Fulbright Awards Four Teaching Positions to CSB/SJU

Sam, Laura, Michael, and Bennet, we admire your global vision and wish you the best for the very rewarding year ahead!

Each year, CSB and SJU German majors and minors are selected for research projects and teaching positions in Austrian and German Gymnasien, or schools. Over the past 15 years some fifty CSB/SJU students have participated in these prestigious programs following their graduation. The Fulbright Commission especially appreciates applicants who are interested in the study and use of German in their plans for the future, either in teaching or in other careers. For more information about how to apply before next year's October 15th (Germany) and February 1st (Austria) deadlines, see the Fulbright Webpage and Application Form.

Study Abroad Applications Up 100% in One Year

32 CSB/SJU Students Apply for the Fall 2008 Salzburg Program after a 15-Year Average of 16 Applications

This spring, a record 32 students applied for our fall term program at the University of Salzburg. The last time application numbers reached that level was twenty years ago in 1987. "This year's group is one of the best prepared in language and culture that we have seen in many years," commented Professor Gregory Schroeder, director of the Fall 2008 Salzburg Program.

Above: A few of the lucky ones going to Austria for Fall semester

Above: Robert Mevissen, who is majoring in both German and French, is enjoying a sunny day on his way to classes at the University of Salzburg

Austrian Fulbrighters Claudia Gomsi and Michael Zwinger

A message from Claudia Gomsi ... I have met several American Fulbright Teaching Assistants in Austria who enjoyed their time abroad a lot. Three of them even stayed at our house in Bad Radkersburg. Seeing them having a great time abroad inspired me also to apply for a Fulbright scholarship and share my language and my culture with American students. more >>

A message from Michael Zwinger ... I really enjoy teaching German and Austrian culture. I like talking to the students and meet them throughout the activities of the German Club in which I hopefully can enforcing linguistic skills, improve cultural understanding and form networks with students from around the world. more >>

Thank you Lonnie Johnson in Vienna for guiding our Fulbright TA Recipients each year; Dave Lyndgaard, Provost Rita Knuesel, and Dean Joe Desjardins for supporting our new German Studies curriculum and paving the way for Fulbright TA positions at CSB/SJU. Thank you John Taylor for your work with foundations on our behalf; Mike Connolly and Jody Terhaar for finding excellent living quarters for our visiting Fulbright TA/Scholars; professors Greg Schroeder and Charles Bobertz for superb management of our Salzburg Program; Ernie Dietrich, Greg Schroeder and Joe Rogers for helping us create a vision for European and German Studies Abroad; Tom Kroll for your giving our students tours -- in German -- through the SJU wetlands; Stuart Goldschen for your superb photography and moral support; and Mary Niedenfuer for your countless daily contributions as coordinator of our department. We couldn't do it without you!!

German Majors Katy Amann, Julie Haimann, Michael Risch-Jansen, and Sam Lauer Complete Senior Presentations

Dear Katy, Julie, Michael, and Sam! What a wonderful group of students you have been. We are especially proud of your final projects and the wide range of interests they represent: Die Jacke: Eine Aufgliederung des Symbols der Jacke in Franz Kafka's Der Prozess und Amerika (Katy Amann); Christentum leicht: Dietrich Bonhoeffers Theologie als andauerndes Werkzeug gegen die Expansion des Faschismus (Julie Haimann); Die moralische und ethische Verantwortung eines Wissenschaftlers: Entwicklung der Rolle der Wissenschaften zwischen den Weltkriegen (Michael Risch-Janson); Mendelssohn und die Amischen: Die Anwendung der politischen Ideen von Mendelssohn für die Analyse einer heutigen religiösen Gruppe (Sam Lauer)

Thank you, seniors, for your hard work on these projects. You are true models for the younger students of our department! Alles Gute!

German Professors Lisa Ohm, Andreas Kiryakakis, Wendy Sterba, and Mark Thamert Inaugurate New German Studies Curriculum

Since June 2005 the German Studies Faculty has been engaged in a comprehensive curriculum renewal project, Excellence and Cohesiveness in the German Studies Curriculum. Our new slate of courses and co-curricular activities present a new integration of culture, literature and language-building activities at every level in the undergraduate program. We are now offering for the first time a variety of 2-credit courses to help our majors and minors complete their program of study in a timely manner. We are delighted with the results of more than three years of research and workshop on what will best suit our students' needs. more>>

Professors Lisa Ohm, Andreas Kiryakakis, Wendy Sterba and Mark Thamert engaged in dozens of curricular discussions from June 2005 to September 2008

German Professor, Mark Thamert, O.S.B., Receives the Robert Spaeth Teacher of Distinction Award

"My Colleagues in German Studies have made teaching a most meaningful, challenging, and joyous experience over the years. Thank you Lisa, Wendy, and Andreas for your creativity, unflinching nose for excellence, and your daily friendship. And of course, our students are our ongoing inspiration." -- Fr. Mark Thamert

