Graduate

Prospective Students

THANK YOU for your interest in our program. We understand the importance of your decision to commit the next few years to preparing for a career in academia or in a field related to it. We will do our best to make this period a rich and worthwhile experience for you.  We want you to be excited about learning new things and getting involved in various projects and activities.  Our size and general disciplinary openness will let you customize your course of study as much as possible.

Please consult the following links that will help you make an informed decision.  If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact the department’s graduate adviser Prof. Chenxi Tang, the department chair Prof. Karen Feldman, or any professor in your area of interest listed here.  

 

Major Links

Applying for Graduate Admission   

 

Admissions

Collaborative Projects

Curriculum

Departmental Events

Departmental News

Dissertations

Fellowships & Support

Graduate Resources

International Networks

Overview of the German Graduate Program    

Past and Present

Placement

Social Activities

Teaching & Pedagogy

 

Our Department

The Department of German encourages applications from students who wish to study German literature and culture through a multidisciplinary and comparative lens.  We also offer seminars on German film and media, Critical Theory, migration studies, and are open to emerging sub-disciplines like digital literature.  In the past two years, we have developed a robust online presence with a series of transatlantic conversations under the title “Archives of Migration: The Power of Fiction in Times of Fake News.”  . We expressly invite applications from underrepresented minorities.

In addition to our regular fellowships, we offer a special two-year Sunrise Foundation Fellowship for the study of German Film and Media. We also cooperate with UC Berkeley’s Center for Jewish Studies to provide funding to students interested in themes related to Jewish literature, culture, and history.

 

Why Berkeley?

There’s a saying that Berkeley is not just a place, it’s an idea. We believe that excellence and access are not mutually exclusive.  Diversity is a source of strength at UC Berkeley, and we therefore strongly encourage applications from underrepresented minorities.  Our research crosses many cultural, historical, and disciplinary boundaries.  In 2020, we were especially proud to be part of a university where faculty have been honored with Nobel Prizes in both Physics and Chemistry. Listen to what Nobel Laureate and longtime Chemistry professor Jennifer Doudna had to say about UC Berkeley and the campus research atmosphere in her first interview after being informed that she had won the Nobel Prize: (8:35 mark).
Students and faculty in the Department of German share this spirit of discovery and collaborative achievement that characterizes UC Berkeley at large.

 

Comprehensive training

The Department of German at UC Berkeley offers comprehensive training in all areas of German studies.  Our core curriculum includes seminars in the history of the German language, methods of literary study, and foreign language pedagogy, among others. Faculty teach in their areas of expertise, and also offer broader courses designed for coverage. Students often coordinate and collaborate with faculty in developing seminars that meet particular student interests.  Our department has the critical mass to allow students to take courses outside the department and thus add a comparative and cross-disciplinary perspective on their academic work.  

Outside the classroom, the Department of German offers a range of research, presentation, and collaboration possibilities, including the Graduate Student Conference, the Semiotic Circle, Bay Area German, the Graduate Student Forum, the Multicultural Germany Project, various collaborative projects and international networks, as well as our student-run online journal Transit.

 

Individualized programs of study

Our applicants often come to graduate studies with a specific area of interest in mind — be it classical or modern German literature, German philosophy and Critical Theory (Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Benjamin, Adorno, Habermas), German cinema, German migration, German-Jewish topics, Germanic Linguistics, or the comparative study of the literature of the Middle Ages, among others. Berkeley encourages cross-disciplinary interests and, different from other universities, offers a wide array of “Designated Emphases” (transdisciplinary PhD Minors) that provide a certified formal study of a related field of interest. 

The following DE programs can be combined with a PhD in German:

Critical Theory                                 Folklore
Film & Media                                   Dutch Studies
New Media                                       European Studies
Jewish Studies                                 Medieval Studies (Concurrent Ph.D.)
Migration Studies                           Renaissance and Early Modern Studies
Women, Gender and Sexuality    Digital Humanities (forthcoming) 

A DE allows a graduate student to be part of a community of scholars interested in larger questions that span across departmental borders. DEs are designed to be completed within the normative Ph.D. time frame, and to enhance a student’s academic credentials. Students who are not formal participants in a DE are nonetheless welcome to enroll in DE seminars.  

Our students also take courses in other departments, including Comparative Literature, French, English, Film & Media, Music, Art History, and Anthropology.  Our faculty has several joint appointments or affiliations with Comparative Literature, English, Film & Media, Critical Theory, Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, and Religious Studies.

The numerous DE programs and interdepartmental cooperations that complement departmental offerings make the Humanities at UC Berkeley a uniquely dynamic and stimulating environment. The Department of German is itself a central contributor to Berkeley’s rich culture of multidisciplinary research and teaching.

Independent of specialization, all of our students receive a thorough training in theory and praxis of language and literature pedagogy, based on the latest theories in second language acquisition. We are also committed to professional development and encourage students to be fully active in the profession, learn how to organize conferences, and even edit a journal.

 

Students and Faculty

In 1993, our students were the first in the U.S. to organize an annual graduate conference in German studies – a tradition that is still going strong.  Graduate students are fully engaged in the intellectual life of the department, and they teach language and (after their Qualifying Exam) literature courses on their own.  We strongly believe in the unity of learning and teaching. 

The present faculty has been honored with five Guggenheims, several Alexander von Humboldt Fellowships, Getty Fellowships, a Humboldt Research Prize, and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies, among other awards.

Almost 100 of our former PhDs are presently teaching in universities and colleges across the country, including Cornell University, Washington University, Oberlin College, University of Virginia, University of Arizona, the College of William and Mary, and University of North Carolina. 

 

Environment 

Reflecting the values of diversity and intellectual curiosity typical for the San Francisco Bay Area, our department has a long history of pioneering new perspectives on German Studies in the United States.  We teach not only current literature but also keep the German canon alive by rereading it in light of the present. The size of our department is ideal for providing focus and individualized education while offering the richness of resources at a top-ranked large public university.  With 12 million volumes, UC Berkeley’s library is one of the largest in the US. Situated at the physical center of our department, our departmental library holds more than 5,000 volumes and a large DVD collection; it also serves as a meeting place for research groups and social activities.   

We are fortunate to be located in an area of rare natural beauty, pleasant climate, and enormous cultural riches, including a film archive and art museum on campus.  The vibrant cultural life of San Francisco is a mere 30 minutes away by subway.

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We look forward to your application!