Alumni
Anna Zimmer
The Past, Politics, and Prose: Memories of War in Early 21st Century German-language Novels
Dr. Katrin Sieg (Eigler, Pfeiffer)
Defended with distinction on December 19, 2012
First employment after graduation: TBA
Jason Ager
Heimat's Sentry: Images of the Golem in 20th Century Austrian Literature
Dr. Peter C. Pfeiffer (Eigler, Murphy)
Defended on December 18, 2012
First employment after graduation: German Instructor at LaSalle University
Tessa Wegener
Women Re-defining the 'Orientreise': Memory, Nostalgia and the Problem of Multiculturalism in Contemporary Austrian Travel Texts and Film
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Dupree, Sieg)
Defended with distinction on November 12, 2012
First employment after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor at Colgate University
Brooke Kreitinger
The Spatial Imagination of Accelerated Globalization in Contemporary German-language Novels
Dr. Katrin Sieg (Eigler, Pfeiffer)
Defended on August 23, 2012
First employment after graduation: Lecturer at University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
Deva Kemmis
On the Verge of Hearing: Epistemology and the Poetics of Listening in the Human-Nixie Encounter in German Literature
Dr. G. Ronald Murphy, S.J. (Dupree, Pfeiffer)
Defended with distinction on April 18, 2012
First employment after graduation: Lecturer at George Washington University
Jens Kugele
Kafkas Heimat-Topographien
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Pfeiffer, Sieg)
Defended with distinction on May 9, 2011
First employment after graduation: Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Program for the Study of Religion & Culture, LMU Munich
Wendy S. Wilson
Heimat and Memory in the City: Representations of New York City and Vienna in Autobiographical Works of Exiled Viennese Authors
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Pfeiffer, Murphy)
Defended May 18, 2009
First employment after graduation: Adjunct Assistant Professor at Gettysburg College
Corinne (Cori) Crane
Evaluative Choice in Advanced Second Language Writing of German: A Genre Perspective
Heidi Byrnes (Hamilton, Maxim)
Defended December 18, 2007
First employment after graduation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Mark Lauer
DDR-Kulturpolitik und autobiographisches Schreiben vor und nach der Wende: Christa Wolf und Günter de Bruyn
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Pfeiffer, Sieg)
Defended May 1, 2007
First employment after graduation: Assistant Professor at Mt. Holyoke College
Jennifer Short
The Gracious Heroine in Schiller’s Maria Stuart: Christian Aspects of the Depiction of the Beautiful Soul
Defended February 12, 2007
Dr. G. Ronald Murphy, S.J. (Eigler, Sieg)
First employment after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor at Georgetown University
Lanlan Xu
Masquerade, Mimicry and Performativity: The Staging of Female Identity in German Literature around 1800
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Murphy, Sieg)
Defended November 20, 2006
Continuing studies in Public Policy at Indiana University
Marianna Ryshina-Pankova
Constructing Coherent and Cohesive Textual Worlds in Advanced Foreign Language Learner Writing
Dr. Heidi Byrnes (Maxim, Schiffrin [Linguistics])
Defended with Distinction April 6, 2006
First employment after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator at George Mason University (2006)
Shu-Ping Lee
Der Hermaphrodismus in der Deutschen Literatur um 1800
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Kord, Murphy)
Defended February 6, 2006
First employment after graduation: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Nanhua University, Taiwan (2006)
Olga Liamkina
The Role of Explicit Meaning-Based Instruction in Foreign Language Pedagogy: Applications of Cognitive Linguistics to Teaching the German Dative Case to Advanced Learners
Dr. Heidi Byrnes (Maxim, Tyler [Linguistics])
Defended August 10, 2006
First employment after graduation: Pedagogical Liaison Officer, Goethe Institut, New York City (2006)
Peter Weise
Schalom Genosse Schriftsteller - German-Jewish Literature in the German Democratic Republic
Dr. Peter C. Pfeiffer (Eigler, Sieg)
Defended November 22, 2004
First employment after graduation: Instructor of German, Boston University
