German Department Newsletter
Fall 2025
Participants during the What’s Work? symposium, held October 30-31, 2025
Liebe Studenten, Kollegen und Ehemalige!
As I approach the end of my first semester as chair of the Georgetown German Department, I am excited to share with you some updates about our current activities and future plans. While this has been a very challenging year, both institutionally and in the wider world, there are promising developments that illuminate a way forward for the university and the department. After a long search, the University has named Eduardo M. Peñalver as its 49th president, to succeed Interim President Robert Groves at the end of this academic year. This year also marks the first term of Professor David Edelstein as the new permanent Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. We have great confidence that the new leadership will continue to uphold Georgetown’s Jesuit values and lead with the vision and compassion that are needed in these transformative times.
Here in the German Department, we have had a very successful fall semester, starting off in September with a strong showing by the department at the German Studies Association’s annual conference, which was held in Arlington, Virginia, this year. Graduate students, faculty and visiting scholars from the German Department participated in panels and seminars on a wide range of topics, reflecting the breadth and depth of the department’s intellectual commitments. In October, Professor Peter Pfeiffer convened an international symposium on “What’s Work? Humanistic Approaches to Understanding Work,” in collaboration with the Georgetown English Department, the Georgetown Humanities Initiative, and the Fritz-Hüser-Institut, with the generous support of the Weise Family Fund. Over the course of two days, scholars from the United States and Europe explored narratives of work from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and discussed how the humanities can contribute to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of work. You can read more here about these exciting conferences and other departmental activities, including a reading and conversation by the Vietnamese-German author and journalist Khuê Phạm and a well-attended talk by our visiting scholar Patrick Graur.
Looking ahead, we are excited to welcome Alexander Schimmelbusch as our Max Kade Writer-in-Residence in Spring 2026. Alex will teach a course on the timely topic of “Alternative Facts,” focusing on the long and controversial career of the Austrian writer Peter Handke. We have many exciting talks and literary readings in the works for the spring semester, so stay tuned!
In these rapidly changing times, we are more grateful to you than ever for your support, which helps us to pursue our commitment to excellence in graduate and undergraduate education in German language, literature and culture. Thank you!
I hope you enjoy the Newsletter, and wish you and yours all the best for the holiday season.
Schöne Feiertage und einen guten Rutsch!
Herzlich,
Mary Helen Dupree
German Department Chair
Newsletter – Fall 2025
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Fall 2025, Past Events
The German Department had a strong presence at this year’s German Studies Association (GSA) convention, which was held on September 25-28 at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, Virginia.…
December 9, 2025
