”

Sylas’s academic achievement is even more impressive in light of the many hours he works as a Copy Editor (News Department) at the Lawrence Journal World. Sylas, we congratulate you on your Outstanding Academic Achievement Award!

As Director of Undergraduate Studies, it has been a privilege and great fun to serve as your advisor and to have many of you in my classes. The Department is proud of your many achievements at the University of Kansas and we are grateful that you chose to spend much of your time in our program.

Our hope is that German Studies has helped prepare you for life-long learning, not just about the language and culture of German-speaking countries, but about all cultures, including your own. We want you to have happy, healthy, and meaningful lives shaped by your intelligence, your curiosity, your creativity, and your compassion.

Please stay in touch! We would love to hear about your future experiences and accomplishments. We will miss seeing you in the halls Wescoe. To say that you are leaving big shoes to fill is a vast understatement. But please know that our heartfelt good wishes accompany you as you move forward. As always, let us know if, down the road, we can be of any assistance.

Professor Lorie A. Vanchena Director of Undergraduate Studies and Undergraduate Advisor Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures

Interdisciplinary Research in Senior Capstone Course Lorie A. Vanchena Students in this spring’s senior capstone course, GERM 580: German-Speaking Europe Today, completed a semesterlong interdisciplinary research project that combined their work in German Studies with their major or minor in another discipline: •

Sara Anderson, German Studies, Global & International Studies “Die Wende: Der Tod der ostdeutschen „arbeitenden Mutter“

Sara’s paper examines how the economic transformation from socialism to capitalism changed family structures for women in the former German Democratic Republic.

•

Nadina Goddard, German Studies, Social Welfare “Menschenhandel in Europa”

May graduates: (back, from left) Christie Ralston, Nadina Goddard, Erin Christiansen, Helen Bradley, Hannah Barling, Sara Anderson; (front, from left): Adam Quandt, Landon Elliott, Mitchell Pruett, Sylas May

Nadina created a video that provides an overview of prostitution in Berlin and Vienna and then compares prostitutionrelated laws in the two European capitals.

•

Sylas May, German Studies, Journalism “Time und Der Spiegel: Entwicklung einer deutschen Zeitschrift“

Members of Phi Beta Kappa: Sara Anderson, Christie Ralston, Helen Bradley, Kat Youtsey, Mitchell Pruett

Sylas May, Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in German Studies

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In his paper, Sylas explores the history of the two news magazines and suggests various historical, social, and cultural factors that may have caused Der Spiegel, which initially was modelled on Time, to develop into a publication quite different from its American predecessor.

•

Mitchell Pruett, German Studies, Psychology, Business “Psychische Störungen und ihre Behandlungen in Deutschland und in den USA“

After presenting the three most common psychological disorders in Germany and the U.S. (phobias, alcoholism, depression) and standard treatment options for each, Mitchell analyzes significant cultural factors, including laws, language, and advertising, that might help explain differences in the prevalence of these disorders in each country.

Sara Anderson earns Departmental Honors Lorie A. Vanchena

This past year Sara Anderson spent two semesters conducting research for GERM 598: Research for Departmental 6

Honors and GERM 599: Departmental Honors Project. The result: a 35-page thesis written in German: „Wi snackt wedder platt!“: Die Charta der Regional- oder Minderheitensprachen und die Rückkehr der niederdeutschen Sprache in Bremen und Niedersachsen (Bringing Low German back to Bremen and Lower Saxony through the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages). Sara successfully defended her thesis on May 1, 2015 and will graduate with Departmental Honors, the first student to do so in our new German Studies curriculum. Her committee members included Professors Lorie A. Vanchena, mentor, and William Keel, both Germanic Languages & Literatures, and Robert Rohrschneider, Sir Robert Worcester Distinguished Professor of Political Science.

Sara took full advantage of the many opportunities KU provides undergraduates for presenting and publishing their research. She presented her compelling work in English twice this spring: at the Hall Center Undergraduate Research Seminar on April 17 and at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 25. She received valuable feedback from faculty and fellow undergraduate researchers. Sara plans to submit an English-language article based on her research to the KU Journal of Undergraduate Research, and she has applied for Certification in the Research Experience Program (REP).

Sara writes of her research experience: “What seemed daunting at first turned into a project I can call my own that far exceeds the expectations I had set for myself. I not only learned a lot about time management, I also learned a lot about always asking more questions. Additionally, after completing the indepth research for my paper, I had to approach the topic from an outsider’s perspective in order to present at the symposium.

[The project] helped me gain a better understanding of linguistic diversity. What started out for me as a year focused on a Low-German-speaking region became a project on a topic— the protection of regional and minority languages—that I now recognize has far-reaching European, and even global, significance.”

