And earlier this year we received greetings and good thoughts from Johannes Türk: 

"I am happy to report that the Institute of German Studies has started a new lecture series entitled New Directions in German Studies that aims to bring us into a conversation with the most promising research in the field. Our inaugural speaker was Andreas Gailus who presented the parts of his forthcoming book on bio-politics in Germany devoted to Kleist. In the meantime, we had to move the lecture series online, where it will continue in a slightly modified format this coming November. The pandemic-related situation of course also presents a challenge to our graduate program. I have been looking forward to a sabbatical in Berlin during the fall of this academic year, where I will advance my research and work towards the completion of a second book affiliated with Humboldt University. These are indeed strange and unpredictable times, and the transition from one part of the world to another highlights this perception while making me aware of how precarious and malleable human affairs are."