This is an archived copy of the 2020-21 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://catalog.utexas.edu/.

Germanic Studies

Master of Arts
Doctor of Philosophy

For More Information

Campus address: Burdine Hall (BUR) 336, phone (512) 471-4123; campus mail code: C3300

Mailing address: The University of Texas at Austin, Graduate Program, Department of Germanic Studies, 2505 University Avenue Stop C3300, Austin TX 78712

E-mail: germanicstudies@austin.utexas.edu

URL: http://liberalarts.utexas.edu/germanic/

Facilities for Graduate Work

The Department of Germanic Studies is committed to scholarship and teaching that foster the highest professional achievement and standards. The faculty focuses on interdisciplinary and intercultural research on primary sources in cultural studies, linguistics, literature, and second language studies, as well as on course development and teaching. The program of study combines work that emphasizes traditional scholarly tools and approaches to literature, language, and cultures with twenty-first century research on emerging forms of textuality and media, cultural identity, migration and exile, cultural contact situations, Web-based and media-based research and teaching, and other theoretical and computer-based approaches to cultural studies and cultural history.

The department encourages programs of study that combine German and other Germanic cultures, especially Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish; it welcomes work that makes substantial links between cultural sites in different periods and different regions, as well as between different scholarly disciplines and research paradigms. Course offerings of the resident faculty are supplemented by visiting scholars from Europe, including long-term German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) lecturers, and occasional writers or scholars in residence. While completing core requirements within the department, students are encouraged to pursue links to and coursework in other programs in the University.

The University Libraries are state-of-the-art. They are among the 10 largest collections in the country and focus especially on digital collections. The Harry Ransom Center, the campus rare books library, has substantial holdings in German drama, manuscripts, and publisher’s correspondence; and the Blanton Museum of Art has one of the largest collections of prints, drawings, and paintings in the country, including significant holdings in European graphic arts.

Areas of Study

All students in the graduate program take a core of required courses. In consultation with the graduate adviser, each student chooses a concentration to aid in the choice of electives. Concentrations may include courses from outside the department that are related to the major area of study.

Graduate Studies Committee

The following faculty members served on the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) in the spring 2020 semester.


Katherine M Arens
Kirsten L Belgum
Hans C Boas
Pascale R Bos
Kirkland Alexander Fulk
Sabine Hake
Nicholas A Henry
Peter Hess
John M Hoberman
Marc Pierce
Jurgen K Streeck
Vincent Vanderheijden
Lynn R Wilkinson

Admission Requirements

Entering graduate students must have a bachelor’s degree (or the equivalent from a university outside the United States), ordinarily with a major in German or the appropriate Germanic language.