News

Erin McGlothlin, professor of German and Jewish studies and vice dean of undergraduate affairs, won the 2023 Sybil Halpern Milton Book Prize for “The Mind of the Holocaust Perpetrator in Fiction and Nonfiction.

Sixteenth Century Society & Conference Medal This special award may be given once every five years to the member of the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference who has done the most to promote and to advance the area of early modern studies. Recipients have demonstrated a long-term commitment to the SCSC, continued participation in the various activities of the SCSC, and sustained significant contributions to the field through publications, papers, leadership, service, and support of younger scholars. 

Katherine Kerschen and Mikael Olsson Berggren join the German Department for the 2022-23 Academic Year

Even during the Age of Nationalism, the literary history of Germany/Austria reveals transnational or international forces. Further, what is a “national” literary tradition when political borders are shifting? Joined by colleagues from Washington University and scholars from the U.S., Germany, and Austria, organizers of a Sept. 2-4 symposium argue for “Transnational Framings: The German Literary Field in the Age of Nationalism, 1848-1919.”

Gerhild Scholz Williams discusses the influence of Ottoman power and culture on German prose texts in the 17th century.

Ahead of becoming vice dean of undergraduate affairs, Erin McGlothlin spoke with senior Keishi Foecke about the new role and the future of the College of Arts & Sciences.

Holocaust studies scholar Erin McGlothlin has been named vice dean of undergraduate affairs in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, effective June 1, announced Feng Sheng Hu, the Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor and dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences.

Professor Kurt Beals has won the 2020 Max Kade Prize for Best Article in The German Quarterly.

This statement is written by the Chairs and Directors of Humanities disciplines at the University.

Publication of a significant creative work is a milestone in the career of a humanities scholar. The Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences shares on its website a glimpse into the book-publishing journey of seven university faculty members.

Professor Gerhild Williams was honored at the most recent Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, which occurred October 17-20, 2019.

We were saddened to hear the news that our former colleague, Sarah Westphal-Wihl, passed away on March 22 in Flagstaff, Arizona.

We will welcome a new assistant professor to our department in fall 2019.

Paul Michael Lützeler has been awarded the annual Friedrich-Gundolf-Preis for 2019.

Click here to read the Winter 2018-19 Stichworte. Remember: We want to hear from you! Send an email to Cecily Stewart Hawksworth if you have something to share. Who knows? You may be featured in our next newsletter!

Our faculty give updates about their 2018 activities.

On November 16, 2018, the Contemporary German Literature Collection at Washington University Libraries was renamed the Mike Lützeler Contemporary German Literature Collection in honor of Professor Lützeler.

Professor McGlothlin writes about Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah" and its archive of outtakes ahead of next week's Holocaust Memorial Lecture

Professor Lynne Tatlock was this year's recipient of the Arts & Sciences Faculty Leadership Award.

This fall, we had the pleasure of adding two postdoctoral teaching fellows to our faculty: Julia Goetze and Hannes Hoefer.

Professor Erlin spearheads new Summer Humanities Institute. Professors Kita and McGlothlin participated.

The "History, Memory, and Representation of the Holocaust" students visited sites and places related to the Holocaust in Europe.

Professor Kita is featured in Center for the Humanities interview about her current book project.

Professor Erlin's research was featured in this week's Ampersand, the weekly e-newsletter from Arts & Sciences.

Click here to read the Winter 2017/18 Stichworte. Remember: We want to hear from you! Send an email to Cecily Stewart Hawksworth if you have something to share. Who knows? You may be featured in our next newsletter!

The faculty update us on their 2017 activities.

This fall, we had the pleasure of adding two postdoctoral teaching fellows to our faculty: Alexis Briley and Richard "Tres" Lambert.

Professor Jennifer Kapczynski was interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered.

Knowledge in Motion: Constructing Transcultural Experience in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods (1200–1750) was recently published in DAPHNIS. Zeitschrift für die Mittlere Deutsche Literatur und Kultur (1400-1750): 46 (2017), 3-4.

Sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), today is the first annual National Teach German Day.

We invite applications for a one-year position as Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, beginning in fall 2017.

Our department Chair, Professor Matt Erlin, gave a lecture at Bowdoin College on April 5, 2017.

Six members of the department successfully completed the St. Louis Go! Marathon Relay on Sunday, April 9, 2017.

Professor Erin McGlothlin was recently awarded an Honorable Mention.

Professor Emeritus Egon Schwarz passed away recently.

Click the link above to read the University's obituary for Professor Schwarz.

Congratulations to Professor Caroline Kita on recently being selected as a Faculty Fellow in the Center for the Humanities for the spring 2018 semester!

Click here to read the Fall/Winter 2016 Stichworte. Remember: We want to hear from you! Send an email to Cecily Stewart Hawksworth if you have something to share. Who knows? You may be featured in our next newsletter!

The faculty update us on their activities in 2016.

Paul Michael Lützeler, the Rosa May Distinguished University Professor in the Humanities, gave keynote addresses in his areas of research (Contemporary, Exile, and Romantic Literature as well as on the literary discourse on Europe) in September and October .

Professor Matt Erlin has won the 2016 DAAD/German Studies Association Book Prize for “Necessary Luxuries: Books, Literature, and the Culture of Consumption in Germany, 1777-1815.”

Christian Schneider's article, "Medieval Literature on the Air: Johannes von Tepl's Der Ackermann in Twentieth-Century Radio Adaptations," appeared recently in Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies.

Matt Erlin's article, "Digital Humanities Masterplots" appeared in the first issue of Digital Literary Studies, an open-access, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal that publishes scholarly articles on computational approaches to literary analysis/criticism.

From June 3 to 5, Christian Schneider, together with Doren Wohlleben (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg), organized an interdisciplinary symposium.

Kurt Beals was interviewed for the podcast Cut & Paste on the topic of Franz Kafka.

Jennifer Kapczynski was recently interviewed by the Center for the Humanities about her current book project: What Makes a Democrat? Staging Political Transformation in 1950s West German Film.

Prof. Schneider has been awarded a Marie S. Curie FCFP Senior Fellowship from the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS).

In November, Erin McGlothlin, along with Brad Prager (University of Missouri) and Markus Zisselsberger (University of Miami) organized a collaborative research workshop at the University of Missouri.

Click here to read the annual Stichworte.

Professor Caroline Kita has been awarded a Franz Werfel Grant from the Austrian Exchange Service.

Matt Erlin has received C$120,000 in conjunction with the C$1.8 million SSHRC Partnership Grant "Text mining the novel: establishing the foundations of a new discipline."

Professor Eva Russo has been nominated by the ArtSci Council to receive an award at the annual Faculty Recognition Awards ceremony.

Shane Peterson (PhD, Washington University, 2012) and Christian Schneider (PhD, Heidelberg University, 2007) will serve as postdoctoral fellows beginning in Fall 2012.

The 21st Biennial Symposium on German Language and Culture was March 29-31, 2012.

Lynne Tatlock received an honorable mention for the Josephine Roberts Prize from the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference.

Professor Jennifer Kapczynski will receive the Excellence in Mentoring Award from the Graduate Student Senate.

Professor McGlothlin has been appointed as the new Director of Research for the Center for the Humanities, here at WashU.