German Studies
Faculty Bios & Courses
“German Studies is a language program, a place to explore
German culture in English-language courses, and a laboratory for
innovative projects in German at the advanced level. I dare you to
try out German. You might be surprised—or surprise yourself.”
Johanna Schuster-Craig, Assistant Professor of German Studies
G
600 FIRST STREET SW | MOUNT VERNON, IOWA 52314 | CORNELLCOLLEGE.EDU
ermany has the largest
economy in Europe, is
the global leader in green
technology and innovative
environmental policy, and is the home of
multiple high-tech industries, from solar
panel production to high-end electronics
and automobile design. German is the
third most-commonly taught language
in the United States.
With a background in German, you
have access not only to economic
opportunities in a global world (BASF,
Siemens, and BMW all have U.S. offices),
but also to thinkers like Kant, Freud,
Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Kafka, Rilke,
and Thomas Mann. And if old white
men don’t excite you? No problem: take
a look at the award-winning films of
Fatih Akın, the fiction of Anna Seghers,
Christa Wolf, Emine Sevgi Özdamar;
the poetry of Zehra Çırak; the political
satire of Noah Sow, the theoretical
writings of Kien Ngi Ha, or the
theatrical productions of the Ballhaus
Naunynstraße. Germany is vibrant,
multicultural, and diverse—just like
our program.
BENEFITS OF ONE COURSE AT A TIME
Cornell’s One Course At A Time
curriculum makes it easy for students
to arrange educational opportunities
abroad. The department maintains a
current list of about 30 approved studyabroad programs. Students can go for
one or two months or for an entire year.
Most students go during their junior
year, and after they have had a 300-level
German course. Recent choices for a
program abroad have been the GoetheInstitut language courses and the
junior year abroad programs run by
Central College in Vienna. There are
also programs in business German and
programs with internships.
The Goethe-Institut, which supports
German training centers throughout
Germany and around the world,
provides an excellent match for the block
plan because courses are offered for one
month (about the length of one block at
Cornell), two months, or longer.
CURRICULUM HIGHLIGHTS
The German studies program sponsors a
full range of language courses, as well as
two English-language seminars per year
on German topics. Upper-level courses
focus on a specific period in German
cultural history or a specific aspect of
literature, such as German theater.
At the advanced level, German offers
project courses that have as their end
goal a variety of creative projects,
such as designing a museum exhibit,
creating a lifelike reenactment of life
in East Germany, or adapting Grimms’
Fairy Tales in a variety of media.
For those who enter with substantial
previous study in German, we offer a
variety of ways to push boundaries and
develop language skills and cultural
competencies.
Students studying German have access
to language labs, featuring Can-8
VirtualLab software. Can-8 provides
cont. >
Tyler Carrington
Visiting Assistant Professor
of German Studies
Teaches a range of courses in
German Studies, including the
upper-level electives Goethe,
Romanticism, Modern Men,
and Weimar. He is a cultural
historian of modern Germany
and specializes in turn-of-thecentury masculinity, urban
studies, and the history of
emotions. He is currently
working on a monograph
about love, murder, and risk in
Berlin around 1900. Ph.D. in
history, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.
cornellcollege.edu
/academics
additional speaking and listening practice in German. It is
primarily designed for oral language practice, but you will
also find reading- and writing-based assignments.
ALUMNI CAREERS
The German program also sponsors the German Club,
a student organization focused on cultural activities for
all Cornell students (German speaking or not), which
organizes events including a trip to Oktoberfest in the
Amana Colonies, participation in the annual Languages
Program Bake-Off, and a May Day parade. In spring 2014,
15 students attended the opera Parzifal by Richard Wagner
at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.
Dance instructor, Dance New York, Marion, Iowa
(Class of 2012)
Cornell College offers students the opportunity to be a part
of Delta Phi Alpha, the national German honor society
for U.S. higher education. The Cornell chapter, Zeta Tau,
founded in 1968, is by invitation-only to students, both
majors and nonmajors, who have demonstrated superior
ability in 300-level German courses and who meet the
national requirements.
INTERNSHIPS/FELLOWSHIPS
One Cornell student recently participated in a Fulbright
English Teaching Assistantship (2012-13 in Germany),
and another received a DAAD Fellowship through the
German Academic Exchange Service, a publicly-funded
independent organization of higher education institutions
in Germany.
AFTER CORNELL
Germany is a world leader in green energy and technology,
luxury automobiles, engineering, and finance. There are
many professional opportunities to use your German in the
following public sectors:
§§ Green technology
§§ Ecology
§§ Education
§§ Tourism
§§ Business
§§ Public relations
§§ Foreign service
§§ Nonprofit organizations
German was long the lingua franca in fields like chemistry,
physics, engineering, philosophy, history, art history,
music, and religious studies. Graduate school programs
in these fields often either require previous German study,
or look highly upon it as proof of rigorous undergraduate
preparation for advanced study.
Research associate, Opus Partners, Portland, Oregon
(Class of 2012)
German teacher, Dassel-Cokato High School, Cokato,
Minnesota (Class of 2008)
Research associate, KDH Research Communication,
Atlanta (Class of 2008)
Program assistant, International Republican Institute,
Washington, D.C. (Class of 2007)
Postdoctoral researcher, Virginia Military Institute,
Lexington, Virginia (Class of 2006)
Credit risk manager, Wells Fargo, Edina, Minnesota
(Class of 2005)
Principal program manager, Rockwell Collins Deutschland
Gmbh, Heidelberg, Germany (Class of 2004)
Mathematics teacher, International School Rheintal, Buchs,
Switzerland (Class of 2004)
Training and development fleet manager, J.B. Hunt
Transport, Lowell, Arizona (Class of 2002)
Attorney recruiting assistance, Cooley Godward L.L.P.,
San Francisco, California (Class of 2001)
Executive director, J. P. Morgan Securities Inc., Chicago
(Class of 1999)
Development specialist, University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, New Mexico (Class of 1996)
Administrative director, Vanderbilt University, Nashville,
Tennessee (Class of 1995)
Economist, Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C.
(Class of 1994)
Teacher, International School-Conakry, Washington, D.C.
(Class of 1992)
Director of IT administration, West Bend Mutual
Insurance, West Bend, Wisconsin (Class of 1989)
Attorney deputy public defender, State of Colorado, Ft.
Collins, Colorado (Class of 1987)
Endodontist, Aurora Dental Specialties, Aurora, Illinois
(Class of 1980)
2015-2016