Chris Bates (CSB/SJU 2005) -- Eight Years in Germany and Counting

   I moved to Germany in December 2005, my first duty station as an Army Officer. I spent the next seven years between Kaiserslautern and Wiesbaden/Mainz. I joined local rugby teams, local gyms, and essentially lived off of everything Germany had to offer even though the Army provided those living essentials on base. I attribute my fluency entirely to my Fitnessstudio. Everyone in the gym was really willing to help me learn and taught me all the basics I needed.
   I made my best friends in the gym who invited me out with them which only deepened my integration into Germany. I actually live in Barcelona now. I ended my time with the Army about four months ago and am going to IESE Business school, part of university of Navara. When the program ends in 2014, I'm going to try and head straight back to theVaterland. I'm taking classes at the Goethe Institut now to improve my written German. I can speak it fluently, but because I didn't do much schreibing, my written German is lagging. I wish I'd learned the Artikeln. It's a pain in the butt to have to look up every single word just so I can see what the gender is when I write it.  Dear students studying German-- learn the genders now! You will be glad you did.   
     Alles Gute, Chris Bates

Daniel Kramer (SJU 1989) Named Fulbright Director at IIE in New York

Daniel Kramer and his wife Debra Prager

    CSB/SJU Alumnus Daniel Kramer has just been named the Director of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program at the Institute of International Education (IIE) in New York City.
     As Director he will manage the operations of this program, including overseeing the annual competition and screening of applications by IIE-developed panels of academic specialists. Over 9,000 graduating seniors, graduate-level candidates, and young professionals (such as writers, creative and performing artists and journalists) apply to study, conduct research or serve as English Teaching Assistants abroad. Over 1,600 grants are awarded in over 140 countries world-wide.
    Dan graduated from Saint John's and Saint Ben's in 1989 and completed a Ph.D. in Germanic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University before taking teaching posts at Holy Cross College and Washington and Lee University. He has been recipient of Fulbright and other research awards. “20 years ago I was awarded a Fulbright grant to Germany, and have been involved with the program ever since, serving on the Fellowships Committee as well as the board of the local Fulbright Association chapter. So to direct this program two decades later is a real honor and privilege.” Since his Fulbright year abroad, Dan has also led many student groups to Germany, and regards it as his second home.

Congratulations, Dan, on this next chapter of your life!

The German Tradition of Gingerbread Houses Comes to CSB/SJU

Weihnachten 2012

With the help of Paula Doebel, a local Gingerbread connoisseur, around 20 students assembled and decorated Gingerbread houses to what some considered the perfection of a master. Students enjoyed the change from their studious atmosphere and brought out their creative sides to craft houses to their liking.   Building houses from the foundation up can prove difficult, but the students met the challenge with gusto and ultimately overwhelming success. With the roofs attached and sturdy, the artwork flowed from the icing bags. The end result showed a wide variety of houses, some with candy-shingled roofs, trees made of pretzels, snowed in porches, backyard swing sets, functioning chimneys, and cobblestone pathways.

Thank you Paula!

Brooke Kreitinger receives PhD from Georgetown University

After a DAAD Grant for a year of research in Germany at the University of Trier, Brooke went back to Georgetown where she completed her dissertation, "Practicing the Spatial Imagination of Accelerated Globalization in Contemporary German-language Novels," Brooke now plans to apply for positions at colleges/universities throughout the country, so that she can continue teaching at the college level and research topics related to German language, literature and culture. She also wants to lead a study abroad adventure with students to a German-speaking region of the world.

Note:  Brooke, we are very proud of you. A heartfelt congratulations from the CSB/SJU German Studies Program.



Fulbright TA Grantees 2003-2013

CSB/SJU Graduates who were awarded Fulbright Grants for Teaching and Scholarship in Germany and Austria 2002-2012.  We are proud of all of you!

