Melanie Adley is a first-year doctoral student. She received her MA in German Literature from Tufts University and her BA in German and Spanish Literature from Boston University. Before attending Tufts, she spent one year in Neumünster, near Kiel, as a Fulbright TA. While working on her MA, she studied in Tübingen. Melanie's interests include 19th and 20th century narrative fiction and the novel. She also intends to continue her work on the role of letters, both symbolically and as a narrative tool.

Matthew Belcher (Dissertation) Matthew Belcher is a Max Kade Fellow for 2003/2004. He graduated from The Citadel in 2002 with a BA in German and political science, and he studied at the Universität Potsdam and the Konrad Wolf Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen in Babelsberg on a Fulbright Grant in 2002/2003. His interests include DDR literature and film. Papers presented: "Fascist Ghosts in GDR Cinema," Philological Association of the Carolinas, UNC-Asheville, March 2002; "Das Komische nach Lessing: Lachen statt Verlachen in Minna von Barnhelm," Philological Association of the Carolinas, UNC-Charlotte, March 2004; "Changing more than Media: Schlöndorff's Politics in the Filmic Adaptation of Die Blechtrommel," University of Pennsylvania German Graduate Student Conference, German Projections, Foreign Reflections: A Conference on Film, Narrative and the Creation of Historical Memory, Nationally and Internationally, April 2004.

Vance Byrd (Dissertation) Vance is a Fontaine Fellow. A recipient of DAAD and Fulbright grants, he has previously studied at the Universities of Georgia, Rostock, and Bonn as well as participated in the Summer Institute for Formal and Functional Linguistics at the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf on a Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprache / Linguistic Society of America fellowship. He presented “Découpage, Bodies, and Politics in Peter Weiss’s Marat/Sade” at the San Francisco State University graduate student conference in October 2004.

Christine Rapp Dombrowski (Dissertation). Her dissertation, "The Making of a Romantic Hagiography," reflects her particular research foci in: medieval feminine mysticism, Romanticism (specifically Clemens Brentano and Joseph Goerres' Spaetwerke) and feminine theory. In addition to her academic and research interests, pedagogy plays an equally important role in her professional life with particular interests in technology within the classroom. She has been awarded several fellowships and grants including: Yale Consortium for Language Learning and Teaching Grant (1997), the Instructional Computing Development Fund Grant (1997), and a University Fellowship (1999 - 2000). Papers and publications include: "An Introduction to Using HTML," to Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Pennsylvania, 1998; "The Two Hildegards: Searching for Hildegard of Bingen in her Vita," as part of the "Exchanges Between German and Religious Studies: Considering a Diversity of Beliefs," Graduate Student Conference, University of Pennsylvania, 2000; and co-translator of "Grimmelshausen's Ewig-währender Calendar: A Labyrinth of Knowledge and Reading" in A Companion to Grimmelshausen, 2001. Prior to entering the doctoral program at UPENN, she completed a Masters in Germanic Linguistics at UCONN in 1996 and spent a year abroad at the Universitaet Freiburg, Germany studying medieval German literature and languages.

Mary Elliott-Peters (Dissertation) Mary Elliott-Peters explores in her dissertation national and gendered spaces via the female captivity topos in Lessing’s Miß Sara Sampson and La Roche’s Die Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim. Through the translation of this imprisonment motif from Samuel Richardson’s strand of the 18 th-century English novel into the German tradition, two genres, the novel and the drama, were significantly revised at a time when questions of nationhood were emerging in Europe and gender paradigms were becoming increasingly prescriptive and polarized.
Mary spent four years in Germany while attending RWTH-Aachen, where she also worked as a language teacher and translator. Before that, she taught German and English on the secondary level in the U.S. Awarded: Erich Friedman Memorial Prize.
Besides the 18 th-century German drama, the German and English novel as well as women’s studies, her interests include the history of detective fiction and writing through the centuries by women in German and English. Specifically, the German and American female rewriting of the hard-boiled genre and the founding of the German feminocentric novel in the late 18 th century by La Roche and Sagar have most recently drawn her attention.
Papers presented:
“Ein Zaun aus Planken und Ritzen,” Charting Boundaries conference at Indiana University (2001); “Die übersehene Betrachtete in Theodor Storms Der Herr Etatsrat,” From Gutenberg’s Printing Press to Everyone’s Cyber Space conference, University of Pennsylvania (2001); “Captive in Germany: Negotiation of Female and National Space,” How Many Genders Has German conference, University of Pennsylvania (2005).
“Sophie Sternheim hits the Road again,”Modern Language Association convention, Washington, D.C. (2005); “Not-so-chaste secrets in Hensel’s drama Entführung, oder die zärtliche Mutter,” Northeast Modern Language Association, Philadelphia (2006); and “Engendering Nation in Late 18 th-Century Germany: a German Female Captivity Narrative,” American Society of Eighteenth Century Studies, Montreal, Canada (2006).
Upcoming presentations at the 2006 Modern Language Association convention: “‘Mylord, Sie zerreißen mein Herz’: Domestic Violence and the Founding of a Women’s Literature in La Roche and Sagar”; as well as “Die professionelle Privatschnüfflerin: Female Agency in Frauenkrimis.”

