Department of German
UW-Madison
College of Letters & Science

Faculty Descriptions

Adler, Hans (Dr. phil. habil., Universität Bochum) 
German literature from the 18th - 20th century; aesthetics; functions of literary and artistic discourses; history of rationality and reason; interrelationship between philosophy and literature 

Berghahn, Klaus (Dr. phil., Universität Münster) 
German literature and culture since the 18th century, history of criticism, history of utopian thinking, history of German-Jewish relations, anti-Semitism 

Calomino, Salvatore (Ph.D., Harvard University) 
Medieval German literature, Middle High German language, heroic and courtly epic, paleography, hagiography 

Chavez, Monika (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) 
teacher and learner variables; learner & teacher objectives; classroom language use; code switching; foreign language pedagogy 

Gross, Sabine (Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara) 
Literary theory, narratology, stylistics, reading research, image/text relations, contemporary German-language authors, theater and film 

Hermand, Jost (Ph.D, University of Marburg) 
German literature and culture since 1750, with special emphasis on democratic traditions, German-Jewish relations, fascism, and Germany after 1945, as well as on schools of criticism and a comparative arts approach to German culture.

Howell, Rob (Ph.D, Cornell University) 
Explanatory models of linguistic change ranging from early Germanic phonology to sociolinguistic factors influencing the development of Early Modern Dutch and German 

James, Charles (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) 
Language testing, primarily placement and proficiency testing,  teaching and learning methodology 

Kaiser, Nancy (Ph.D., Yale University) 
Feminist literary and cultural studies, German literature and aesthetics around 1800, and questions of gender in emancipatory discourses 

Kluge, Cora Lee (Ph.D., Stanford University) 
Eighteenth century literature and culture, German-American studies, history of German studies in America 

Louden, Mark L. (Ph.D., Cornell University) 
Syntactic theory, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic factors in language contact and syntactic change, synchrony and diachrony of languages strongly affected by contact, including Yiddish, Pennsylvania German, and pidgins and creoles. 

Mani, B. Venkat   (Ph.D. Stanford University in 2001)
20th century German literature, especially literature written by authors of non-German heritages, feminist literature, gay and lesbian literature.

Mödersheim, Sabine (Dr. phil., Universität Freiburg) 
Early Modern literature and culture, emblematics, rhetoric 

Salmons, Joseph C. (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) 
Phonology,  language change and morphology using data from historical and contemporary Germanic languages, including German dialects in America 

Silberman, Marc (Ph.D., Indiana University) 
German cinema, Bertolt Brecht, 20th century, culture, literary historiography 

Steakley, James (Ph.D., Cornell University) 
20th-century German and Dutch gay history 

Vanderwal Taylor, Jolanda (chair) (Ph.D., German and Dutch literature, Cornell University) 
Dutch and German literature and culture, Dutch (anti-) colonial writing, Dutch- and German-Jewish literature, and exile writings