2012-2013…Chris Pignato
2012-2013... John Jacobs
2009-2010… Matt Beck
2009-2010…Michael Risch-Jansen
2009-2010…Sam Lauer
2009-2010…Robert Mevissen
2009-2010…Amy Herou
2008-2009…Angela Sigl
2008-2009… Laura Wunsch -- 3 consecutive years
2007-2008…Ryan Fader
2007-2008…Erik Hendrickson
2007-2008…Mark Bublitz -- 2 consecutive years
2007-2008…David Lambert
2006-2007…Keith Spinali -- 2 consecutive years
2006-2007…Josh Wittrock
2006-2007... Lew Grobe
2006-2007…Bennett Frensko  -- 3 consecutive years
2005-2006…Chris Schumacher
2005-2006…Kim Skramstad
2005-2006…Sarah Miller
2005-2006…John Kamman
2004-2005... Brian Schnese
2004 -2005...Edward Kasner
2003-2004... Paul Krook
2003-2004... Andy Stern
2003-2004... Gabi Fosado
2003-2004... Paul Zimmel
2003-2004... Jeremy Chinquist
2003-2004... Gretchen Diercks
2002-2003... Chris Schumacher
2002-2003... Sarah Miller
2002-2003... Aaron Voth
2002-2003... Kim Skramstad
2002-2003... Stefan Theimer
2002-2003... Danielle Simpson
2002-2003... John Kamman

George Maurer (SJU '88) Performs German Song Cycle at International Theater Festival

George Maurer was a student at Saint John's in German 311 when he became acquainted with the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke.  With that experience, George began a life-long love affair with one of Europe's greatest poets.  In September 2012 George and The George Maurer Theater Ensemble performed Autumn Song which captured the emotions and accolades of the crowds.  The show featured twelve of Rilke's best loved poems as well as four poems from Tennessee Williams.  Maurer's show at the festival depicted poets Rilke and Williams in sung dialog with each other about life, poetry and love. Williams discovered Rilke when he was a student at Washington University.  To learn more about Autumn Song you can contact George Maurer through his website: http://www.georgemaurer.com/george/ .  We're proud of you, George!

CSB/SJU Launches First Exchange Partnership with Eichstätt University North of Munich

With the leadership of Nicole Clements and Peggy Retka of the CSB/SJU Office of Education Abroad, CSB/SJU has begun its first official exchange program with a German University.  Die Katholische Universität Eichstätt is located about 90 minutes north of Munich by train and features a beautiful campus with about 4000 students in the rolling hills of northern Bavaria.    
     Starting as soon as Fall 2013, two to four German students will come to CSB/SJU and the same number of our more advanced students will spend a semester or year in Eichstätt.  Eichstätt is also home of the Benedictine Monastery which founded The Monastery of Saint Benedict more than 150 years ago.   Thank you to Nicole and Peggy, as well as professors Lisa Ohm and Charles Bobertz who have all had a hand in making this exchange partnership come to fruition.   
     Students interested in this exchange program should apply in January 2013 for spring term in Eichstätt 2014.   It is financially a very affordable program. 

Dr. Lonnie Johnson, Executive Director, Fulbright (Austrian-American Educational) Commission Visits CSB/SJU

Lonnie Johnson (CSB/SJU German Studies graduate 1974) is the executive director of the Austrian-American Educational Commission (Fulbright Commission) in Vienna. During his visit to CSB/SJU in late November, Lonnie gave a talk to members of the Office of Education Abroad, the Center for Global Education, the Global Business Leadership Department and the German Studies Program. In his remarks, Lonnie analyzed the changing nature of study abroad and its ever-increasing importance for American students.   The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 to promote mutual understanding between people of the United States and people of other countries. Dr. Johnson’s research and publications focus on the history of Central Europe and Austria. Dr. Johnson has published books and articles on Austrian and central European history and politics including, Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends; Vienna: The Past in the Present; and Introducing Austria. He received a B.A. from St. John’s University in Minnesota and a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna.

   Over the years, dozens of students from the German Studies Program at CSB/SJU have participated in the Austrian and German Fulbright Teaching Assistant Programs for one to three years after graduating from college. We deeply appreciate Lonnie's ongoing support of his undergraduate German Program. 

