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German and German Studies

The Bi-College Department of German and German Studies enables students to gain a critical understanding of the political, social, and historical influences that shaped German culture and to analyze its role in the contemporary global context.

Herzlich willkommen zu Bryn Mawr German!

Bryn Mawr German and German Studies is a Bi-College Department with Haverford German. The Bi-Co Department of German and German Studies offers an interdisciplinary German studies program that explores the role and global reach of German language, literature, and culture to understand urgent and essential questions of the past and the present. We explore the diverse voices, perspectives, disciplines and narratives that have emerged from and shape German-speaking regions and their role in the world today.

A thorough knowledge of the German language built at all levels of the program equips students with communicative skills necessary for working in academic and professional settings in German-speaking countries. Students also develop critical thinking and writing skills as well as intercultural competencies to respond creatively to challenges and opportunities posed by cultural differences in an increasingly global world.

Course offerings serve students with interests in German literature, literary theory and criticism, and those interested in studying German and German-speaking cultures from other fields and perspectives, including communication, film, history, history of ideas, history of art and architecture, gender studies, history of religion, linguistics, media studies, philosophy, politics, and urban anthropology and folklore. Students interested in other social sciences STEM fields profit from growing their language and intercultural communicative skills to access academic and professional opportunities and resources in German-speaking countries.

German majors are encouraged to take courses in any interdisciplinary area. Courses tagged with German in other departments can count toward the major or the minor. Our faculty have expertise in and offer courses with special focuses on Asian-German studies, film, philosophy, history, international relations, political science, gender studies, disability studies, post-colonial theory, medical humanities, history of art, visual studies, media theory, history of science, and Jewish studies.

Pathways and Courses of Study

Many students start in Elementary German in their first year with no prior knowledge of German and can major or minor. Visit our Program Requirements and Opportunities page to find out more about electives, study abroad opportunities, intensive summer language institutes, and ways to combine German with other academic interests and programs and opportunities at Bryn Mawr!

The Bi-Co Department of German and German Studies is proud of our recent graduates, who matriculated into the following graduate or professional schools:

  • Ph.D. in German at Georgetown University and Rutgers University, Ph.D. Program in Chemical Oceanography at MIT, Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton and at Ohio State University, Ph.D. in History at Rutgers, Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Chicago
  • M.Ed Program at the University of Michigan
  • MA in German Studies at CSU – Long Beach, MA in Interkulturelle Kommunikation at LMU Munich, MS in Bioengineering at UPenn, MA in Bioethics at UPenn, MA in Translation Studies at Kent State University, MA in History and Library Sciences at the UMD, MS in Statistics at Cornell, MS in International Migration and Public Policy at the London School of Economics, MsC in Anthropology and Development Management at the London School of Economics, MA in North American Studies at the Freie Universitaet Berlin, MA in Philosophy at University of Leuwen
  • MD at Harvard Medical School
  • JD at Fordham University and Yale University
  • Graduates have also earned Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships to Germany, Austrian Fulbright Commission Teaching Assistantships, and DAAD University Summer Course Grants.

Pre-Employment Language Workshop for Teaching Assistants

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Contact Us

Department of German and German Studies

Old Library 103
Bryn Mawr College
101 N. Merion Avenue
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010-2899
Phone: 610-526-5198

Qinna Shen, Chair
Phone: 610-526-7312
qshen@brynmawr.edu

Leslie Diarra, Academic Administrative Assistant
Phone: (610) 526-5198
ldiarra@brynmawr.edu

Department of German
Haverford College
370 Lancaster Avenue
Haverford, PA 19041
Phone: 610-795-1756