Campus visitors bring outside perspectives and conversations

In addition to the rich and diverse body of lectures and events available at a large university like Ohio State, the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures hosts its own lecture series each year. Literary and film scholars, translators, applied linguists, philosophers, authors and filmmakers, and historians visit campus to deliver formal lectures, but also to meet with small groups of our graduate students, providing opportunities for intellectual exchange and networking. 

Check out who has been on campus recently, or who is coming soon on our GLL Events page.

Graduate students host annual conference

Each year, our Germanic Graduate Student Association [GGSA] hosts a conference where graduate students from Ohio State and institutions across the country and the world present their work. The conference offers valuable professionalization experience, giving you the chance not only to gain confidence presenting your work in public, but also to organize and run a professional meeting. The conference always features a keynote speaker, a faculty member from another university known for their work on the conference topic for the year; during the two days of the conference, you will enjoy the extended opportunity to connect with an expert in the field.

Umwelt Center for Germanic Studies and the Environmental Humanities

In 2023, the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures secured a competitive grant from Ohio State to found a center dedicated to furthering research in German and Scandinavian studies and the environmental humanities. The Umwelt Center hosts an annual conference, supports a resident postdoctoral scholar, organizes a campus-wide reading group in environmental humanities, and provides research and internship funding for graduate students. With these activities, it aims to make Ohio State’s Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures a hub of connection and scholarly activity in the field. 

Graduate Student Experience

 In the autumn, the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at The Ohio State University hosts a two-day workshop for juniors and seniors from across the United States who show an interest in German language, literature, and culture, and who possess strong academic records as well as an aptitude for research and independent thinking.

 Students participating in the workshop will have been nominated by their home institution faculty. At Ohio State, they will explore the rich diversity of perspectives on the field through interdisciplinary sessions on literature, film, culture, linguistics, and pedagogy led by Ohio State faculty. 

 Workshop sessions represent the wide range of German Studies today, from medieval to media studies, cultural history, German-Jewish studies, and environmental humanities. Our current graduate students share their experiences and a panel of faculty and recent alumni discuss academic and non-academic career opportunities after the M.A. and Ph.D.

This project is made possible through generous funding from the DAAD/German Academic Exchange Service.

Conference travel funding

All students are eligible for an annual departmental stipend to present their research at  conferences. And you can apply to multiple university offices for additional support for research travel.

Dresden study abroad program

A long-standing partnership with the Technische Universität Dresden allows two Ohio State graduate students each year to receive full funding for study in Germany. Students can use this year to improve their language skills before their MA exam, learn from European approaches to Germanistik before their candidacy exam, or conduct research for and write their dissertation. 

Teaching in our study abroad programs

In addition to the variety of teaching opportunities students have on campus, you can apply for a teaching position in our summer study abroad programs in Dresden and Berlin. You will not only receive funding to get to Germany over the summer, these programs will provide you with the chance to assemble a diverse teaching portfolio and to gain experience in operating study-abroad programs.

• In the 8-week Dresden program, an advanced graduate student instructs an intermediate German course.
• In the 4-week Global May Germany-Berlin program, a graduate student co-teaches an English-language general education course on Berlin’s history and its current society and culture. 

Reflecting on his year at Ohio State as an Austrian Fulbright foreign language teaching assistant in 2022-23, Gustav Grimm wrote that “if I had to pick one word to describe my time at OSU, it would be community.”   

He noted the pre-semester, week-long teaching workshop that forged friendships between students teaching a variety of languages, kind and supportive faculty and staff, and the close relationships with his fellow students, who became both colleagues and friends.

 In the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, we work continually to sustain this atmosphere of inclusivity, collegiality, and mutual support. Departmental culture lives in day-to-day interactions, but it is also supported by traditions and programs.

The Germanic Graduate Student Association 

The GGSA provides a forum for our graduate students to discuss the issues that affect them, advocates for the graduate student body, and plans events like the annual graduate student conference.

First-year faculty mentor

From your first weeks on campus, you will have a faculty mentor you can turn to with questions about adjusting to life in Columbus, finding resources on campus, navigating graduate courses, or anything else you need. By the second year of their program, all of our grad students work with an advisor to develop expertise in their area of interest and to prepare for exams. The Director of Graduate Studies and our Academic Program Services, Senior Specialist also meet with each student early in the first semester to make sure that your all have the support and resources you need from the very beginning.

On Friday afternoons at Kaffeeklatsch, students at all levels of German proficiency gather to chat, relax, and enjoy a well-deserved treat. 

Enough said!