Department of Germanic Studies

Welcome words and a photograph from Susanne Even:  "This year has been a race against time throughout. Covid-changes and an exponential increase in emails, promotion dossier, language program going online, the German Instructor Summer Program (GISP), publication deadlines, a new international SCENARIO research colloquium series. Plus what I call the Covid Fog (particularly in Spring and Summer): nobody quite knows what's what because everything is somewhat the case (or not), resulting in a combination of perpetual alert and exhaustion, loss of focus and short-term meaning-of-life-crises.

GISP went very well this year in its online format. My comrade-in-arms Ben Swakopf and I thoroughly enjoyed (and learned a lot in) the two weeks that were devoted to the topic of degenerate art in D-A-CH, and the participants were very happy with the course (even though they missed the companionship and immersion of former years).

This semester I am teaching my 60-student fairy tale class again, this time with the invaluable help of Tyler Kniess, who maintains an overview of participation, coordinates the chat and interrupts me when I forget things. The highlight of this class has been a zoom meeting with Cornelia Funke (author of Reckless). That session went so well that Cornelia herself suggested to have a follow-up session since she enjoyed herself immensely.

Finally, I would like to thank our AIs. You transitioned to online teaching with only a few weeks' notice, you made this year's orientation week a success, and you continue to try out new things online. And nobody whined. You keep doing your jobs so well, which makes me even prouder than I normally am. Kudos to each and every one of you!"