GLL is delighted to welcome Matthew Johnson to its faculty. Johnson will be starting his appointment next fall and will have responsibilities for the Yiddish program, both as director of Yiddish and Ashkenazic Studies and as the chief instructor of Yiddish courses.

Johnson will be receiving his PhD this year from the University of Chicago with a dissertation titled “Faltering Language: On German-Yiddish Literature.” His education includes study at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute and as an exchange student at the Institut für Judaistik at the Freie Universität Berlin. He holds an undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature and German from New York University.

Johnson has already published articles and short pieces on Yiddish literature and German-Jewish culture. He has also translated several short texts from Yiddish into English. Johnson is an experienced instructor, having taught all levels of the German language, as well as several advanced German courses, including one on migration and contemporary literature. He is currently an elected member of the Yiddish Executive Committee at the Modern Language Association.