Sara’s abstract in German and in English translation: 1992 brachte der Europarat die Charta der Regionaloder Minderheitensprachen hervor. Seitdem haben 25 Mitgliedsländer, darunter auch Deutschland, die Charta ratifiziert. Obwohl fünf Minderheitensprachen in Deutschland von der Charta geschützt werden, gibt es nur eine Regionalsprache, die geschützt wird. Diese ist die niederdeutsche Sprache, die umgangssprachlich als „Plattdeutsch“ oder „Platt“ genannt wird. Meine Bachelorarbeit wird argumentieren, dass die Charta, durch Entwicklungen in der Bildung, der Politik, und im täglichen Leben, eine positive Wirkung auf die Erhaltung der niederdeutschen Sprache in Deutschland hat. Dies werde ich durch zwei Fallstudien der Bundesländer Bremen und Niedersachsen zeigen.

Obwohl sie nicht die einzigen Bundesländer in der niederdeutschen Region sind, hat mein Austausch-

jahr 2010-2011 mein Interesse an die niederdeutsche Sprache und ihren Stellenwert in der Kultur in diesen Bundesländern geweckt. Dazu haben die Schulen in diesen Bundesländern besonders kreative Lösungen eingeführt, um die Bedingungen der Charta zu erfüllen. Ich werde zeigen, dass Bremen und Niedersachsen als Beispiel für andere Regionen Europas, die sich um den Erhalt ihrer einheimischen Sprachen bemühen, dienen könnten.

In 1992, the Council of Europe created the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Since then, 25 member states, including Germany, have ratified the Charter. While Germany has granted several minority languages protection under the Charter, the Charter protects only one regional language—Low German. My thesis argues that this charter has had a positive impact on preserving Low German by supporting developments in education, politics, and daily life. I demonstrate this using the federal state of Bremen and Lower Saxony as my two case studies. While these are not the only states in the Low German region, the year I spent studying in Bremen 2010-2011 woke my interest in the Low German language and its cultural importance in these particular states. Their schools have implemented creative solutions to fulfill the stipulations of the Charter. I show that Bremen and Lower Saxony can serve as examples for other regions of Europe that want to preserve their native regional and minority languages.

faculty member’s regular teaching load and, importantly, helps ensure that students reach their senior capstone course with the skills they will need to complete a capstone project. Recommendations for departments discussed at a final meeting and panel discussion with members of the Undergraduate Research in the Arts Working Group included communicating with students about research opportunities in the major and facilitating discussions about research skills in the curriculum. Next steps for the Center for Undergraduate Research include a pending proposal for a Work Study Program, visiting departments to share ideas, and supporting instruction of research skills in the curriculum.

Undergraduate Class Project Achievement Leonie Marx

The students in the German 353 Conversation class not only discussed many contemporary issues from German newspapers, they also composed a newspaper of their own that grew out of their class discussions this semester. The result is a remarkable achievement comprising 48 pages of substantial contributions using a broad range of formats and illustrations. The table of contents provides a small glimpse:

Undergraduate Research in the Humanities Lorie A. Vanchena The following summarizes a presentation by Nikki Perry, Assistant Director, KU Center for Undergraduate Research, “Undergraduate Research in the Arts and Humanities,” March 27, 2015, Hall Center for the Humanities.

During the 2014-2015 academic year, Prof. Vanchena participated in the Undergraduate Research in the Humanities Working Group, led by Nikki Perry, Assistant Director, KU Center for Undergraduate Research. The group initially discussed the definition of undergraduate research—mentored, original, disciplinarily appropriate, and disseminated—and considered why it is important for undergraduates to conduct research. Here “original” refers to the process of scholarship and the necessary component skills rather than to the final product.

The group felt that graduating students should not only possess content knowledge but also know how to “do” research in their respective fields; they should have acquired skills such as organizing and analyzing data, for example, that will transfer well to any career. The Working Group also discussed ways of making mentoring more time-effective, such as mentoring in groups and creating research internships. Scaffolding research skills into the curriculum allows mentoring to become part of a 7

Max Kade Center

Lorie A. Vanchena, Academic Director Jim Morrison, Managing Director Professional Development Award Recipient

Allison Schmidt

The Max Kade Center was pleased to award Allison Schmidt, Ph.D. candidate, Department of History, a Professional Development Award to help cover expenses for presenting her paper, “German Border Control in the Time of Cholera: Eastern European Transmigrants and the Saxon State, 1905-1907,” at the Social Science History Association conference in Toronto 6-9 November 2014. Allison’s dissertation explores the broader social and cultural context of the process of emigration and exemplifies exciting research being conducted in the fields of German-American, Transatlantic, and Migration Studies.

