German Studies, the Humanities, and the University
A Conference of the Institute for German Cultural Studies (IGCS)
Friday, September 13 and Saturday, September 14, 2019
A.D. White House, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
Friday, September 13
9:00am—Welcome: Patrizia McBride (Director, IGCS, Cornell University) and Paul Fleming (Director, Society for the Humanities, Cornell University)
9:30am— German Studies, the Humanities, the University
B. Venkat Mani (University of Wisconsin, Madison): “German Studies, Hyperlinked!: The Rewarding Futurities of a Transnational Discipline”
Leslie Morris (University of Minnesota/Twin Cities): "Unsettling German Jewish Studies"
11am—Coffee Break
11:30am—German Studies: Disciplinary and Institutional Snapshots
Roundtable discussion with Vance Byrd (Grinnell College), Ervin Malakaj (University of British Columbia), Matthew Miller (Colgate University), Franziska Schweiger (Hamilton College), Karina von Tippelskirch (Syracuse University)
1pm—Lunch Break
2:30pm—Keynote Address and Future of the Humanities Lecture
Sara Guyer (Director, Center for the Humanities, University of Wisconsin, Madison): “The Humanities of Testimony, revisited”
4:30pm--Coffee Break
5pm—German Studies as a Multiple Discipline
Roundtable discussion with Veronika Fuechtner (Dartmouth College), John Hamilton (Harvard University), Priscilla Layne (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Elisabeth Strowick (New York University), David Wellbery (University of Chicago)
6:30pm—Dinner Reception
Saturday, September 14
9:30am—Challenges and Opportunities for Undergraduate and Graduate Programs
Helmut Müller-Sievers (University of Colorado, Boulder): “Diversifying the German PhD. Experiences from Boulder”
Lydia B. Tang, Assistant Director of Programs, Modern Language Association: "Against Smallness: How Successful German Programs Reimagine the Humanities"
11am—Coffee Break
11:30am—Taking Stock of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs and Curricula
Roundtable discussion with Friederike Eigler (Georgetown University), Matt Erlin (Washington University, St. Louis), Jake Fraser (Reed College), Andreas Gailus (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Ulrich Plass (Wesleyan University), Oliver Simons (Columbia University)
1pm--Lunch Break
2pm—Scholarship, Publishing Venues, and the Future of Higher Education: The Case of German Studies
Catriona MacLeod (University of Chicago, German and Art History), President, Goethe Society of North America: “Two-Way Streets: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Scholarship in German Studies.”
Carl Niekerk (University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign), Editor, German Quarterly: "The Unconditional University, the Practices of German Studies, and the Future of the Humanities"
3:30pm—Coffee Break
4pm—Research, Publishing, Professionalization
Round table discussion with Diane Brown (Diacritics, Cornell) Sonja Fritzsche (Michigan State University), Carl Gelderloos (Binghamton University), Benjamin Robinson (Indiana University, Bloomington), Kizer Walker (Cornell University), Kirk Wetters (Yale University)
6pm—Dinner Reception
Funding for the conference was provided by the Institute for German Cultural Studies (IGCS); the Federal Republic of Germany through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); the Max Kade Foundation; Cornell Society for the Humanities; CNY Humanities Corridor; Cornell Institute for European Studies; Cornell Department of German Studies.
