How to Contact or Subscribe to Updates from the Georgetown Department of German

For general matters and undergraduate questions, contact Professor Mary Helen Dupree, Department Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies. For M.A. and Ph.D. studies, as well as general matters and undergraduate concerns, contact Professor Joe Cunningham, Director of Graduate Studies. To receive information on events and activities related to the study of German language and literature, subscribe to the department's email list.

Who to Contact

The department routes inquiries by topic rather than through a single general address.

Note that the department lists both contacts for general matters and undergraduate concerns. If your question is specifically about graduate study, Cunningham is the relevant contact; otherwise either listing applies.

Subscribing to Department Updates

If you want information on events and activities related to the study of German language and literature, the department invites you to subscribe to its email list. The site presents this as the channel for event and activity announcements, so it is the appropriate option if you are not seeking an answer to a specific question but want ongoing notices.

What the Department Covers

Knowing the department's scope helps you direct a question to the right person. The Department of German at Georgetown University describes itself as offering a comprehensive and interdisciplinary exploration of the German-speaking world, combining German language study with literature and culture in a diverse, interdisciplinary context. It runs both undergraduate and graduate programs and states a commitment to incorporating diversity at all levels of the curriculum.

Beyond coursework, the department fosters intellectual life outside the classroom by inviting speakers and hosting an annual Max Kade professor from a German-speaking country, alternating between a scholar and a writer-in-residence. Event announcements of this kind are what the email list covers.

Undergraduate

At the undergraduate level, the department describes an internationally recognized curriculum that helps students become competent and culturally literate users of German while pursuing a German major or minor.

Graduate

At the graduate level, the department offers an M.A. or Ph.D. in German, and — with the BMW Center for German and European Studies — a joint MAGES/Ph.D. degree. It describes the environment as challenging yet supportive.

Faculty research areas

Faculty work spans cross-disciplinary topics including gender and performance, notions of belonging and Heimat, visual culture and digital humanities, cultural negotiations of economic concepts, globalization, and the role of multiple literacies in Second Language Acquisition.

Practical Notes

• Match your question to the contact above before writing; graduate admissions and degree requirements go to Cunningham, most everything else can go to either listed contact.
• The email list is for events and activities, not for individual advising questions.
• The site does not state response times or office hours, so plan accordingly if your question is time-sensitive.