James P. Martin
The Crisis of Cultural Knowledge in Michael Köhlmeier's Telemach, Christoph Ransmayr's Morbus Kitahara and W. G. Sebald's Die Ringe des Saturn
Dr. Peter C. Pfeiffer (Eigler, Sieg)
Defended November 13, 2003
First employment after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA
Karen Mei Eng
German Colonialism in China: A Literary and Cultural Study
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Sieg, Peck)
Defended August 18, 2003
Ph.D. awarded August 2003
First Employment after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Missouri, Columbia
Susanne Rinner
Erinnern und Erzählen: Die Darstellung der Studentenbewegung und des Nationalsozialismus in der deutschsprachigen Literatur nach 1989
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Kord, Pfeiffer)
Defended May 12, 2003
Ph.D. awarded July 2003
First employment after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA
Joanna K. Stimmel
Entangled by the Past: Mutual Representations and Self-Images in German and Polish Discourses on the Holocaust
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Pfeiffer, Peck)
Defended April 17, 2003
Ph.D. awarded May 2003
First employment after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor, Columbia University and Hunter College, New York, NY
Katherine Sprang
Vocabulary Acquisition and Advanced Learners: The Role of Grammaticization and Conceptual Organization in the Acquisition of German Verbs with Inseparable Prefixes
Dr. Heidi Byrnes (Fink, Mackey [Linguistics,] Tyler, [Linguistics])
Defended March 3, 2003
Ph.D. awarded May 2003
First employment after graduation: Director, Multimedia & Library Services, Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State
John Taylor
Constructing Right-Wing Extremism in the Media: The Role of Evaluation in Three News Genres
Dr. Heidi Byrnes (Eigler, Scollon [Linguistics])
Defended February 10, 2003
Ph.D. awarded February 2003
First employment after graduation: Assistant Professor, Drury College, MO
Andreas Hoppe
Alter und Dialekt: Eine Untersuchung zur Dialektkompetenz des Kölschen der jüngeren, mittleren und älteren Generation
Dr. Kurt R. Jankowsky (Murphy, Obernberger)
Defended December 18, 2002
Ph.D. awarded February 2003
First employment after graduation: Teacher, Carolina Forest High School, Horry County Public Schools, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Barbara Serfozo
Warring Narratives: the Diaries of Ursula von Kardorff, Margret Boveri and Lore Walb
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Peck, Cubilie [English])
Defended December 6, 2002
Ph.D. awarded December 2002
First employment after graduation: Consultant and translator in Berlin
Anna Helm Kurz
The Intersections of the Material and Poetic Economy: Stifter?s Nachsommer and Freytag's Soll und Haben
Dr. Peter C. Pfeiffer (Eigler, Kord)
Defended August 15, 2002
Ph.D. awarded December 2002
First employment after graduation: Director, Business, Cultures, and Languages Program, University of Maryland, College Park
Jason Owens
Changing Constructions of Germanness in Namibia: The "GDR Kids"
Dr. Jeffrey Peck (Eigler, McKittrick [History, African Studies Program])
Defended June 8, 2001
Ph.D. awarded September 30, 2001
First employment after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor, Whitman College, WA
Anne Thiel
Verhinderte Traditionen: Maerchen deutscher Autorinnen vor den Bruedern Grimm
Dr. Susanne Kord (Eigler, Pfeiffer)
Defended with Distinction April 2, 2001
Ph.D. awarded May 25, 2001
This dissertation was awarded the Glassman Distinguished Dissertation Award, May 2002
First employment after graduation: Executive Assistant to Senior Vice President, World Resources Institute
Mark Dreisonstok
Pagan/Christian Symbiosis in Heliand and Related Works
Rev. G. Ronald Murphy, S.J., Ph.D. (Jankowsky, Pfeiffer)
Defended December 19, 2000
Ph.D. awarded December 31, 2000
First employment after graduation: Part-time Instructor at GW, Georgetown (Continuing Education), Marymount, and Montgomery College
Hiroyuki Eto
Philologie vs. Sprachwissenschaft: Historiographie einer Begriffsbestimmung im Rahmen der Wissenschaftsgeschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts
Dr. Kurt R. Jankowsky (Fink, Obernberger)
Defended with Distinction December 20, 1999