Gordana Dana Grozdanic (Dissertation) Gordana's primary research interests include the dynamics and relations between the emergence of the literary market, print culture and production, reception and function of literature in the 18th century; Germany and the European Union; German writers and Europe; drama and theater; literature and visuality.  Her personal interests include Business German, translating, film, and food.  In addition to writing book reviews, Dana's expertise includes language translation between German and Croatian.  She pursued undergraduate studies at the University of Sarajevo, University of Zagreb, and Universitaet zu Koeln.  DAAD Scholarship recipient.  Papers published/presented: "Der gefesselte Dichter. Ernst Tollers Der entfesselte Wotan als satirische Selbstbespiegelung" Stefan Neuhaus, Rolf Selbmann, Thorsten Unger (Eds.): Engagierte Literatur zwischen den Weltkriegen; "Engagierte Literatur zwischen den Weltkriegen," Würzburg conference, Neuburg an der Donau, Germany, 2002; "Der deutsch-schweizerische Literaturstreit in der Literatur oder Worum geht es hier eigentlich? L. A. Gottscheds Der Witzling und Ch. F. Weißes Die Poeten nach der Mode," MLA Convention, New Orleans, 2002.  

Matthew Handelman is a first year graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his BA from Hamilton College in mathematics and German Literature (no, not auf Lehramt). His experience in Germany includes a junior year abroad in Tuebingen in 2004 - 05 as well as a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship near Hamburg in 2006 - 07. His academic interests focus mainly on the early 20th century - specifically on the connections between literary, mathematical and scientific thought.

Emily S. Hauze is a fourth-year Ph.D. student at Penn and Max Kade Fellow for 2004/2005, with primary interest in the intersections and interactions between music and text. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College, where she double majored in German and Music, and devoted much of her time to vocal performance. In the summer of 2005 she received a DAAD fellowship to study in Bayreuth. Emily presented her paper "The Frustrated Listener: Acoustic Perceptions in Kafka's Narratives" at the 2006 conference of the Modernist Studies Association, and her article entitled "Who Can Write an Opera?  F. C. Bressand and the Baroque Opera Libretto" will be published by Monatshefte in 2007.  Emily recently chaired the organization of Penn's 2007 German Graduate Conference entitled "Uniting Sound & Text."  She plans to devote upcoming research to the phenomenon of listening in the literature of the early 20th century.

Anika Kiehne (Dissertation) Anika's primary interests include the representation of women in literature from the 18th to the 19th Century, in particular images of the learned woman. A further research interest deals with literary depictions of the lesbian.
Anika is a Max Kade Fellow, and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 2000 and the Gunther-Daemmrich Memorial Prize in 2004.
Papers presented: „Faust and Frankenstein - Feeding on Femininity?“ at the 2002 Kentucky Foreign Language Conference; „Art and Nature in Dorothea Schlegel’s Florentin“ at the 2002 German Studies Association Conference in San Diego and the 2003 Kentucky Foreign Language Conference.

Kathryn Malczyk is a first-year graduate student. She earned her BA in English and German from Gordon College, studied at the Universitaet Heidelberg for a year, and was a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Ostbevern (near Muenster), Germany.

