CAUTG / APAUC

This seminar will explore the narrative construction of modernity from the Enlightenment to the recent present. Discussions will be located at a discursive juncture where methodological reflections on an expanded narratology intersect with theories and philosophies of history. Analytical issues that come to the fore at this juncture have ramifications throughout the Humanities and Social Sciences. Narrative is a highly plastic form that establishes patterns of continuity and discontinuity while holding options open and tolerating ambiguities. Its power as an instrument for the rendering of socio-cultural worlds resides in its flexibility: its temporal openness, its plurality of perspectives, and its transformability. The capacity of narrative to provide frameworks of self-understanding is especially salient in the case of large-scale collective processes that, although unavailable to perceptual inspection, nevertheless must be observed if society is to achieve an account of itself. Since the last third of the eighteenth century, the concept of history has formed such an instrument of self-interpretation and one of the most contested areas within this interpretation has been the construal of modernity. This is the zone of inquiry the 2009 Interdisciplinary Summer Seminar in German Studies will endeavor to chart. Discussions will be centered on exemplary texts from the eighteenth century to the present as well as on participants’ research.

Director: David E. Wellbery, LeRoy T. and Margaret Deffenbaugh Carlson University Professor (Germanic Studies, Comparative Literature, Committee on Social Thought), University of Chicago.

Program: The seminar will be administered by the Department of Germanic Studies and will combine seminar meetings, discussions, and guest lectures. Seminar meetings will be conducted in English and all readings will be available in English translation. The seminar will be held at the University of Chicago.

Tuition: Participants are eligible for a DAAD tuition stipend. A non-refundable $50 administrative fee is required of all participants.

Eligibility: Participation is open to faculty members in the Humanities and Social Sciences at colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. Applicants who have received their Ph.D.’s within the past two years but do not yet hold faculty appointments are encouraged to apply. Graduate students and Ph.D. candidates are not eligible. Participants are expected to have an active interest in German intellectual and cultural history and must be citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. or Canada.

Application Deadline: March 1, 2009.

For further information please contact: Prof. David Wellbery/ Department of Germanic Studies/ University of Chicago/ Chicago, IL 60637. Phone: 773-702-8494. Email: wellbery@uchicago.edu.

Dear Colleagues, the following new tables for the 2007-2008 Enrolment Report
are now available:

Table 20: Average Class Size for Entry-Level German Language Courses in Fall
2007 at 45 Universities

In the past two enrolment reports (2006-07 and 2007-08), I have included a report on the average class size for first-year German courses, based on both first and second semesters (see Table 14). In the meantime, it has been pointed out to me that this figure is perhaps not as important as the average size of just the first-term classes, since that is where the large numbers more frequently occur, before they are diluted by the smaller second-semester numbers. I therefore conducted an interim survey in fall 2008. On Table 14 the average class size range was 10-46, with a median of 23 and a mean of 23. When just the fall term entry courses are considered, the range is 11-93, with a median of 24 and a mean of 27. When the exceptionally large class of 93 is omitted, the mean becomes 25.

Table 21: Enrolment Cap per Section for First-Year German Language Courses at
45 Universities

This table has been prepared in response to the recent discussion online regarding class size and enrolment caps. The enrolment caps for first-year German language courses range from 24 to 120, with a median of 30 and a mean of 34. When the exceptionally large cap of 120 is omitted, the mean becomes 32.

The survey also asked who set the caps. The answers can be grouped as follows:
by the department (7), by the dean (5), by the head (3), by the head and instructor (2), by the instructor (1), by the head and the language coordinator and the dean (1), by the department and the dean (1), by the registrar and the dean(1), by the admin staff and head and section head (1), and by the administration (1).

The survey also asked whether departments were in agreement with the cap. The four units with a cap of 24 were in agreement, as was one with 25. One with a cap of 30 may lower it next year to 25, having found the classes too large. Eleven with caps of 30 or higher find the classes too large but cannot afford to offer more sections. Three mentioned 25 as the preferred size and one preferred 15-20.

Table 22: Number of Sections, Cap per Section, and Class-Size Range in Fall 2007 Entry-Level German Courses, with Average Class Size for Regular and Special Sections

This table shows the number of sections offered at each university, since the number of sections sometimes is a determining factor in the setting of the cap. St. F. X., for example, had a cap of 50 because it offered only one section of German. It set the cap large enough so it would not have to turn students away. Similarly Guelph offered only one section of German and set the cap at 120.

The range is given here to identify small sections and large sections that are not evident in the average. Many units had at least one small section that reduced the overall average. When all four sections at Wilfrid Laurier, for example, are averaged together, the class-size average is 35 (see Table 20), but when the small distance ed section with an enrolment of 12 is removed, the average class size of the regular sections is 43. The 47 at Wilfrid Laurier also represents the second largest class, after Guelph’s class of 93. Units reported reasons for small sections among their regular sections, such as the last-minute addition of a section to accommodate overflow. Others had small sections in the evenings, which are not listed separately here because they had the same cap as the other sections.

The average class sizes differ on this table from the averages on Table 20 for some units. Where the department has a different cap for special sections, the average class sizes for regular and special sections are given separately.

Respectfully submitted,
Marcella Rollmann
CAUTG Enrolment Surveyor
14 November 2008
marcella@mun.ca

Call For Papers

Seventh Germanic and Slavic Studies Conference
At the University of Waterloo

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Graduate students, undergraduate students, faculty and alumni from the Germanic and Slavic Studies Department as well as from other related disciplines are invited to submit proposals for papers to be given at the Seventh Germanic and Slavic Studies Conference. Papers on any aspect of Germanic and/or Slavic Studies are welcome. The deadline is February 27, 2009. Please submit an electronic copy of your proposal (in English, maximum one page, excluding works cited, double-spaced) to Janet Vaughan (jvaughan@uwaterloo.ca). The subject line of the e-mail must read GSS Conference Proposal. The text body of the e-mail should contain: name, affiliation, 50-word biographical summary and paper title. The proposal should be sent as an attachment (PDF, Word, or RTF) and must not contain any information which would enable the reviewers to identify the author(s). Formatting must adhere to either APA or MLA guidelines. The conference language is English.

We encourage everyone to submit, as a paper given at this conference can be delivered at a future conference as well. It is recommended that students discuss their proposal with their mentor or another faculty member in good time prior to submission. Please forward this to anyone who may be interested in participating.

Program Committee
Allison Cattell, Mareike Müller, Laura Springate, Dr. Alice Kuzniar

Important Dates
27 February 2009 Deadline for submission of proposals
9 March 2009 Notification of authors
21 April 2009 GSS Conference, BBQ to follow