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Graduate Student Profiles, 2007-2008
Ph.D. Candidate Email: arnoldju@email.uc.edu Master’s Candidate/VDAC Exchange Student Email: baronva@email.uc.edu Master’s Candidate/VDAC Exchange Student Email: baronva@email.uc.edu Master’s Candidate Email: cavittmr@email.uc.edu Website: http://cowbox.coe.uky.edu/woof Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) Email: engelsaa@uc.edu Ph.D. Candidate Email: ennismj@email.uc.edu Master’s Candidate Email: ferrarea@email.uc.edu Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) Email: hagena@email.uc.edu Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) Email: heidttw@email.uc.edu Ph.D. Candidate Email: hutchimd@gmail.com
Master’s Candidate Email: jacksowt@email.uc.edu Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) Email: kochsn@email.uc.edu Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) Email: wlueckel@gmx.de Master’s Candidate Email: lyonnm@email.uc.edu Fubright Teaching Assistant Austria Email: schaepmn@email.uc.edu Master’s Candidate Email: tamera@email.uc.edu
Adjunct Instructor at Raymond Walters College, University of Cincinnati Department of German Studies (A&S), School of Architecture (DAAP) Email: vasl@email.uc.edu
Ph.D. Candidate Email: arnoldju@email.uc.edu
Master’s Candidate/VDAC Exchange Student Email: baronva@email.uc.edu
Viktoria Baron is a Graduate Teaching Assistant from Germany, who has come to the German Department of the University of Cincinnati in order to get a Master’s degree. She has studied Comparative Literature, German Language and Literature and Modern History at the Ludwig Maximilian Universität in Munich since 2004.
Viktoria’s main interests are Russian and German Literature whereas her focus lies on comparing different fields of literature. In addition, she is an avid writer and was a member of a writing club called “Manuskriptum” in Munich in 2006/07. This writing club gave her several opportunities to present her short stories in front of an audience. In December 2007, her short stories will be published in two books and in the Literature Magazine “Die Gazette” in Munich.
Viktoria is a scholarship holder of the private organisation named “Federation of German-American Clubs”. She is glad about having received the opportunity to study at UC. The advantages of the German Department are its size and the chance to teach American students German and see their progress in learning a foreign language. Master’s Candidate Email: bueschm@email.uc.edu
VDAC scholarship (2006-2007)
Marie came to UC in 2006 as an exchange student from Freiburg, Germany where she had spent three years studying English Philology and German literature. She was able to convince the department to let her stay another year so that she can work on her MA. Her research interests are focused on but not limited to Romanticism, especially E.T.A. Hoffmann, and contemporary literature. She will possibly be writing her MA thesis on contemporary women’s literature and its position between feminism and post-feminism and intends to return to Freiburg afterwards to work on her (second) MA there.
In her free time Marie likes to make fun of herself as well as of others, travel and watch good movies.
In April 2007, Marie helped organizing German Day
She taught the accelerated sequence of beginning German in the 2006/07 year and is currently teaching the extended beginning German sequence.
Master’s Candidate Email: cavittmr@email.uc.edu Website: http://cowbox.coe.uky.edu/woof
My background is in music. I had a ten-year career as a professional musician with varying success. I performed with orchestras and small ensembles in Kansas City, Virginia, and Kentucky. I also taught private music lessons and served as an Artist-in-Residence at the Paseo Academy of Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri during the 1993-1994 academic year. I returned to school as a non-traditional student to study music and discovered that my previous fascination with all things German had grown. That, coupled with the great environment of the UC German department, convinced me to change my major to German Studies.
While pursuing my BA I served as an undergraduate teaching assistant to Dr. Gila Safran-Naveh in the Judaic studies department. I worked with her on the Literature of the Holocaust course during the Autumn quarters of 2005 and 2006. As a graduate student, I would like to pursue my interest in Holocaust Studies. Moreover, I would like to write, eventually contributing to textbooks, or even writing as a primary author. I envision myself one day teaching not only German language, but also courses in German literature, culture, and history as well as Holocaust Studies. Graduate studies in German at UC provide a great opportunity to pursue these goals. I have enjoyed the opportunity to form relationships with the faculty members and teaching assistants in the German Department. It is a truly collegial environment, making it a great place to work and study.