“Crossing Germany: Eastern European Transmigrants and the Saxon State, 1900-1924” investigates German control stations that served as pre-checkpoints to US immigration stations (e.g., Ellis Island). In the late-nineteenth, early-twentieth centuries, large numbers of eastern Europeans passed through Germany on their way to northern European ports to sail to the Americas. Studying “transmigration,” the “process of migration” as Gur Alroey defines it, gives insight into both the European economic and state mechanisms that controlled migration and the routes migrants took as they determined how to travel to the Americas. Allison focuses particularly on a transmigrant registration station in the city of Leipzig and checkpoints on the Saxon-Bohemian border. The growing literature on transmigration has emphasized the influence American immigration policy and German steamship companies had over these stations. Instead, Allison argues that the German state played an active role in this migration surveillance, with health officials and policemen managing the movement of foreigners through Germany. Her research challenges the historiographical notion of lax state migration control prior to World War I and enriches the understanding of the long and arduous journey European migrants undertook before arriving in the New World.

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New Acquisitions The Max Kade Center was honored to receive two generous and significant gifts during the 2014-15 academic year. We acquired the Personal Library of Albert Bloch (1882-1961), donated by Mr. Scott Heffley, President of the Albert Bloch Foundation. The Library reflects the significant breadth of Bloch’s intellectual pursuits and achievements: a member of the KU faculty from 1922 until he retired in 1947, the artist was also a poet and the authorized translator of Karl Kraus’s poetry. The materials in the Bloch Library will help us revise and formulate new narratives concerning Kraus’s impact on the cultural climate of pre- and interwar Austria and Germany. The Library contains not only early editions of published works by Kraus (and others involved in Kraus’s circle), but also copies of Bloch’s notes to some of Kraus’s texts, original issues of Die Fackel, and reviews of Kraus’s dramas and theatrical readings, which he delivered throughout Central Europe. We are grateful to Sherry Williams, Curator of Collections, and Karen Cook, Special Collections Librarian, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, who are providing assistance and guidance as we complete a bibliography and determine how best to make the Library more widely accessible to students and scholars.

The second gift, which we received from Lucy McAllister, Ph.D., includes personal items that her father, Heinrich (Henry) D. Remple (1908-2010), and his sisters brought with them when they migrated from Ukraine to the United States.

Lucy also gave the MKC additional framed documentation of Henry’s migration and immigrant experience in this country, including a map of his village in Ukraine and a photographed portrait of her father. Born in Germany, Henry earned his PhD in Psychology from KU in 1950 and had strong ties to KU and the Lawrence community; in 2001 he published the autobiographical From Bolshevik Russia to America: A Mennonite Family Story. This summer we will use these items to create a new display for students and scholars of the German transatlantic experience, in accordance with the donor’s wishes. Dr. McAllister’s gift, which joins the Dr. Henry D. Remple Collection already housed at the Center, also complements holdings at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library and the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies.

Faculty News Marike Janzen presented a paper this spring at the American Comparative Literature Association (held in Seattle, Washington) titled “Where is the International in World Literature?” as part of the seminar “Socialist Texts in Post-Socialist Times.”

Leonie Marx successfully completed post tenure review this spring. She also developed the Department’s first online course “German-speaking Europe and the German-speaking

Europeans” to be offered in fall 2015. This course is an interdisciplinary survey of contemporary German-speaking Europe that covers topics such as geography, the environment, technology, the arts, music, film, literature, politics, immigration, language, religion, and customs. The focus lies on Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. The course fulfills Core Goal 4: Respect human diversity and expand cultural understanding and global awareness and Learning Outcome 2: Upon reaching this goal, students will be able to: Examine a variety of perspectives in the global community, distinguish one’s own cultural patterns, and respond flexibly to multiple worldviews.

Lorie A. Vanchena was chosen as a winner of the J. Michael Young Academic Advisor Award, presented by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in recognition of merit “for guiding undergraduate students to make good decisions toward educational and career goals.” The award honors a faculty member “who demonstrates exceptional effort, care, and guidance in the advisement of their students” and includes a $1,000 prize. A student who nominated Prof. Vanchena wrote: “I am now a senior majoring in Germanic Languages and Literatures and I have experienced so much during my time at KU—much of it thanks to Dr. Vanchena. Every step of the way, she has been there guiding me. She was not just my undergraduate advisor, but she always encouraged me to go above and beyond the classroom. From my internship in Germany to my semester abroad, she not only took extra time to meet with me, but she helped to secure funding for these experiences. She wants nothing more than to see us succeed and is willing to help us get where we want to go. I could not think of a kinder, more deserving academic advisor to receive this award.”

