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News Travels Spring 2016 Home 2

German Students Receive Scholarships and Awards

WSU undergraduate Justin Niedermeyer, who is graduating May 2016 with majors in Physics, Vocal Performance, and German for the Professions, has received a Fulbright Scholarship to Germany for the 2016-2017 academic year. Justin will be spending his Fulbright year studying and conducting research in Physics at the Universität Heidelberg, the oldest university in Germany.

Laci Hubbard-Mattix, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at WSU, has received an Intensive Language Course Scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service. This funding will allow Laci to participate in an 8-week language course at the did deutsch-institut worldwide in Frankfurt summer 2016. Laci began studying German at WSU fall semester 2014 with Professor Hughes and continued her study of the language in spring 2015 with Professor Bonzo and in fall 2015 with Professor Halverson. Under the direction of Professor Claudia Leeb, she is currently writing her dissertation on motherhood, a research which incorporates work by Hannah Arendt.

Jordan Sperl has been awarded an Teaching Assistantship from Fulbright Austria and will be teaching English in Upper Austria during the 2016-2017 academic. Jordan is graduating from the WSU Honors College in May 2016 with a first major in International Economics and Development and a second major in German for the Professions. In the course of completing her degree at WSU, she taught GERMAN 205 and tutored German in the DFLC Language Learning Resource Center.

Study Abroad

The WSU German Summer Program is in its second year and is rotating to Vienna for the summer of 2016. After a successful inaugural year in Berlin for 2015, this year’s program has 13 students in combination with Colorado State University. The program allows upper division students the chance to get WSU credits taught by a professor of German in authentic settings, where the students can practice their language skills outside the classroom, as well as in it, and where they have a hands-on experience with the cultural elements they would normally only read about. The experience is 6 weeks in length, before and after which the students may travel around Europe and broaden their horizons. Additionally, the students may travel on the weekends in order to accentuate their cultural and linguistic knowledge.

Faculty Activities

Professor Rachel J. Halverson has received a Fulbright Core Scholar Grant to teach and conduct research at the Universität Duisburg-Essen in Essen, Germany. Summer semester 2017, she will be teaching two block seminars on intercultural approaches to film. She also has been selected by the WSU Honors College to serve a three-year term as an Honors College Faculty Fellow. The DFLC is also pleased to announce that Professor Halverson has been promoted Full Professor effective August 16, 2016.

#GnomieHomie

Say Guten Tag to #GnomieHomie, Joshua D. Bonzo! Dr. Bonzo is a Clinical Associate Professor of German who is originally from Cedar City, Utah.

Dr. Bonzo taking a little break from the classroom.
Dr. Bonzo taking a little break from the classroom.

What is your favorite aspect about being a professor?
“I love watching students ‘get it.’ I love when students move into the understanding of how something works, not just accepting that something is.”

In your opinion, what is the biggest benefit of learning another language?
“Knowing another language opens the eyes of the speaker to a much larger and far less ethnocentric world. You can genuinely see a bigger world and where you fit into it when you know another language.”

What is one of the things on your bucket list?
“Getting my whole family to Germany – my wife and one of my daughters both hate flying over oceans.


Meet #GnomieHomie, Anneliesa Stubb! Anneliesa is freshman from Kirkland, WA studying Chemical Engineering and taking German classes!

Annelisa posing with Tomás as the first #GnomieHomie of the 2016 year.
Annelisa posing with Tomás as the first #GnomieHomie of the 2016 year.

Why are you taking a language course?
“I have a lot of family over in Germany. My grandma grew up there. I’ve always been interested in learning German but never really had the opportunity.”

What are your plans after WSU?
“After WSU I hope to live in Europe for a few years and immerse myself in the culture.”

What is one of the things on your bucket list?
“One thing on my bucket list is to be in Germany during Oktoberfest and Christmas.”