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Somewhat to your amazement, you find yourself powerfully attracted to
the German language, German history, and German culture. Can you turn
this passion into an academic major? Yes!Eight departments at Appalachian have combined their German-related courses into a richly varied set of offerings for you to consider-- from International Marketing to Germany in the Bismarckian era.
Even if your heart is set on a different academic major, you are welcome to take advanced-level German and German Studies courses and can count them for credit towards graduation. We hope you will call on us, the faculty in German Studies, for help in finding connections between your interests and the courses we teach.
With guidance from lots of faculty advisors and mentors, you can indeed create an educational program involving language mastery, cultural and historical studies, and--if you dare--practical domestic internships and study abroad.
WHO ADMINISTERS THIS PROGRAM?
In concentrating in German Studies at Appalachian, you make your academic home in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, which awards B.A. degrees in 14 different cross-disciplinary areas: e.g., Latin American Studies, Russian Studies, Environmental Policy and Planning, and Women's Studies. German Studies is one such "concentration."The "gateway" person here is Dr. Kay Smith, chairperson of the department. Your first inquiry should start with her (call 828-262-3177). She will then hand you over to Dr. Bud Gerber, the advisor to all German Studies concentrators, for the working out of the details of your program.
WHAT DOES THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES REQUIRE OF ME?
You will need to complete four IDS upper-level core courses. Designed to deepen your general education and enhance your capacity to deal with materials from a variety of disciplines, these courses will put you in touch with other adventurous souls like yourself. There is a strong career development component to this package as well.Note well!!!! These required courses--e.g., "Science and Culture" or "Artists and Culture"--will not always directly enhance your evolving competencies in "Germanistik." While you will often be able to do papers and projects which permit connection-making, the courses have other goals in mind.
WHAT SORT OF SUPPORT, ENCOURAGEMENT AND GUIDANCE CAN I ANTICIPATE?
See the rest of this website! You'll be very gratified. Briefly, German Studies concentrators are plunged into a rich environment of knowledgeable and helpful Germanists, beginning with Drs. Kennedy and Moser and Frau Rechenbach-Moomaw, who teach German in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Two other faculty members, Dr. Rainer Goetz and Fr. Anneliese Foerester, are native speakers of German and contribute to the German Studies Program.We think you will be very impressed with the way all the elements in this program can work together: the semesterly German Studies pot-lucks, the association with visiting German-speaking students, the rapidly emerging opportunities for studying abroad, the Stammtisch, the German Immersion Weekends, and so on.