Memberships: Golden Key International Honors Society, National Society of Collegiate Scholars Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) Email: engelsaa@uc.edu Andrea came to the Department of German Studies, University of Cincinnati, in 2002 after completing her degree in German Studies, Social Science and Communication at the RWTH-Oche (that means Aachen, Germany, in the so called Öcher dialect).
In 2004 she received her MA in German Studies at UC. In the same year she presented her work on W.G. Sebald, “W.G. Sebalds Nach der Natur und das Schneetreiben in den Alpen,“ at the Focus on German Studies conference. Focus, a conference organized by the grad students of the Department of German Studies, gave her a great opportunity to present her professional work to fellow colleagues and to gain great feedback for further research. Early in 2005 she organized a small conference on “Students with Learning Difficulties in the Foreign Language Classroom” in collaboration with Debra Spotts Merchant, director of the Disability Service Office, University of Cincinnati. She also held the position as Assistant Coordinator of first-year German in the academic year of 2005. In May she organized the annual German Day. This is an outreach event for high-school students who are learning German. Over 500 high-school students attended the event.
In the summer of 2005 Andrea debuted, in collaboration with Prof. Jerry Glenn, Silke Schade, et al. and the Occasional Papers, her first published translation of poems by Christiane Seiler entitled I Am No Tourist in My Native Land And Iceland’s Foggy Nights.
In January of 2006 Andrea passed her preliminary exams. She received the Taft for the academic year 2007-8 and will be able to provide a first draft in the summer of 2008. The focus of her dissertation is on W.G. Sebald’s poem Nach der Natur. Her other interests include: the German Bildunsgroman, expedition literature, language teaching and art history. Ph.D. Candidate Email: ennismj@email.uc.edu
Mike Ennis is a second year TA and PhD candidate. He began studying German at the Culver Academies. He earned his B.A. in German and Economics from Xavier University in 2002 and his M.A. in German Studies from the University of Kentucky in 2005. He served as a TA at UK, was a TA for the English Department at the PH-Ludwigsburg and was a Lehrbeauftragte for the Sprachenzentrum at the Katholische Universität Eichstätt. In addition to teaching assistantships, he was awarded the Martin A Uebel award for German in 1998, a Presidential Scholarship from 1998 to 2002, a Baden-Württemberger Stipendium in 2004 and a DAAD scholarship in 2005. He was also awarded a Taft Enhancement Scholarship for the 2007-2008 academic year.
The focus of both his senior thesis and his M.A. exam was on aspects of Bertolt Brecht’s work. The first was a basic overview of Brecht’s life and work, and the latter an analysis of the many layers of Kampf in Brecht’s prose. Since completion of the M.A., he has dabbled with cultural anthropology and ethnography, intercultural communication and its implications on foreign language pedagogy, analyzing literary texts within the context of greater societal and cultural phenomena, and pondering a “New Realism” that incorporates the intellectual currents of the 20th Century. A recent extracurricular hobby has been German and European pre-history. Brecht remains, however, his favorite German author.
Last spring he presented papers at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference at UK (“Cultural Realism and the process of Assimilation in Christoph Hein’s Landnahme”) and the annual European Studies Conference at UC (“The Challenge of Intercultural Communication and the Prospects of a Multicultural EU in Code Unknown and L’Auberge espagnole”). In September, 2007 he conducted a workshop entitled “Intercultural Communication in the FL Classroom” for the in-coming TAs in UC’s newly founded School of World Languages. Last year he was head organizer of the department’s annual German Day.
He anticipates completing the final course requirements for the PhD. this year and taking his preliminary exams in September 2008.
Master’s Candidate Email: ferrarea@email.uc.edu
Elisa Ferrari is native of Verona, Italy, where she studied foreign languages (English and German) with a focus on Tourism Management. She has lived in Germany on two occasions. In 2004 she spent eight months studying at the Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg, and in 2005 she spent six months in Eichstätt conducting research for her senior thesis on tourism in Eichstätt. She received the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree from the University of Verona in December 2005 and came to UC’s German Department in January 2006. She is currently in her second year in the M.A. program. This year she is instructing German 111 and preparing for the MA exam, which she will take at the end of the year. Her interests include foreign languages, foreign language pedagogy and second language acquisition. She has found American teaching methods, at all levels, to be very interesting and enjoys the American perspective on German Literature. She may have found a new interest in teaching German.
Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) Email: hagena@email.uc.edu
A native of Nuremberg, Alexandra first studied English and American Literature, German Literature and Media Studies at Otto-Friedrich Universität in Bamberg. After the Zwischenprüfung, she applied for a year-long graduate student exchange with the University of South Carolina, Columbia. There, she pursued graduate work in German Studies and became very interested in Film Studies and Foreign Language Pedagogy. She finished her second year with an M.A. in Foreign Languages & Literatures with an emphasis on German Studies and Foreign Language Acquisition in May 2005.
As a PhD candidate at UC’s German Department, she has been awarded the Taft Enhancement Fellowship twice, thus took the opportunity to live and work at the Taft Reseach Center for the academic year 2005-06. Currently, she is the book review editor of Focus on German Studies. Her research interests are (but not limited to) Novellentheorie and German, Austrian and Swiss literature of the late 19th century, New German Cinema, Popliteratur (namely the writings of Thomas Meinecke) as well as Terrorism in German Literature. The tentative title of her dissertation is: “Rhetoric of Ruin: German Literature, Film and Culture after September 11, 2001“ She was co-organizer of German Day 2006 and has previously taught sections of elementary and intermediate German. She also co-taught an intensive summer language course for students of the International Engineering Program during summer 2007. At present, she is the assistant co-ordinator of the Intermediate German 114 section.
Recent conference presentations:
Memberships: AATG, GSA, MLA, WIG Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) Email: heidttw@email.uc.edu
Adjunct Positions: Wright State University, Summer Term 2005 Northern Kentucky University, 2007-2008
Todd returned to Cincinnati hoping to take advantage of the professional development opportunities here. As such, he has edited for Focus on German Studies, organized the annual Focus on German Studies conference, participated in interdisciplinary conferences on and off campus, and taken advantage of the departmental relationship with Fulbright Austria to spend one year teaching and researching in Vienna. Todd's research interests lie in modernity, fin-de-siecle Vienna, Weimar Germany as well as multi-medial approaches to cultural studies. His dissertation will investigate vision and montage as narrative elements in the literature and film of the Weimar Republic. He is also interested in psychoanalysis, visual culture, film studies, critical theory, vintage typewriters and caffeination.
Ph.D. Candidate Email: hutchimd@gmail.com
Although Michael began his academic career pursuing theater and commercial art, he kept finding himself returning to all things German and eventually completed bachelors and masters degrees in German studies. Of course, he continues to dabble in the art world (Michael regularly shows pieces at local art galleries and sells original work at Findlay Market in the summer) and he keeps his toes in the theater world, (Michael and his wife occasionally perform with an improv troupe), but he is now focusing on his passion for German literature as he prepares for his comprehensive exams this spring and the dissertation work that will follow.
Michael’s many research interests include contemporary German novels, medicine and madness in literature, Romanticism, and Aesthetics. Michael's experiences teaching German have also led to an growing interest in second language acquisition and he recently co-authored an article with Andrea Engels, "Foreign Language Instruction for Students with Learning Difficulties: Rethinking the Setting and Structure of Classes Using the Natural Approach," Modern Language Studies (Fall 2005) 71-81.
His dissertation research will focus on the representation of the body-mind connection in 18th Century German theater.
Recent conference presentations:
Master’s Candidate Email: jacksowt@email.uc.edu
Wes Jackson is a native of Murfreesboro, Tennessee where he completed his Bachelor’s degree at Middle Tennessee State University with a double emphasis in German studies and in English literature. Wes is passionate about his books and movies and enjoys long discussions with friends involving the intersection of philosophy, history, and aesthetics over a pipe and a beer. Having visited Germany twice, once during a study-abroad semester and most recently for an internship with SAP (the international software corporation), Wes looks to immerse himself in the rich flavors of contemporary German culture any chance he can get. When he is not leading his beginning German class on a tour of the German language via the hits of Germany’s top musicians past and present, he’s probably discussing the merits of contemporary German cinema with his colleagues and friends in the department. The University of Cincinnati has provided an amazing, close community of people (both from professors and fellow graduate students) to discuss and develop ideas as well as challenge Wes in his pursuits of an eventual doctoral degree, preferably focusing on the work of film director, Tom Tykwer.
Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) Email: kochsn@email.uc.edu
My dissertation project analyzes the literary, philosophical, and theological dimension of Wolfgang Koeppen’s postwar trilogy Tauben im Gras, Das Treibhaus, and Der Tod in Rom. For a long time, research that has been done on Koeppen’s postwar novels could be divided into two diverging main categories. Some researchers have stressed socio-political features, while others have focused on the formalistic aspects of the novels. In the course of the years, it became obvious that one-sided approaches undermined the complexity of Koeppen’s trilogy. From the mid-eighties on, researchers became increasingly aware of this lacuna and analyzed the trilogy’s thematic content in conjunction with its formalistic aspects. Unfortunately, the philosophical and theological dimensions of Koeppen’s trilogy have been neglected thus far. Wolfgang Koeppen explicitly identified the religious philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) and Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)–the father of psychological, philosophical, and theological existentialism–as his mentors. Hence, I analyze in my dissertation the similarities between the three authors’ way of thinking and writing. The common denominator of theology, philosophy, and literature is the three disciplines’ analysis of the human condition. I argue in my dissertation that the postwar novels’ inherent literary, philosophical, and theological discourses do not exclude one another but supplement each other and conjoin to a profounder contemplation of existential issues within the narrative.
When I came to America, I did not know that I would turn my hobby–I have always been a ferocious reader–into a profession. To improve my English skills, I studied English and American literature at UC. One day, a friend of mine who took some German language courses invited me to the “Kaffee in the Kade,” an informal get-together with students and faculty members from the German department in the Max Kade Center. The faculty was enthused to find out that I was German and asked me if I would be interested in becoming a German major. I friendly declined, and told them that I was here to learn the language, that I wished to finish my B.A. in the English department, and that I would afterwards go back to Germany. Nonetheless, we continued talking about the German program, all the opportunities that the department offers to students, and my future career options. During my conversation with several members of the department, I felt welcome and thought that a small department has its advantages. The professors were very personal and engaged. At the end of the “Kaffee in the Kade,” I promised that I would come by to talk more about my future. During my visits, various faculty members asked me to stay in the U.S. and to pursue a M.A. in German literature. Today, I am a doctorate candidate in the German department and more than happy with my decision.
Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) Email: wlueckel@gmx.de
Wolfgang Lückel studied at the Universität Mainz (Germanistik, Musikwissenschaft, Publizistik) before he came to UC in 2003. He received his MA in 2005 with a thesis on Thomas Brussig’s Helden wie wir. He is currently holding a Taft Dissertation Fellowship that enables him to work full-time on his dissertation about the depiction of the nuclear Holocaust in German literature and film, tentatively entitled “Atomic Abyss.” Wolfgang is interested in the interplay of literature and science as he thinks that scientific revolutions have changed the face of the earth and our life much more than literature could ever do. Wolfgang’s other interests include: Romanticism, music and literature, the representation of nature and man’s influence on nature in literature and film, the films of Werner Herzog, and American literature (favorite authors: Herman Melville and Philip Roth).
Wolfgang has taught courses from first to third year at UC and was a visiting adjunct instructor at Miami University during Winter 2006/2007. Former fellowships include: Max Kade Fellowship, Lessing Editorial Assistant Fellowship, Focus on German Studies Editorial Fellowship, two UGS Summer Research Fellowships (2004, 2007). Wolfgang has also presented papers at various conferences (UC, Harvard, McGill, UVa, forthcoming: MLA 2007)
Wolfgang was attracted to coming to the University of Cincinnati by the small class sizes and the outstanding financial support (Wolfgang needs to feed himself and his cat!) as well as the various number of research and editorial fellowships available. He has been very pleased with the intellectual latitude at UC and the close interaction between faculty and graduate students.
In his leisure time Wolfgang enjoys playing classical piano and engaging in photography. He is also deeply in love with Italian writing implements, namely fountain pens crafted from celluloid.
Master’s Candidate Email: lyonnm@email.uc.edu
After studying various fields and languages at the undergraduate level, Nicole (“Cole”) decided to focus her graduate studies exclusively on German studies due to several factors. In the summer of 2006-07, Cole completed a research-internship entitled “Hessen- Global,” which was spent at UNESCO’s Rhoen Biosphere Reserve, studying the social and environmental aspects of cultural sustainability in Germany. Additionally, Cole completed field research for a political-science thesis on the topic of “Family Policy in a Unified Germany.” These experiences and others have culminated in not only an appreciation for Germany’s literary dynamics but also an interest in the broader culture to which literature corresponds. Germany’s rich and time-tested contributions to the Western world, coupled with her tumultuous journey to statehood, modernization and post-modernization, is a context Cole finds increasingly valuable in critically understanding the globalizing world.
