Germany is a 21st-century world leader in engineering, innovation, and global connections. At the center of contemporary Europe, Germany’s prominence in the European Union draws on its rich cultural traditions and complex history to imagine sustainable solutions for the future.

Why German & German Studies at Sewanee?

Studying German at Sewanee is more than just learning a language, it is a complete immersion into the diversity of German life, culture, and history. You can take courses ranging from a focus on global icons like the Volkswagen Beetle, to an exploration of German unification through graphic novels, and questions of identity and the German colonial past in film and literature.

Studying German at Sewanee will take you far. German is the most widely spoken language in the EU and the German economy is the world’s fourth largest. With more than 1,100 companies in German-speaking countries contributing more than 700,000 jobs in the United States the outlook is rosy for the modern German speaker. By pairing that with opportunities for study abroad, internships, and research available in German speaking countries, you will have a wide range of opportunities open to you from medicine and business to nearly any global industry. Our goal is to enable every student to study abroad, and the Jackson Cross Scholarship for students of German offers significant funding to help with the financial costs. Every single student who participated in our recent Sewanee in Berlin summer program received funding.

FIRST DESTINATIONS: GERMAN & GERMAN STUDIES MAJORS

Sewanee graduates secure positions in a variety of fields. Some you would expect, others are a bit of a surprise. Sewanee prepares you for your profession and your passion. The first destination for Alondra Ramirez, a 2021 graduate, was profiled in a feature story. Other recent graduates' first jobs are listed below.

  • Research assistant, Nexus Institute, Berlin, Germany.
  • Trade marketing analyst, Sage Tree, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Study/research grant, U.S. Department of State/Fulbright Fellowship, Berlin, Germany.
Meet some of our alumni
GRADUATE SCHOOL & PRE-PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS: GERMAN & GERMAN STUDIES MAJORS

Sewanee graduates enjoy extraordinary acceptance rates to top graduate and pre-professional programs–about 95 percent to law school and over 85 percent to medical school. Below is a sampling of where Sewanee grads continue their education.  Learn about outcomes for our German majors.

  • M.A. in translation & interpretation, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
  • M.A. in international relations, University College, Dublin.
  • M.A. in modern European history, University of St Andrews, Scotland.

Bearing Witness: Rebecca Cole

Rebecca Cole, a German Studies and History major, shares her experiences recovering lost stories of Holocaust victims. By combining study abroad programs in Berlin and a summer fellowship with a community-based organization there, Cole researched the history of individuals being memorialized with a Stolperstein ("stumbling stone"). Building on this work, Cole is completing an honors thesis on collective memory of the Holocaust in East and West Germany.   

Read More

A Sampling of Courses

German & German Studies

Programs of Study

Requirements for the Major and the Minor in German and German Studies

Study Abroad in Germany

Meet some professors

Contact

richard Apgar
Associate Professor of German & Chair of Department of German & German Studies

rbapgar@sewanee.edu

Gailor Hall 203, Ext. 3554

 
 
 
 
 
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Das Deutsche Haus (@germanhousesewanee) • Instagram photos and videos

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Connecting the Dots