Saint Ben's and Saint John's Receive Award for Achievements in Internationalization

   The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University have received the 2012 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization by NAFSA: Association of International Educators. The award was announced March 6 by NAFSA.
    Named for the late senator from Illinois, the award recognizes outstanding and innovative achievements in campus internationalization. Simon was a strong supporter of international education and foreign language learning.
    Besides CSB/SJU, four other schools also received the award - Juniata College (Huntingdon, Pa.), Northern Arizona University, San Francisco State University and the University of Michigan.
    "We are being recognized for comprehensive internationalization," said Joe Rogers, director of the Center for Global Education at CSB and SJU. "This is another way of saying the degree to which we have built international ideas, perspectives and learning opportunities into all aspects of our campus community and into all phases of our students' four-year experience. This is reflected in the support we receive from institutional leadership, the committed and internationally minded faculty, our international education staff and our globally engaged student body."   More: http://www.csbsju.edu/paul-simon-award.htm   

    Our program in Salzburg, Austria, is the longest running of the study abroad programs at CSB/SJU. This year 22 students are spending their fall term at the University of Salzburg.

German Studies Faculty Scholarship Update

    Lisa Ohm has completed her monograph, Johanna Heusser Spyri’s Double Bildungsroman Heidi & Her Literary Oeuvre: The Swiss-German Writer’s Contributions to Late 19th-Century Literature and Thought. She gave two presentations on Spyri at the Midwest MLA in Cincinnati in November, and she will attend the 2013 MLA in Boston, thanks in part to a Faculty Development travel grant, to meet with acquisition editors of several publishing companies. She also received a Fellowship for spring 2014 to complete a scholarly introduction to and translation of Spyri’s Sina: A Story for Young Girls, first published in 1884 and never translated into English. This book contains one of the first discussions in European literature of women studying at the university level.

     Wendy Sterba has just submitted her manuscript, Photos of the Reel: What the Photograph in Contemporary Film Tells us about Art and Truth in the Age of New Media for publication.  Wendy will also attend the International Film Studies Conference Melancholia: Imaging the End of the World in Marburg, Germany, thanks to a Faculty Development travel grant. The title of her talk is “The Corporate and Corporeal: Min(d)ing the Body - Conscience and Consumption in Early 21st Century Hollywood Dystopia." She presented a paper in September at the Film and History Conference in Milwaukee entitled, "What Would Medusa Do? Psychology, Photography and Pegasus Envy in Films about 19th Century Monstrous Women." She has received a Fellowship for Fall of 2013 to pursue the topic of Aesthetic Issues Concerning Film in the Age of Electronic Media for her new book which explores film related aesthetic theories of Manfred Frank, Theodor Adorno, Walther Benjamin and the Frankfurt School.

    Andreas Kiryakakis is deeply involved in translating Der letzte Mönch von Tibhirine by Freddy Derwahl. This book recounts the same events as the award-winning film, Of Men and Gods.  Here is a description of the book from amazon.de: 

In der algerischen Wüste harrt eine kleine Schar von christlichen Mönchen im Kloster Tibhirine aus. Im durch Revolutionen aufgewühlten Nordafrika werden sie, im Spannungsfeld von Christentum und Islam, mehrfach von Rebellen bedroht. Nach intensiver Beratung beschließen die Mönche dennoch zu bleiben. Sie haben sich entschieden, für die Menschen da zu sein. Sie wollen ihre Krankenstation weiterhin öffnen, für Versöhnung eintreten und mit ihrem Leben dem christlichen Glauben Gestalt geben. Am 26. März 1996 kehren die Rebellen zurück. Sieben Mönche werden nachts entführt und später enthauptet. Die Umstände und Hintergründe der Morde sind bis heute ungeklärt. Dieses Buch erzählt das Leben von Frère Jean-Pierre Schumacher, den die Terroristen damals nicht entdecken. In seinen Erzählungen spiegelt sich, was damals wirklich geschah.

    Mark Thamert is working on a translation of Die Benediktsregel: Eine Anleitung zu christlichem Leben, a commentary on the Rule of Saint Benedict written by the Abbot Georg Holzherr of Einsiedeln Abbey, Switzerland. This translation will be published by Cistercian Publications in 2013 or 2014.  He is also working on a translation of Anselm Grün's Zeit der Erfüllung. Ein Begleiter für Advent und Weihnachten to be published by the Liturgical Press in 2013.  Anselm Grün is Abbot of Münsterschwarzach Abbey in Germany.  Mark will also give a presentation at the American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages Conference in Orlando, November 2013, on "Recent Research on Best Practices for Teaching Writing in Foreign Languages -- and Computer-Assisted Feedback that Works."