She has also received a Seed Grant from the KU Institute of Digital Research in the Humanities to establish the KU branch of the American World War I Poetry Digital Archive in collaboration with a Kansas State University team that includes Professors Tim Dayton, Mark Crosby, and Karin Westman.

The seed grant enables Prof. Vanchena to hire and train three undergraduate students to encode, edit, and annotate poetry.

The Archive will create a single resource of digitized poems, scholarly transcriptions, annotations, and contextual materials, making the poems gateways that help users understand broader historical, national, cultural, and ethnic contexts. The collaboration between KU and KSU grows out of KU’s WWI Centennial Commemoration 2014-2018, a project coordinated by the European Studies Program that explores both the historical dimensions of the War and the ways it continues to shape our lives.

Nina Vyatkina, after returning from her Fulbright Fellowship in Germany, spent the spring of 2015 writing up her research results. Her sabbatical year was very productive and resulted in a guest-edited journal special issue (currently in press in Journal of Second Language Writing, a top-tier Applied Linguistics journal), one article appearing in and three articles submitted to peer-reviewed journals, two invited chapters to

appear in edited volumes published by Cambridge University Press and Wiley-Blackwell, four invited talks given in Germany, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, and two refereed presentations at international conferences in Toronto and Boulder. Furthermore, Prof. Vyatkina has demonstrated her commitment to the Open Access initiative nationally led by KU by publishing her two invited online publications and, in collaboration with colleagues from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, a large annotated database of German learner language with free public access.

She invited Prof. Dr. Anke Lüdeling of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin who visited KU in January and gave two talks: Diachronic corpora and the study of language change at the KU Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities (IDRH) and On the development of scientific registers in German at the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. Prof. Lüdeling’s visit was sponsored by IDRH, the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Germanic Languages and Literatures, the Max Kade Center, and European Studies.

Cultures and Careers Fun, Travel and Adventure: Join the State Department and See the World!

Lee Kruger

Robert Andrew, the U. S. Department of State Diplomat in Residence for the Central United States, kicked off the University of Kansas annual Spring Job Fair with two presentations on career opportunities with the U. S. State Department. As Robert Andrew emphasized, diversity is a crucial and strategic theme overlaying any State Department assignment. Unlike the foreign area officer military programs, “The State Department emphasizes a generalist rather than regionalist approach to career assignments. We send you [our career officers] where we need you.” Therefore, an individual, particularly one with 9

an extended overseas experience, with an understanding of various cultures, languages, historical and current events, as well as everyday experiences, presents the ideal candidate for State Department needs and requirements.

Mr. Andrew briefly detailed the application and testing process – a somewhat lengthy several stages progression over about a year and a half period, resulting in a rank-ordered register from which career officers are eventually selected. For specifics, refer to http://www.state.gov/careers. According to Andrew, about 20,000-25,000 apply for the first written examination. At the end of the three-stage testing process, one to two percent makes the cut to a job offer. The cohort age from any given register ranges between 26 and 34 years, with 31 years of age being the average age at job offer. Relative to initial application, no specific university degree field is required, but most career selectees usually carry degrees in, for example, law, political science, economics, business and law. Further, in addition to education, work experience is valued, and about 95% of the final selectees have significant overseas experience.

Once selected, the new Foreign Service officer generally serves in one of five specialties (tracks): public diplomacy, political, management, economic and consular. One must expect within the first two years to work at least one year in the general consular area to gain an understanding of the various administrative duties and chores of an embassy. Ultimately, s/he will have to receive positive performance evaluations, and attain (and maintain) a 3-3 out of 5 proficiency in at least one foreign language to retain tenured career status.

Looking for a challenging but rewarding career? Check out the www.state.gov site.

Hosting an Intern from Eutin

Christian Beer Media Coordinator, KU School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures “It’s pretty great.” We got used to hearing this phrase a lot this past spring. Whether referring to her internship on campus, Mass Street or the Rocky Mountains – Wiebke had a simple way of expressing her content.

Wiebke Soete is a junior at the Carl Maria von Weber Gymnasium in Eutin. This spring, she completed an internship at the College’s Shared Services Center (SSC) in Strong Hall, learning about the ins and outs of university administration.

I learned about her visit in February at a department meeting, and without hesitating I offered to take her in. My wife Katherine and I had been looking for an opportunity to host an international student for quite some time, and Wiebke’s fourweek stay later that spring suited us well.

