Green German Project presentation voted "Best in Minnesota"

Congratulations to Adam Oberlin and Beth Kautz, whose presentation at the October 2011 MCTLC (Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Language and Culture) conference was voted the "Best of Minnesota." Beth and Adam introduced teaching materials from the "Green German Project", developed in summer 2011 and funded by a Title VI / CARLA grant. With this "Best of Minnesota" award, they have been invited to present at the Central States Conference in Milwaukee in March 2012.

Charlotte Melin awarded Institute on the Environment Mini Grant

Charlotte Melin has been awarded a mini grant through the Institute on the Environment's Fall 2011 Mini Grant competition to support cross-disciplinary collaboration between the language departments and colleagues in other units working to develop environmental education that will culminate in a showcase event, "Language / Environment / Media," to be held in April 2012.

Lena Norrman elected as Trustee of American Swedish Institute

Lena Norrman has been elected to the American Swedish Institute's Board of Trustees.

Beth Kautz Promoted

Beth Kautz has been promoted from an Associate Educational Specialist to a full Educational Specialist.

Adam Oberlin receives Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship Award

Adam Oberlin in Germanic Studies has been awarded a one-year Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship Award, to support his research with the host center, the Center for Medieval Studies, to begin fall 2011.

Madeline Estes to participate in the 2011-2012 Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals

Madeline Estes has been selected to participate in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX), a year-long, federally-funded fellowship for study and work in Germany. Ms. Estes was selected as one of 75 participants (from more than 500 applicants) for this unique fellowship program. Since 1984, over 1,500 Americans have been awarded this opportunity to gain cultural, theoretical, and practical work experience in Germany, and Ms. Estes will be participating in the 28th year of the CBYX program (2011-2012).
While in Germany on CBYX, Ms. Estes will attend a two-month intensive German language course, study at a German university or professional school for four months, and complete a five-month internship with a German company in her career field. Participants are placed throughout Germany, and have the opportunity to learn about everyday German life from a variety of perspectives.
Information on the CBXY program can be found here: http://www.cbyx.info/.

Nora Pittis awarded Center for Austrian Studies Summer Research Fellowship

Nora Pittis, who is finishing her first year of the M.A. in the German track, has been awarded a Center for Austrian Studies Summer 2011 Research Fellowship for $4,000. She will be working in the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale on a project about mixed-marriages between Jews and non-Jews in Austria and Czechoslovakia under German occupation.

Anatoly Liberman receives Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Teaching

Professor Anatoly Liberman has been selected in a university-wide competition to receive one of the Awards for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Teaching!

Beth Kautz awarded Goethe-Institut stipend

Beth Kautz has been awarded a stipend to attend a 2-week seminar in Germany sponsored by the Goethe-Institut. She will be near Munich the first two weeks of August 2011 learning about "Blended Learning in Instruction and Continuing Education."

Paul Peterson receives Leifur Eiríksson Foundation Scholarship

Paul Peterson, Ph.D. student in our Germanic Medieval Studies track, has received the Leifur Eiríksson Foundation Scholarship for $25,000 to study and do research on Old Norse nicknames in Iceland the 2011-2012 academic year.

2012 Summer Course in Modern Icelandic

In May and June 2012, the Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch will once again offer an intensive course in Modern Icelandic language, taking place for three weeks in Minneapolis and for three weeks in Reykjavik. Further information (course dates, program cost, application materials) is available here: http://gsd.umn.edu/language/icelandic.html