Germanic Languages
Harvard Denied Its Only Yiddish Professor Tenure. Did the Process Fail Him?
When Yiddish studies professor Saul Noam Zaritt was denied tenure in June at the direction of Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76, Zaritt’s own tenure review committee was stunned. They say Harvard mishandled the case — and left the future of Yiddish instruction in limbo.
Harvard Prof. Eric Rentschler Sanctioned for Violating Sexual Harassment Policies
Germanic Languages and Literatures professor Eric Rentschler was placed on two-year administrative leave for violating the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ sexual and gender-based harassment and professional conduct policies, Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra announced in an internal email.
Faculty Debate Changes to Language Requirement, Simultaneous Enrollment At FAS Meeting
Members of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences discussed proposed changes to Harvard’s language requirement and simultaneous enrollment policies at a virtual meeting Tuesday.
Harvard’s Language Exchange Program Receives Culture Lab Innovation Fund
Harvard’s Language Exchange Program received a multi-thousand-dollar grant from the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging to expand the reach of its language-learning platform.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier Discusses Digital Technology Ethics at HLS Talk
Hosted by Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, the event — entitled “Ethics of Digital Transformation” — also featured professors studying in a variety of disciplines from both American and German universities.
You Speak What?
Within the classrooms of Harvard’s smallest language classes, a wide mix of people work to grasp the unfamiliar sounds and systems of a language that few of their classmates will ever understand.
German Department Prematurely Publicizes Potential Joint Concentration
Though the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has yet to approve a proposed special joint concentration with Germanic Languages and Literatures, the German department has been aggressively publicizing the initiative, often “jumping the gun” and referring to the proposal as a done deal, according to German Department Chair John T. Hamilton.
Vampire Vibes: The Dark Side of Modern Culture
Bettina Stoetzer, assistant professor at MIT, lectures on German literature to the audience. Last Friday, an interdisciplinary conference called "Vampire Vibes: The Dark Side of Modern Culture" was held on problematics of identity, deviance, and power in modern history, literature, and media.
Vampires Come Alive at Humanities Conference
Students and scholars across several departments gathered around a “vampirian round table” on Friday to discuss the importance of supernatural elements in media and literature in understanding society’s age-old thirst for tales of the undead.
The Humanities at Work
The universe of higher education often bemoans a "crisis" in the humanities, with supposedly dwindling numbers and few job prospects. At Harvard, humanities concentrators face a crisis of choice, attempting to balance their passions with factors like stability and employment. For Harvard graduates, the question is not so much whether you’ll get a job with a humanities degree—it’s where.
Snow Days by Concentration
Now that everyone has frolicked sufficiently, snow days have become a time for learned contemplation. FM considers how students of various concentrations can best use their time off.
Same Story, New Book: Repackaging Humanities at Harvard
Recently, national news outlets have declared a crisis of the humanities. But at Harvard, the plot gets more complicated. The challenges facing Harvard's humanities necessitate changes to course offerings far more than the core of the humanistic enterprise.
