World Languages and Cultures

I joined Oregon State University in 2008 after a one-year visiting appointment at Montana State University. I hold a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, a M.A. from the University of Florida, and two BA equivalent degrees in English (Otto Friedrich Universität Bamberg, Germany) and in German (Ludwig Maximilians Universität Munich, Germany). At OSU I am Professor of German in the School of Language, Culture, and Society (College of Liberal Arts).

Film is my passion. I am the author of East German Cinema: DEFA and Film History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), of 東ドイツ映画 デーファと映画史東ドイツ映画 デーファと映画史 ( ‎ 鳥影社, 2019), and the co-editor (with Sean Allan) of Re-imagining DEFA. East German Cinema in its National and Transnational Context (Berghahn, 2015) and of Documenting Socialism (Berghahn, 2024). My essays about German film and language pedagogy have appeared in journals and edited volumes. See a full bibliography by clicking the tab on the right.

I serve as director on the board of the Oregon Cartoon Project and am responsible for the organization's publications in digital and print forms.

At OSU I have developed the curriculum of the first online major in German in North America (Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science), and I designed and currently teach the curriculum German for Engineers as part of the ATLANTIS dual degree program.

Publications