About the Department

The Department offers a B.A., M.A. or Ph.D. in German and, with the BMW Center for German and European Studies, the joint MAGES/Ph.D. in German. 

Reflecting Georgetown University’s Jesuit tradition, the German Department seeks, through its undergraduate and graduate programs, to expand students’ knowledge, imagination, and commitment to the common good.

At the undergraduate level, the Department aims to enable students to become competent and culturally literate users of German who can employ the language in a range of intellectual and professional contexts and who can also draw from it personal enrichment and enjoyment. It does so by engaging students with diverse content areas within an integrated curriculum whose pedagogies reflect the best available knowledge regarding the multiple links among language, culture, and ways of knowing.

Information for prospective undergraduate students

At the graduate level, the Department seeks to educate the next generation of professionals who are able to make substantive and insightful contributions to German studies and to participate in shaping the field through scholarship, teaching, and service. It does so by building a broad foundation of German literature and culture from the 18th century to the present, as well as fostering critical approaches to more specialized areas of inquiry, including contemporary literature and culture, issues of gender and sexuality, intersections of religious and literary traditions, curriculum development, and literacy studies

Information for prospective graduate students