As the department’s only Midwester-in, Cole’s still-solidifying academic interests relate to globalization, sociopolitical history of Germany, pedagogy, literary perceptions of the environment, German concepts of cultural sustainability, and aesthetics. Her favorite literary and artistic time periods include, among others, medieval-reformation, realism, and naturalism. Apart from scholarly pursuits, however, Cole has found the following German authors to be personally beneficial to read: Gryphius, Kafka, Vogelweide, Stifter, Buechner and, especially when the autumn leaves are falling delicately to the ground, Rilke.
In her free time, Cole enjoys people, running, community involvement, cooking, as well as writing music, poetry and satire. She has studied Russian and Arabic
Fubright Teaching Assistant Austria Email: schaepmn@email.uc.edu
Martina Schäper is a Fulbright Teaching Assistant from Austria. She came to the German Department of the University in Cincinnati in 2007. After completing her M.A. in German Literature, with minors in Psychology, Philosophy and Pedagogy as well as German as a foreign Language (DaF) at the Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck in 2003, she started her career by accomplishing the mandatory one-year teaching internship at a Gymnasium (high school) in Feldkirch. After finishing her teaching intern, she started completing work for two major companies in the field of Human Resource and Media, especially to enlarge her views and experiences. In September 2005 she finally started her full-time teaching employment in the Gymnasium Schillerstraße (high school, Feldkirch). Moreover, Martina taught German as a foreign language for adults (“Deutsch als Wirtschaftssprache”) for two years.
Numerous stays abroad e.g. Italy, France and Great Britain shaped her ambition to work for some time in a different socio-cultural setting because it became clear that an open mind and the ability to accept people in their own way is of highest importance for a peaceful society. This also shows in her award-winning thesis which deals with the topic of bullying as presented in literature. (Thesis: „ ‚Mobbing unter Schülern – eine didaktische Aufarbeitung der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur”, published by Kovac Verlag, Hamburg 2005)
Her academic interests include teaching methods, German as a foreign language, child- and youth literature and English as well as French and Italian language and literature. Her private interests reach from travelling, dancing, reading and sports to family. Nature and culture are essential for her well-being, and family is a constant stronghold in her life.
Currently Martina is teaching first year German and studying at the German Department.
Master’s Candidate Email: tamera@email.uc.edu
Adjunct Instructor at Raymond Walters College, University of Cincinnati Department of German Studies (A&S), School of Architecture (DAAP) Email: vasl@email.uc.edu
Laura received her B.A.’s in German and History at the University of Szeged, Hungary, her M.A. degree in German Literature (2001) and her M.S. degree in Architecture (2007) at the University of Cincinnati. Currently she is completing her dissertation entitled „Orbis Pictus: Intermedialität zwischen Berliner Stadtmalerei und literarischer Stadterfahrung dargestellt anhand der Werke von E.T.A. Hoffmann und Wilhelm Raabe.“ Laura is interested in the interplay between visual arts and literature, architectural theory, cultural theory, German film and German-Hungarian authors. She taught, assisted and designed numerous first, second and third year German language, literature and cultural history courses at UC (e.g. “Berlin, Paris, Vienna: The City in Art and Literature” or “Berlin in Film”) and at the University of Michigan. In 2001 and 2004 she co-taught an intensive summer language course for students of the International Engineering Program. In 2003 she received the departmental teaching excellence award. Laura presented her work at several national and international conferences and published articles on Terézia Mora, Bettina Brentano-von Arnim, Rilke’s Cézanne experience and E.T.A. Hoffmann’s and Raabe’s cityscapes. In the past she served as the editorial assistant of the Lessing Yearbook and also worked in the Lessing Museum in Germany as an intern. In 2004/05 she was the managing editor of the journal Focus on German Studies and currently she is an adjunct instructor at Raymond Walters College, UC. Laura is going to defend her dissertation in the winter quarter of the current academic year. |
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