Catherine McCandless (Dissertation) Catherine is a Max Kade Fellow (2000-01 and 2006-07) and a Dean’s Fellow (2003-04). She also received a research fellowship from the Stiftung Weimarer Klassik und Kunstsammlungen (June 2006). Her dissertation examines Goethe’s long-time engagement with the musico-dramatic genre of the Singspiel and the ways in which his Singspiele intervene didactically, critically, or therapeutically in society. Papers presented: “Couple’s Therapy in Goethe’s Jeri und Bätely,” American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 2007; “Singspiel as Therapy in Goethe’s Laune des Verliebten,” RMMLA, 2006; “Singspiele auf der Weimarer Liebhaberbühne,” Stiftung Weimarer Klassik Stipendiatenkolloquium, Weimar, Germany, 2006; “The Charms of Rome: A Musical Interpretation of Goethe’s Roman Elegies,” California State University, 2003. Her academic service includes co-chairing the German Department’s graduate student conference (2000), participating in the German Department’s high school articulation project (2002), founding and organizing teaching workshops for graduate students in the German Department (2003-05), and serving as a graduate assistant to the Max Kade/DAAD Graduate School Experience workshop for college German majors (2005, 2006). Catherine is also the recipient of a Zantop Travel Award from Women in German (2005).

Alexander Pichugin (Dissertation) Alexander E. Pichugin's primary interests include German literature of post-war period. Max Kade Fellow 2002/2003. Recipient of DAAD Scholarship Award, 1997/1998; Edmund S. Muskie/FSA Graduate Fellowship Award from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department, 2001/2002; Daemmrich-Guenther Memorial Prize for outstanding achievement in German studies, 2003; and Graduate Student Fellowship for the Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute in German Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, 2004. Alexander holds a Diploma with Honors in German Language and Literature from Saratov State University N. G. Chernyshevsky, Russia, and a Master of Education degree from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He has also studied in Germany at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and worked as a visiting scholar at the Department of Italian at Rutgers. Papers presented/published: “Use of Musical Terminology in Teaching Italian at Higher Education Institutions for Music” Theory and Practice of Teaching Native and Foreign Languages at Institutions of Higher Education, Saratov State Academy of Right Press, 2000; “Imaging Catastrophe: Destruction of Hamburg in ‘Der Untergang’ by H. E. Nossack,” The Image of the City in Literature, Media, and Society. Selected Papers. Conference of The Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery, Colorado Springs, 2003; “‘Madame DuBarry’ by Ernst Lubitsch: Elements of Style in German-American Cinematic Tradition,” German Projections, Foreign Reflections: A Conference on Film, Narrative and the Creation of Historical Memory, Nationally and Internationally, University of Pennsylvania, 2004; „Luftkrieg und Textualität: H. E. Nossack und W. G. Sebald zum Thema der Bombenangriffe auf deutsche Städte“, Graduate-Faculty Colloquium, German Department, University of Pennsylvania, 2004; “Hero-Warrior or Hero-Poet? Self-representation of Emperor Maximilian I in his ‘Teuerdank,’” The Image of the Hero in Literature, Media, and Society. Selected Papers. Conference of The Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery, Colorado Springs, 2004; “Erlebnis und Umschreibung. Zur Darstellung der Zerstörung deutscher Städte in der deutschen Literatur.” Stadt und Trauma. Ed. Monika Stromberger and Bettina Fraisl. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2004. Alexander’s work experience includes university-level teaching of French and Latin, business interpreting, as well as 5 years of teaching Italian at the university level both in Russia (Saratov State Conservatory) and the U.S. (Rutgers).

Michael Ryan (Dissertation) Michael's primary interests include 20th century literature as well as late 19th century philosophy. In 2005/2006 he has been awarded a DAAD grant to perform research in Berlin, Germany, and in 1999 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for study in Vienna.  Publications: "Samsa and Samsara: Suffering, Death, and Rebirth in 'The Metamorphosis,'" The German Quarterly; "Kafka's 'Die Soehne: The Range and Scope of Metaphor," Monatshefte; and "The Aggregate Character in Kafka's 'In der Strafkolonie,'" Symposium.

Christopher Schnader (Dissertation) William Penn, Fulbright, and Rotary International Fellowships. Prior experience includes teaching German at an American high school and work in Cologne and Berlin in the fields of international exchange, cultural programming, and film. His review of Robert Tobin's Warm Brothers appeared in the 2000 Lessing Yearbook. Most recently he has presented on friendship in eighteenth-century Germany (2005 Fulbright Berlin Seminar), the Deutscher Gruß (2005 International Conference on Word & Image Studies), Ostalgie (2006 NeMLA Conference), and Wörlitz (2006 GSA Conference).

Kristen Sincavage is a first year graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania.  She received her BA in German Studies from the College of William and Mary.  She spent a semester studying abroad in Berlin during her junior year.      