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During a few introductory Skype calls we got to know Wiebke and we were able to get an idea of her interests and her expectations. And since this would be Wiebke’s first time in the U.S., it even spurred us to plan a few surprise trips.

Wiebke only needed a few days to get comfortable at her new home-base and dove right into her internship. Her schedule was fairly flexible, and since I work for the School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures in Wescoe Hall, it even made the commute a breeze. Wiebke truly enjoyed working at the SSC, covering anything from Accounting, Human Resource, Procurement, and even Research Administration. And every time I asked her how her day was, she’d start with “pretty great.”

Pretty great indeed.

Wiebke enjoying Sylas & Maddies ice cream downtown Lawrence

Katherine and I were very anxious to show Wiebke around.

As we expected, Wiebke fell in love with Lawrence and spent much time out and about, making friends, shopping downtown, or driving my truck around the countryside. I was told that she particularly enjoyed her trips to Home Depot with our neighbor; at least I understand that their frequent home-improvement shopping tours were “pretty great.” We knew that in order to top that, we’d have to venture out a little – and a few days later we were driving westbound. Colorado, here we come!

Even though we only had an extended weekend, we were able to explore many of the must-see spots around Denver, Boulder and Estes Park. We made Wiebke climb the steps inside the Red Rock’s Amphitheater; we hiked around Lookout Mountain, explored Nederland (home of the “Frozen Dead Guy”), the Boulder Flatirons, and the Rocky Mountain National Park. All while soaking up the sun and enjoying beautiful spring weather in the Rockies. It was certainly a lot to take in for Wiebke and made for a memorable trip for all of us, with lots of good conversations, laughter, and many many selfies.

I’d say, it was “pretty great.”

“Pretty great” is how I’d describe having Wiebke as part of our family for a few weeks. It feels good to know that she enjoyed her time in Lawrence and with us, that she made some good friends, and that we were able to show her a few different parts of this country. We were delighted to learn that one of her new friends from Lawrence is already visiting Wiebke in Eutin, staying with her and her family for a few weeks. And we are looking forward to this summer, as she promised she would return to Lawrence to visit with her mother and her brothers. I bet they’ll have a “pretty great” time as well.

Wiebke driving my pickup truck. She handled Lawrence traffic well and didn't shy away from exploring the many gravel roads near Lone Star Lake

Taking in the view on top of Lookout Mountain near Golden, CO

A scenic stop on our drive from Boulder to Estes Park

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Giving to the Department Since 1887, when William Herbert Carruth became the first professor of German at KU and was joined in the 1890s by Elmer Franklin Engel and Alberta Lincoln Corbin, KU’s tradition of German studies has offered students at all levels the opportunity to learn one of the world’s great languages and to study the literature and culture of Central Europe. Under J. Anthony “Toni” Burzle’s tenure as department chair in the 1950s and 1960s, the department was in the forefront of establishing opportunities for our students to study language and culture in Germany.

Our programs in German at KU, however, rely very much on the generosity of our former students. For many of you, a summer, semester, or year in Germany during your KU years was the highlight of your studies. This experience has been and continues to be a truly life-changing event for so many of our students. Each year study abroad becomes more and more expensive. It is imperative that we support our students and enable them to study abroad.

Norm Fahrer, attended both of our summer institutes as a KU undergraduate (Holzkirchen in 1965 and Eutin in 1966). Before he died, Norm contributed $150,000 to establish an endowed scholarship fund, in memory of his father who had taught German at Bethany College in Lindsborg, for KU students to participate in the summer program in Holzkirchen. It is very gratifying to hear from former summer institute students. With your help we can continue to offer such high quality summer experiences in Germany for our future students.

We are also very proud of our record of achievement in educating and training our future professionals in German Studies.

With the support of the Max Kade Foundation, we have been able to offer year-long dissertation fellowships to our doctoral students in German. These fellowships enable our advanced doctoral students to devote themselves full-time to conducting their research, writing their dissertations, and support the presentation of their research at professional conferences. Additional support for our graduate students and the research programs of our Max Kade Center are greatly appreciated. [With thanks to Prof.

William Keel, who composed this historical narrative.]

Ways to give to the department

You can donate online with a credit card by going to http://www.kuendowment.org/depts/german/dept Online giving is secure, speedy, and simple. Click the area you would like to support and you will be redirected to the website of KU Endowment, the nonprofit fundraising organization that supports KU. For information on other ways to give, please visit the KU Endowment web site. For information on other opportunities to assist the Department, please contact the Chair, Paul Kelton at pkelton@ku.edu or (785) 864-9171.

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