SJU President, Br. Dietrich Reinhart, offers Fr. Mark his congratulations. more >>

Alumna Laura Wunsch Writes about Her Fulbright Experience in Schwaz, Austria

I knew that I wanted to be a part of the Fulbright program even before I started at CSB/SJU. I had friends who had done Fulbright and only had good things to say. I was set up in a town called Schwaz. It has only been good things this entire year! My teachers are flexible, nice, creative and simply great to work with. The students are well behaved, funny inside and outside of class, and just so great. I couldn't have asked for better schools. At orientation I got to meet other TA's in my region, who I am good friends with and see often. I have joined a rugby team which keeps me busy, and I am in Austria, the center of Europe. I have taken every opportunity to travel, see Europe and make close friends, while improving my German. This is an opportunity that everyone should take advantage of!

Even though it can be hard to graduate and immediately be separated from your friends by an ocean, it is one of the best decisions of my life. I have had so much fun in this last year that I have applied and have been accepted to stay for a second year! Feel free to contact me with questions. Alles Gute -- und werdet doch zukünftige Fulbrighter!

Keith Spinali Writes about His Year Teaching in Austria

The year I spent in Austria on a teaching Fulbright went really well. I got to spend a year sandwiched between the Wachau, Waldviertel and Weinviertel regions of Lower Austria... so I got to experience a multitude regional culture. The food was amazing.

The following year I stayed in Vienna and studied Korean at the University of Vienna, at least officially. I ended up actually enrolling in one of the best Tae Kwon Do academies outside of Korea. It was there that I spent three to four hours a day training under and with some of the best martial artists.

When I arrived back in the US in August, I was planning on joining the US military. My mother is an administrator at VA hospital, and one of the doctors there has been working on a Special Forces contract for me. Unfortunately, I shattered a bone last week, and now joining the military seems impossible.

So now I am studying for the LSAT and tentatively planning on going to law school. How are things with the German department?

Cheers,

Keith

German Major Sam Lauer Heads for a Year of Teaching in Southwest Austria

As a Fulbright Teaching Assistant, Sam Lauer will be living with a family in Köflach and teaching in Köflach and Voitsberg, Styria. We are proud of you Sam!

Michael Risch-Janson Awarded the Otmar Drekonja Scholarship

Dear Michael, The German section of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages is pleased to inform you that you have been awarded the Otmar Drekonja German Cultural Studies Scholarship for 2006-2007. The amount of the scholarship is $950.00. We applaud your enthusiastic dedication to the study of German—something illustrated by the strides you have made since beginning that study as a first-year college student in fall 2004. You understand the value of multicultural experiences and show a willingness to be an active participant in promoting them. We congratulate you on your accomplishments and wish you great success in the continuation of your studies. Wir gratulieren herzlich und wünschen besten Erfolg! Read more about Otmar Drekonja (pictured above right with his wife Ingrid).

Laura Wunsch and Mersiha Seferovic Awarded S. Margaretta Nathe Scholarships totaling $2000

These annual scholarships are awarded to CSB students who demonstrate academic distinction, especially in German. S. Margaretta was known for her outstanding teaching of German for CSB/SJU and for founding abroad programs in Switzerland and Germany before the beginnings of our Salzburg program. Congratulations, Laura and Mersi! We are proud of your achievements!

Lew Grobe, Bennett Frensko, and Keith Spinali Awarded Fulbright Scholarships for Research and Teaching in Austria

Grobe and Frensko Also Awarded Fulbright Scholarships to Germany and May Do Both in Successive Years

Each year, CSB and SJU German majors and minors are selected for research projects and teaching positions in Austrian and German Gymnasien, or schools. Over the past 15 years 45 CSB/SJU students have participated in these prestigious programs following their graduation.
The Fulbright Program especially appreciates applicants who are interested in the study and use of German in their plans for the future, either in teaching or in other careers. For more information about how to apply before next year's February 1 deadline, see the Fulbright Webpage and Application Form.

Lew, Bennett, and Keith, we admire your global vision and wish you the best for the very rewarding year ahead!

.

18 CSB/SJU Students Head to Munich for May Term

This is the fifth summer in the row that students of our colleges have had the chance to experience Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy first hand. The first May Term -- one of the first in our colleges' history -- was offered three years ago for 30 students and featured a comparison of the art and architecture of Berlin and Munich. the last two years 45 students participated in a similar May term, but the topic shifted to the development of German Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture in relation to what was happening culturally in the Mediterranean region. This summer on May 19 and again on July 13, a total of forty-five more students will depart for the summer term seminar titled, Rome, Florence and Munich: Arts and Ideas.


Pictured here: Students biking through Munich learning about the history of its architecture and the intellectual movements that gave rise to radically different kinds of architectural expression. Our tour director Dave gives a lecture in front of the Friedensengel in Munich. In the picture on the right, Sam Pokorney (center) joins Bavarian Schuhplattler in a traditional Volkstanz.