Gabriella Skwara is a third-year doctoral student. She completed an M.A. in German at the University of California, Davis in 2003, where she also received her B.A. in Comparative Literature in 2000. Gabriella hopes to continue to pursue her interests in fin-de-siècle Vienna and in the intersections between critical theory and literature.

Lori Sundberg (Dissertation) Lori's primary interests include Medieval Mysticism and Early Christianization of Northern Europe. The focus of Lori's dissertation topic centers upon Meister Eckhart and Alfred Rosenberg's National Socialist Christianity. Awarded a Fontaine Fellowship, the American Indian Graduate Center Fellowship, the Caddo Nation/Bureau of Indian Affairs Scholarship, the Lottie Conlan Academic Scholarship. She spent two years working for the opera house in Graz, Austria.  Papers presented: "Hannah Arendt's Reconstruction of Political Philosophy: The Road to Eichmann in Jerusalem," 'From Gutenberg's Printing Press to Everyone's Cyber Space: Media and the Arts from 1500 to the Present' conference, University of Pennsylvania, 2001.

Curtis Swope (Dissertation) Curtis Swope was a Max Kade Fellow for 2002/2003. He graduated in 2002 from Middlebury College in Vermont with a BA in German. Curtis has studied abroad at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz, and his interests include music and urban planning.

Mara Taylor (Dissertation) Mara Taylor is a dissertating doctoral student who received her B.A. from Smith College. Her experience in Germany includes studying at the Uni Hamburg and teaching in Rostock as a Fulbright scholar. Papers presented include: “The Masquerade of Medieval Masculinity: The German Heavy Metal Band In Extremo” at the Popular Culture Association Conference (April 2004); “Private Identity in an all too Public World: Alternatives to the Coming-Out Narrative in Weimar Germany” at the South Central MLA (October 2006); and “ Je mehr sie gelitten hatte, desto sonniger wurde ihre Kunst: Theatrical Lesbian Subjectivity in Weimar Germany” at Lesbian Lives XIV at the Women’s Education, Research and Resource Centre University College, Dublin, Ireland (June 2007). Mara has also served on the graduate student conference planning committee for three consecutive years. Her dissertation focuses on the literature of queer subcultures in Weimar Berlin.

Kerry Wallach is a fourth-year doctoral student and Max Kade/Margaret Schoenfeld Falk Fellow for 2004/2005. She has studied in both Germany and Israel, and she holds a BA in the College of Letters from Wesleyan University.  Her work focuses mainly on twentieth-century German-Jewish women writers.   Papers presented include: "'The Lie Closest to the Truth': Contradictions and Concealment in Barbara Honigmann's Ein Kapitel aus meinem Leben ," at the Women in German Conference (October 2006) and "Mascha Kaléko Advertises the New (Jewish) Woman" at the Conference on German-Jewish Women Writers, 1900-1938 at the University of London (May 2007). Other research interests include German-Jewish literature and culture, the Weimar Republic, Jewish American literature, and gender studies.  In 2007, Kerry was awarded the Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students as well as the Arthur M. Daemmrich and Alfred Guenther Memorial Prize for Excellence in German Studies.  

Mary Beth Wetli (Dissertation) Mary Beth is spending the 2006-2007 academic year at the FU in Berlin, where she will be finishing her dissertation on a Fulbright Fellowship. Her dissertation, "Rethinking Time: Friedrich Schiller's Path from Medical Dissertations to History Plays," examines Schiller's notion of history as constitutive for his anthropology, aesthetics, and dramas. In 2005-06, she was the graduate research assistant at the Penn Humanities Forum. In addition, she has held the following fellowships: Critical Writing (2004-05), Dean's (2003-04); and Max Kade (2000-01). Mary Beth also coordinated the International Association of Word and Image Studies "Elective Affinities" conference in September 2005. Papers presented include: "Das Boot ist voll: Ein Grenzerlebnis," Villanova University Delta Phi Alpha guest lecture; "The Price of Progress in Schiller's Raeuber," M/MLA, 2005; "We ain't broke, so stop tryin' to fix us," Sexual States Conference, UCLA 2002, as well as departmental colloquia. Mary Beth was the co-director of Penn-in-Freiburg summer study abroad program (2001, 2002). In other leadership activities at Penn, she has been a Senior Writing Fellow (2004), WATU Fellow (2002-04), a graduate representative to the University Council Library Committee (2003-05), and a founding member of the Penn Graduate Humanities Forum. She is the recipient of the Arthur M. Daemmrich and Alfred Guenther Memorial Prize and the Erich Friedmann Prize for excellence in German studies.