CSB/SJU German
Studies - In the News!
Newsletter of the German
Studies Program of the
Department of Modern and Classical Languages
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Spring 2008 |
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Austrian Fulbright
Commission Awards Four Teaching Positions to CSB/SJU German Majors for 2008-2009 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. |
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Study Abroad Applications
32 CSB/SJU Students Apply
for the |
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Pictured here: 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 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. |
Left: A few of the lucky ones going to Austria for Fall semester Dear Students! We know you will love your time abroad and will come back full of energy and excitement about your experiences in Salzburg. We are proud of your hard work and love of German and Austrian language and culture. |
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Austrian Fulbrighters
Claudia Gomsi and Michael Zwinger Come to CSB/SJU for a Year of Teaching,
Tutoring, and Organizing
International Activities |
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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 >>
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from the heart ... We couldn't do it without you! |
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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!! 
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Thank you, seniors, for your hard work on these projects. You are true models for the younger students of our department! Alles Gute!
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German Majors |
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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. |
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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. |
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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! |
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Trevor Chambers Starts Internship in Germany A little over three years ago I entered St. John’s University as a chemistry major with an absolute certainty of becoming a doctor. Well folks the saying is true: the only things certain in life are death and taxes. Here I am, 22 years old in my senior year, and about to embark on the journey and opportunity of a lifetime. In mid September I accepted a job in Stuttgart, Germany and will start working for Allianz Life, an international insurance company, on the 1st of August, 2008. Ever since studying abroad in Salzburg, Austria in the fall of 2006, I absolutely fell in love with Europe and the German/Austrian culture. I feel that so many aspects of their cultures fit very well with my life and what I value and believe. After returning to the USA in December of 2008, I feel that a part of me didn’t come back and I’m really excited to go back over and continue what started and ended so abruptly. As a management and communication double major, many people ask me why Germany, especially when I’m not a German major or minor. My answer to that is the fact that culture and language have both always intrigued me and I feel that an international experience will greatly set me ahead of everyone else when/if I return to the USA. So much of the world is experiencing the globalization at hand, and business is certainly a large part of that. I want to be able to take on the responsibility of helping two cultures, the American and German culture, benefit from one another and prosper economically due to each other’s strengths. I know that it will be challenging, but I embrace the challenge with excitement and a determination to succeed. Once I get to Germany, part of my stipulation in accepting the job was that they put me through extensive German language classes. I have had three semesters of German thus far and really want to become fluent in the language. I also have the amazing opportunity of getting to travel all over Europe with my job while implementing and monitoring the proper use of our life insurance products (the implementation of the products is in English and I will ensure that proper English is being used). I would highly suggest that anyone who has the opportunity to study abroad, work abroad, or volunteer abroad do so. It is an amazing and life-changing opportunity that you can benefit from in so many ways. You do not need to be a major, a minor, or really even speak the language to go. Search online, look for people who know people, do anything you can! If you have a passion like I do, do not let any roadblock stand in your way! Trevor A. Chambers |
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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 |
Do you have comments or news for upcoming editions of In the News? Feel free to e-mail us at German Department News!