Professor Gregory Schroeder and His Family Head to Salzburg with Fifteen CSB/SJU Students

Student Members of the Salzburg Program Include

Sara Allen, Nick Elsen, Nicole Bach, Melissa Hendrickx, Laura Ruprecht, Jason Fluto, Josephine Hall, Gregory Nordlund, Emily Karnas, David McKay, Candice Kamke, Brian Downes, Ben Bartelt, Brittany Boll, Audrey Gabe.

Professor Schroeder is a lover of all things Austrian and is especially fond of the beauty of Salzburg and the opportunities we have developed in the thirty years we have been at the University. Our professors there are stellar and our small class sizes give students the chance engage intensely with the language and cultures of Germany and Austria. Schroeder's emphasis in his teaching will be on Austrian identity from the era of the Hapsburg Empire to the present. he will also be introducing a new immersion course on Austrian culture and language. This is Professor Schroeder's third time directing the program for CSB/SJU students, having gone with other groups in 2001 and 2004. Zukunftige Salzburger and Herr Professor Doktor Schroeder, how lucky you are to spend fall term in this most beautiful of cities. We all wish you Gute Reise!

German Majors Seferovic, Sandnas, Wunsch, Schumacher, Hendrickson, Lambert, Smiles, Bublitz, and Haws





Group of Nine Represents a Fifteen-Year High in

Number of German Majors at CSB/SJU

Dear Mersiha, Greta, Laura, Dan, Erik, David, Aaron, Mark and Jimmy! What a wonderful group of students you have been. We are especially proud of your final projects and the wide range of interests they represent: Der Prozess der Selbstüberwindung in der Literatur der Jahrhundertwende (Mersiha); Eine eigene Komposition im Stil der Schoenberg-Zwölftonmusik mit Vorführung -- "Furcht, ach Furcht!" (Greta); Geschichte und Analyse der Pädagogik der kanadischen-amerikanischen Immersionschulen (Laura); Die protestantische und katholische Arbeitsethik zur Zeit Max Webers (Dan); Der Prozess der Individuation in Werken von Hermann Hesse (Erik); Die Identität der Türken im heutigen Deutschland (David); Entwicklung des Paszifismus bei Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mahatma Ghandi und Albert Einstein (Aaron); Einfluss der katholischen Kirche auf Krieg und Frieden in Europa und Iraq: Ein Vergliech (Mark); Das Prinzip der Autorität in der Literatur der Jahrhundertwende (Jimmy).

Robert Mevissen, Michael Risch-Jansen, Brittany Boll, and Melissa Hendrickx Awarded Otmar Drekonja and S. Margaretta Nathe Scholarships Totaling $5000.

Brittany and Melissa, Robert and Michael, thank you for all the good energy and enthusiasm you bring to our Department! You represent well the astonishing motivation, vision, and love of life exemplified so well by S. Margaretta and Otmar Drekonja.

Dear Brittany and Melissa, Michael and Robert,


We are delighted to present to you the highest awards that we offer at CSB/SJU for the study of German. Both S. Margaretta Nathe and Otmar Drekonja are known for their outstanding teaching of German for CSB/SJU. S. Margaretta founded abroad programs in Switzerland and Germany. Otmar Drekonja was founder of our Salzburg Program in 1977, directing groups of more than 200 students on study abroad programs in Salzburg and elsewhere in Central Europe. Their distinguished teaching careers resonate in the personal and professional lives of generations of students.

Cici Qiao Awarded Position for the Friendship Beyond Borders Summer Program in Germany

"I am excited to use what I know about conflict resolution and intercultural exchange and to help improve the lives of young German students."

As participant in this inter-cultural youth education program in rural eastern Germany, Cici's primary task will be to help students aged 16-22 learn about international understanding and love of other cultures. Cici will be teaching these students during the month of July about the dangers of the right-extremism and xenophobia prevalent in the East where joblessness is high. During this program, Cici will receive free funding for room and board, travel within the project region, and project activities. If you are a CSB/SJU student interested in this program for summer 2008 please send an email message to exbinet@miteinander-ev.de. Cici, we are proud of your using your German skills to promote cultural appreciation among young people in Germany!

Laura Wunsch, Ryan Fader, Erik Hendrickson, Mark Bublitz, and David Lambert Awarded Fulbright Scholarships for Research and Teaching in Austria!

Laura, Ryan, Erik, Mark, and David, we admire your global vision and wish you the best for the very rewarding year ahead!

Each year, CSB and SJU German majors and minors are selected for research projects and teaching positions in Austrian and German Gymnasien, or schools.  Over the past 15 years some 50 CSB/SJU students have participated in these prestigious programs following their graduation.  The Fulbright Program especially appreciates applicants who are interested in the study and use of German in their plans for the future, either in teaching or in other careers.  For more information about how to apply before next year's October 15th (Germany) and February 1st (Austria) deadlines, see the Fulbright Webpage and Application Form.