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What People Say
The Center for German & European Studies at the University of Minnesota (CGES) focuses on people, their aspirations, imagination, and drive. Each year our programs reach several thousand individuals: academicians, artists, business people, children, policymakers, students, teachers, and anyone who seeks to stay connected to Germany and Europe. Here is what some of those individuals have to say about their experience with CGES. If you would like to share your experience, please email us. We love to hear from you.
"Berlin is like a sweet potato. The potato is the city, the butter is the monumental stuff, and the brown sugar is the other stuff I got to learn about, like the people and the trains and the restaurants..."
-Kristina Hoskens, age 12, cast member of The Giant, a Children's Theatre Company project that received funding from CGES and took 12 children to Berlin for the 2003 International Brecht Conference
"Business does not operate in a vacuum but within economic, sociopolitical, and cultural systems and communities. Understanding how the systems work and what is important to the communities where we do business is critical for our success. CGES is invaluable not only for its academic research but also for its education of our future business and community leaders in the history, culture, politics, and economics of Europe and Germany. Understanding our world at large and trans-Atlantic relations in particular is critical for business success, especially in today's international markets."
-Christa Tiefenbacher-Hudson, former President, German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, Minnesota Chapter; Managing Director, TripleInk
"The CGES research collaborative 'Gender, Genre, and Politics in the trans-Atlantic World' was one of the most satisfying teaching experiences of my career. Because of the multiplicity of backgrounds among students and faculty, we often found ourselves translating across languages, as well as across disciplinary and theoretical, boundaries. Translation became a reflex and encouraged exchanges that might not otherwise have occurred. The presence of literary scholars pushed the historians and social scientists to be more attentive to language. And so did the readings—scholarly analyses and primary texts, some written in English, others translated from German or other languages."
-M.J. Maynes, Professor and Chair, Dept. of History, University of Minnesota
"I can think of no other forum where graduate students from the U.S. and Germany can come together, share ideas, and learn from one another in such a stimulating and productive environment. The Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute was a rewarding experience for me. I also gained a deeper understanding of German academic culture and got to know colleagues that I look forward to working with in the future.
-Andrew Oppenheimer, Ph.D. candidate, Dept. of History, University of Chicago
"I was surprised and immediately fascinated by the CGES research collaborative 'Contemporary Germany and the trans-Atlantic Culture of Memory.' We examined everything from buildings to musical performances, from the works of German cultural theorists to TV-series. We brought into conversation approaches from the fields of geography, history, architecture, and literary studies and so reached an entirely new level of understanding. I believe that my experience with this research collaborative will have a lasting impact on my future academic career. I have discovered the advantages of conducting research in a team environment. And I have worked closely with people who do cutting-edge research in their fields. Both have given me an entirely new set of research skills and aspirations."
-Gundolph Graml, recent Ph.D. recipient, Dept. of German, Scandinavia, and Dutch, University of Minnesota
"The best things about the Sprachakademie Wittenberg were its setting and authenticity. It's one thing to talk about the jobless rate or young people leaving the new German states to find work, and it's entirely another to listen to 'our' families share personal experiences and effects. Those personal experiences brought it all to life."
-Kevin Clark, teacher, Perpich Center for Arts Education
The Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute was my first opportunity to meet scholars from Germany and the U.S. who share my research interests. We lived and worked together for three weeks. I now have an extensive network of people I will be able to turn to in my professional life and I look forward to sharing and honing ideas with them. The formal material of the course has greatly enriched my knowledge of German history and given me excellent ideas about how to improve my own work."
-Jennifer Grana, Ph.D. candidate Dept. of History, University of Minnesota