Ph.D. awarded May 26, 2000
First employment after graduation: Assistant Professor of English, Nagano College, Komagane, Nagano, Japan
Elise Brayton
Almost German: The Representation of Racial Difference and Belonging in Contemporary Germany
Dr. Jeffrey M. Peck (Eigler, Pfeiffer)
Defended November 22, 1999
Ph.D. awarded May 26, 2000
First employment after graduation: Lecturer, San Diego State University (starting F 2000)
Nawal Al-Jubeir
Deutsche Wörter arabischen Ursprungs: Eine kulturhistorisch-lingustische Studie des Einflusses von Arabisch auf Deutsch zwischen 700 - 1200
Dr. Kurt R. Jankowsky (Murphy, Obernberger, Stowasser [Arab Studies])
Defended December 16, 1999
Ph.D. awarded May 26, 2000
Astrid Weigert
Schriftstellerinnen als Aesthetikerinnen: Genre und Geschlecht in Romantik und Naturalismus am Beispiel von Dorothea Schlegel und Elsa Berstein
Dr. Susanne T. Kord (Eigler, Pfeiffer)
Defended with Distinction August 24, 1999
Ph.D. awarded August 31, 1999
First employment after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor, Georgetown University
Heidrun Franz
Uwe Johnson und Christa Wolf: Vergangenheits- und Gegenwartsaufarbeitung in ihren literarischen Werken
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Murphy, Pfeiffer)
Defended May 10, 1999
Ph.D. awarded August 31, 1999
First employment after graduation: Assistant Professor, George Washington University, Washington, DC
Edward Reif
Goethe as a Visual Artist: The Painful Process of Personal Realization
Rev. G. Ronald Murphy, S.J., Ph.D. (Jankowsky, Pfeiffer, Prelinger [Art, Music
and Theater Department])
Defended October 7, 1998
Ph.D. awarded August 31, 1999
First employment after graduation: Lecturer, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen
Gianfranca M. Schöfer
Südtirol: Die deutsche Minderheit in Italien; Eine historische, sprachsoziologische Darstellung
Dr. Alfred Obernberger (Jankowsky, Murphy)
Defended with distinction October 26, 1998
Ph.D. awarded December 31, 1998
Eva Szalay
Negotiating Constructions of Femininity, Subjective Agency and Resistance in Select Fiction by Kaschnitz, Bachmann and Wolf
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Kord, Pfeiffer)
Defended with Distinction May 21, 1998
Ph.D. awarded August 31, 1998
First employment after graduation: Assistant Professor of German at Weber State University, Ogden, Utah
Kenneth W. Reed
Bestimmung und Beschreibung des sprachlichen Feldes: Ein Beitrag zur Anwendung des Wortfeldprinzips
Dr. Alfred Obernberger (Jankowsky, Murphy)
Defended December 19, 1997
Ph.D. awarded January 31, 1998
First employment after graduation: Director of Technology Services and Resources, Alexandria City Public Schools, Alexandria, Virginia
Walter Rankin
The Literate Citizen and the Pedagogical State: Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Campe's Robinson Der Jüngere, and Lessing's Nathan der Weise
Dr. Peter C. Pfeiffer (Eigler, Peck)
Defended with distinction December 8, 1997
Ph.D. awarded January 31, 1998
First employment after graduation: Assistant Dean for Student Academic Affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
Ann Perseus Penningroth
Making Meaning in Second Language Reading: The Case of an Advanced Learner of German in the Foreign Language Classroom
Dr. Heidi Byrnes (Peck, Moyer)
Defended May 30, 1997
Ph.D. awarded September 30, 1997
First employment after graduation: Assistant Professor of German, University of Alberta, Canada
Neal Guthrie
Rainer Maria Rilke and Sprachskepsis. The Role of Metaphor in Saying the Unsayable
Rev. G. Ronald Murphy, S.J., Ph.D. (Shukla [Linguistics], Jankowsky)
Defended May 9, 1997
Ph.D. awarded July 31, 1997
First employment after graduation: Research Historian, Department of Exhibitions, Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC
Kerstin Gaddy
The Novelization of Drama in Naturalism: Henrik Ibsen's Gengangere and Gerhart Hauptmann's Vor Sonnenaufgang
Dr. Friederike Eigler (Kord, Murphy)
Defended with distinction April 10, 1997
Ph.D. awarded May 23, 1997
First employment after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor of German, Catholic University, Washington, DC
Teresa Dederichs
"Weltansicht": Ein semantisch-konnotativer Vergleich zwischen westdeutschen und russlanddeutschen Jugendlichen
Dr. Kurt R. Jankowsky (Obernberger, Fink)
