Bryn Mawr German Studies is a Bi-College Department with Haverford German. We offer a full curriculum of interdisciplinary coursework to investigate the role and resonance of German languages, literatures, and cultures to understand the essential questions of the past and present. Our program explores the diverse voices, perspectives, disciplines, and narratives that have emerged from and shape German-speaking regions and their relevance in the world today.

Students who pursue a course of study in German gain valuable communication and critical thinking skills to prepare them to be global citizens in the twenty-first century. Graduates of our program enjoy careers in education, public policy, foreign service, the natural sciences, business, law, medicine, library science, translating, and more. Students interested in the social sciences and STEM fields profit from growing their language and intercultural communicative skills to access opportunities in German-speaking countries.

Our language instruction encourages students from the elementary level to become skilled in all modes of communication. Upper-level courses unfold a variety of topics while deepening their critical writing, reading, and presentational skills. Cross-disciplinary course offerings reflect the breadth and depth of our curriculum and support the academic and professional goals of our students. German majors are encouraged to take courses and cultivate interests in interdisciplinary areas that engage with German thought.

College Foreign Language Requirement

Before the start of the senior year, each student must complete, with a grade of 2.0 or higher, two units of foreign language. Students may fulfill the requirement by completing two sequential semester-long courses in one language, beginning at the level determined by their language placement. A student who is prepared for advanced work may complete the requirement instead with two advanced free-standing semester-long courses in a single foreign language.

Department Learning Goals

By promoting knowledge of German speaking cultures, the Bi-Co German Department fosters skills and literacies for the twenty-first century. These include:

• critical thinking for real-world and creative problem-solving
• expository and analytical writing skills
• a command of the critical theories and methodologies used to analyze and contextualize cultural artifacts, texts, and media from the past and present
• intercultural competence by exploring different perspectives in a multilingual and multicultural world
• interdisciplinary connections that grow from the global resonance of German Studies
• communicational skills applicable across all fields in multilingual environments
• skills for evaluating media and primary and secondary sources for research purposes.

These goals are informed by the learning outcomes of Bryn Mawr College, emphasizing writing skills, research skills, oral communication skills, critical thinking skills, and the ability to view problems and questions from multiple perspectives.

Academic Opportunities

Study Abroad

Students majoring or minoring in German are encouraged to spend time in German-speaking countries over the course of their studies. Short-term and long-term opportunities include:

• immersive summer programs in the US and abroad, for example, Middlebury German Summer Language School, Frei Universität Berlin - Summer and Winter University (FUBiS), programs selected by the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), the Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik, and Goethe Institute.
• summer courses at German universities funded by DAAD (German Academic Exchange) scholarships, Thomas Raeburn White Scholarship, Judy Loomis Gould Scholarship, Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship, The German Chancellor Fellowship for tomorrow's leaders, DAAD University Summer Course Grant, and HAUS Scholarship for Study at the University of Heidelberg
• select semester and year-long study abroad programs including the Junior Year Abroad in Munich, IES Programs in Berlin, Freiburg, and Vienna, and Freie Universität Berlin European Studies Program.
• internships or other career-focused experiences arranged independently through study abroad opportunities, e.g. Innovation Academy in Freiburg, RISE Germany (Research Internships in Science and Engineering), EMGIP Bundestag Internship (DAAD), IAESTE International Exchange Programs, AIESEC International Internships, Cultural Vistas, BASF, and Steuben-Schurz Gesellschaft.

Postgraduate Study and Professional Opportunities

• US Fulbright Open Study/Research
• US Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA)
• US Teaching Assistantships at Austrian Secondary Schools (Fulbright Austria)
• DAAD Study Scholarship
• Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX)

Student Research and Scholarship Prizes

• Outstanding German Studies Student Award
• Berle Memorial Prize for German Literature
• Hester Ann Corner Prize in Literature (German)
• Hester Ann Corner Senior Thesis Prize
• Lattimore Poetry Prize
• Hanna Holborn Grey Research Fellowship
• German Society of Pennsylvania Scholarship

Major Requirements

The Department of German Studies offers a major and a minor. A German major consists of 10 credits above the elementary level. They typically consist of:

• two intermediate German courses (101 and 102)
• seven courses at the 200 and 300 level
• one of the four senior capstone options

Students placed at the advanced level (at the 200 level) must still take 10 credits to fulfill major requirements. Two of the seven courses at the 200 or 300 level could be non-German credit in the broader area of German Studies with the approval of the department.

All German majors must take at least one 200 and one 300 level course in the Bi-Co German Department. At least one course has to be at the 300 level with German as the language of instruction. For students studying abroad for one semester, up to four courses may count toward the major. For students studying abroad for an entire academic year, up to six courses may count toward the major. Approval from the department is required for awarding credits from abroad.

The Department of German Studies offers writing attentive and writing intensive courses. Majors are required to take two writing attentive courses to help them develop critical writing skills in German and work on their language proficiency across all modes of communication.

Senior Capstone Project

A senior project is required for all German majors. There are four options available to German majors and double majors to serve as meaningful capstones to their studies:

• A senior thesis (around 40 pages) in German. Students with German as their only major must register for GERM 400 and complete a senior thesis.
• A combined thesis (around 40 pages) written in English for double majors in a related discipline with a strong German studies component. A combined thesis must be approved by the department. Students completing a combined thesis register for thesis work with one of their major departments, but are still required to complete 10 credits for their German major.
• A senior essay (20 pages) written in German for double majors produced in a 300-level seminar in lieu of a final paper. Students pursuing this option will take an additional 300 level seminar in German instead of GERM 400
• A project (equivalent to a 40-page research paper in German) for double majors, which may be either a 15-20-minute film or an exhibition with a portfolio and summary in German. Students pursuing this option must consult with the chair and their thesis advisor and then enroll in GERM 400.

Senior Capstone Presentation

At the conclusion of their senior year, all majors are required to participate in a public presentation of their capstone projects. Minors are invited and encouraged to present on a project they have done in their upper-level German coursework.

Senior Project Learning Goals

In completing the senior capstone, students should:

• formulate a theoretically informed and well-designed research project
• apply their German language skills to research, evaluate, and analyze cultural materials
• hone analytical and expository writing skills through all stages of the project

Assessment of Senior Thesis

The quality of the thesis is evaluated based on the following criteria:

• originality of topic
• depth of analysis of texts or cultural phenomena
• familiarity with and selection of relevant primary and secondary literature appropriate to genre of writing and discipline
• original application of relevant theoretical discourses in field(s) of interest
• clarity, coherence, and organization of writing and development of ideas
• delivery of a presentation to an audience of peers

Honors

Any student whose grade point average in the major at the end of their senior year is 3.8 or higher qualifies for departmental honors. Students who have completed a thesis and whose major grade point average at the end of the senior year is 3.6 or higher, but not 3.8, are eligible to be discussed as candidates for departmental honors. A student in this range of eligibility must be sponsored by at least one faculty member with whom she has done coursework, and at least one other faculty member must read some of the student's advanced work and agree on the excellence of the work in order for departmental honors to be awarded. If there is a sharp difference of opinion, additional readers will serve as needed.

Minor Requirements

A minor in German and German Studies consists of six credits above the elementary level. They typically consist of:

• two Intermediate German courses (101 and 102)
• four German courses at the 200 and 300 level

All German minors must take at least one 200 and one 300 level course in the Bi-Co German Department. At least one course has to be at the 300 level with German as the language of instruction.

Students placed at the advanced level (at the 200 level) must still take 6 credits to fulfill minor requirements.