Teaching

I have organized conferences, panels and round-tables nationally and advocated for graduate reform. Believing in diverse diverse career preparation, I argue for a a multidimensional educational experiences. The model of graduate education in our German program includes graduate students in outreach, assessment, curriculum development, and digital skills:

—“Winds of Change? How Do We Teach Literature in a Collegiate Environment?” The German Quarterly 81.1 (2008): 4-7.

—“How Do We Teach Language, Literature, and Culture in a Collegiate Environment and What Are the Implications for Graduate Education?” Die Unterrichtspraxis / Teaching German 41.1 (2008): 57-60.

National Advocacy: Led national conversations and advocacy for a reformed humanities PhD, (Inside Higher Education Article: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/12/14/problems-and-potential-solutions-humanities-doctoral-education-essay).

Hosted a panel discussion with the most important thought leaders resulting in galvanizing the conversation and planning follow-up events to increase the sense of urgency for reform: “Graduate Education in the Humanities: Preparing for a Meaningful Future.” Michigan State University. April 2013.

Continued engagement on panels on graduate education on the national level.

–“Why Reforming Graduate Education will Enhance Undergraduate Programs”, ACTFL, San Diego, November 2015.

—“Roundtable on Graduate Education in German.” German Studies Association. Washington D.C. October 2015.

—“Curricular Reforms to Foster Transferable Skills in Graduate Education.” German Studies Association. Denver. October 2013.

—“Teaching. Learning and Technology in Graduate Education.” Graduate Education in the Humanities: Preparing for a Meaningful Future. Michigan State University. April 2013

—Organized: “The 18^th Century in the 21^st Century Curriculum: Innovative Approaches.” Modern Language Association. Seattle. January 2012.

—“Teaching Your Research Findings in Literary and Cultural Studies.” Modern Language Association. Philadelphia. December 2006.

—“Research into Teaching: Graduate Education and Teaching in the Discipline.” German Studies Association. Pittsburgh. September. 2006.

—Roundtable on “Effecting Change at the University.” Modern Language Association. Washington D.C. . December 2005.

Courses Taught

GRM 864: (Fall 2017)

Enlightenment and the Pursuit of Happiness

No longer oriented on the religious dogma of the institution of the Church, the Enlightenment is characterized by a foundational secularization. It trained its focus on a moral life and happiness on this earth rather than in the afterlife. This opens the path for a new understanding of the individual. A new belief in a future that could be self-directed drove both individual and social dispositions. Scientific interest also raised awareness that the natural—including human nature–is not merely given but can be altered and improved, giving rise to the overarching pedagogical impulse for self-improvement, the possibility of social mobility, and the enhancement of one’s living conditions. Together with the sense of human perfectability with its telos of happiness (Glückseligkeit) this framework of practical or applied reason (praktische Vernunft) made both self-improvement and the task of shaping one’s environment meaningful and useful.

GRM 864 (Fall 2012)

Domesticity, Sociability and the Work of Culture in the 18^th-Century:

One of the key events in German cultural history of the 18^th century is the emergence of the middle class as an important locus of cultural innovation, creativity, and diversification. This cultural work took place in the private sphere, in particular in the domestic sphere and in family life and extended into larger circles of social connection. This course is designed around these key concepts of domesticity and sociability and how increasing literacy and the reading ushered in by the Enlightenment contributed to this major cultural, social and eventual political change. We will examine the question how culture contributes to changes in the lived environment and how people interact with one another. By engaging with literary and cultural texts and visual representations, we will explore how culture works. Why culture matters, then and now, and how culture operates. What are the conditions for cultural innovation or creativity? What is the relationship between cultural activity and social and economic change?

GRM 420 (Fall 2017)

In this course, the focus is on intensive practical communication skills development in the German language (writing, speaking) predominantly within contemporary German culture. The course emphasizes face-to-face communication. The course includes reflection on transferable skills, self-analysis and strength finding, life plans, career interests as you preparing for the transition to the world of work. The course is conducted in German.

Graduate Courses:

—Domesticity and Sociability in Europe Around 1800: Women’s Identity Formation in France, Germany, England. Interdepartmental Summer Seminar (MSU GRM 893)

—The European Fairy Tale. Interdepartmental Summer Seminar (MSU GRM 893)

—Culture in Context: Gender, Sexuality, and Changing Love Paradigms (1600-1890) (MSU GRM 865)

—Prose Genres, Narrative Theories, and Intertextuality (MSU GRM 891)

—Introduction into Cultural and Literary Studies: Theory and Practice (MSU GRM 820)

—Re-Constructing Baroque Culture: German Studies, Cultural Theory, and Baroque Culture (MSU GRM 891)

—Baroque (MSU GRM 851; Experimental Cluster Course with AL 891)

—Survey Eighteenth Century Literature (MSU GRM 852)

—German Feminist Theory and Women Writers of the Romantic Period (MSU GRM 856)

—Literary Mythmaking: Reception and Reception Theory. Graduate Seminar (MSU GRM 951)

—Cultural Theory/Theory of Culture (MSU GRM 856)

—Women and Literature in Eighteenth Century Germany (MSU GRM 853)

—Introduction to Graduate Study (MSU GRM 801)

—The Forms of Authority and the Authority of Forms (MSU GRM 852)

—Baroque Literature and Culture (MSU GRM 852)

—The Birth of Modernity (MSU GRM 853)

Undergraduate Courses

— Exotische Welten. Senior Seminar (MSU GRM 492)

—German Language Through Media (MSU GRM 420)

—Advanced Stylistics (MSU GRM 429)

—Advanced Composition and Conversation (MSU GRM 421)

—Contemporary Culture and Civilization (MSU GRM 437)