Defended October 10, 1996
Ph.D. awarded March 31, 1997
First employment after graduation: Lecturer at University of Hamburg (Germany)
Margaret Ruth Gonglewski
A Discourse-analytic Investigation of Deixis in Anna Seghers Der Ausflug der Toten Mädchen: Oscillating Place, Time, and Person
Dr. Heidi Byrnes (Eigler, Hamilton [Linguistics])
Defended August 23, 1995
Ph.D. awarded January 31, 1996
First employment after graduation: Assistant Professor of German and Language Program Coordinator at George Washington University, Washington, DC
Monika Fingas
Die Struktur von Hermann Brochs Roman Der Tod des Vergil: Erörtert im Hinblick auf seine philosophischen, linguistischen und literarischen Komponenten
Dr. Kurt R. Jankowsky (Fink, Obernberger)
Defended October 11, 1994
Ph.D. awarded December 31, 1994
First employment after graduation: Lecturer in German for Continuing Education Division, Georgetown University
Cara Horwich
The Theme of Survival in Grimmelshausen's Simplizissismus and Brecht's Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder
Rev. G. Ronald Murphy, S.J., Ph.D. (Kord, Obernberger)
Defended September 20, 1994
Ph.D. awarded October 31, 1994
First employment after graduation: Teacher in the UK
Ashleigh Stall May 2011
First employment after graduation: German teacher at the John Carroll School in Bel Air, MD
Carolyn Osinski May 2011
Gergely Kovacs May 2009
Yumiko Blackwell May 2008
Brenda Casteen May 2007
First employment after graduation: Georgetown University, DEFL
Jared Wilson May 2007
First employment after graduation: Berlitz School
Christopher Grodecki May 2006
First employment after graduation: Institute for Justice
Patrick McGovern August 2005
Continuing studies of Chinese in Taiwan.
Matthew Adams May 2005
First employment after graduation: U.S. government agency.
Richard March May 2005
First employment after graduation: U.S. government agency.
Timothy Frawley June 2003
First employment after graduation: Teacher of English and German, Berlitz School, and political organizer for California Peace Action, Los Angeles, CA
Kimberly Jaeger May 2003
First employment after graduation: Visiting Instructor, German Department, Georgetown University
Janel Galvanek November 26, 2002
First employment after graduation: Assistant Editor, German Historical Institute, Washington, DC
Melissa Brennan May 17, 2002
First employment after graduation: Teacher in Melk, Austria
Ivan Parkinson July 31, 2001
First employment after graduation: Liaison between the US State Dept. and the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), Vienna, Austria
Maria Teresa Mascaro Llabres July 31, 2001
First employment after graduation: Visiting Instructor and Assistant Director, Intensive Spanish Program, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, Georgetown University
Sibila Karamehmedovic September 30, 2001
First employment after graduation: Foreign Language Teacher and Interpreter, Monterey, CA
Kei Hoshino August 31, 2001
First employment after graduation: Editor of In-House Newsletter, Deutsche Bank, New York City
Colin Bezener August 31, 2001
Sonja Ruffner May 2000
Monika Biller Harris May 28, 1999
Susanne Wunner May 22, 1998
First employment after graduation: Program Coordinator, U.S. Liaison Office of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Washington, DC
Christopher T. Swanson May 22, 1998
First employment after graduation: Software trainer/consultant at Perfect Access
Tanja Martina Mayer May 22, 1998
First employment after graduation: Technology training for PriceWaterhouseCoopers
D. Jeffrey Bale May 23, 1997
First employment after graduation: Teacher in a public high school in Chicago
Kari Lynn Fangel December 31, 1996
First employment after graduation: Assistant Professor and Director of Off-Campus Programs, Hamline University
Andrea Deborah Marreck May 24, 1996
First employment after graduation: Working for Deutsche Bank, New York City
Noah Lang October 31, 1995
First employment after graduation: Printmaker at Trillium Graphics, a traditional and digital printmaking studio in the San Francisco area
Shawn M. Bryce July 31, 1995
Felix Haibach May 27, 1994
First employment after graduation: Working at World Bank
Danica Shaw February 28, 1994
First employment after graduation: Coordinator at WorldTeach Namibia, Windhoek
