Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth participated in the 48th annual conference of the German Studies Association from September 26-29 in Atlanta, GA. Berroth’s research paper, “Marica Bodrožić und Deniz Utlu’s ‘Unterhaltungen deutscher Ausgewanderten’ – Reflections on the Curated Virtual Audio Archive Dichterlesen.net,” contributed to a series of panels organized around the topic of literary kinships in contemporary German literature. Berroth also served as a commentator for panel presentations in this series.

Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth hosted the annual fall conference for the Texas Chapter of the American Association for Teachers of German at Southwestern University. The conference brought together German educators across instructional levels and institutions, which is important for developing cohesive curricular pathways to success from middle and high schools to college, especially with focus on IB and AP programs that can earn participants college credits. The conference program included teaching and learning with AI, networking among programs, support for new colleagues, and publicly engaged humanities initiatives at the state and national levels. Participants earned continuing education credits.

Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth participated in a collaborative event, “Tree Cultures ad Kew,” co-convened by Interdisciplinary Research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the University of Derby. Bringing together researchers and practitioners from the humanities and from arboriculture, participants explored how we understand and regard the value of trees in both historical and cultural contexts. The symposium showcased emerging literary and environmental history scholarship on trees and tree spaces, and fostered discussions around how the arts and humanities can contribute to debates on trees, past, present, and future. The symposium was held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a UNESCO World Heritage site of immense arboreal, botanical, and conservation interest. Kew’s treescapes foregrounded the symposium’s discussions, and participants had the opportunity to engage in guided tree walks of Kew’s tree collections and of Kew’s Wood Xylarium.

Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth’s engagement with the German speaking community was instrumental in securing a gift to Southwestern University’s Distinctive Collections: Uwe Lemke’s extensive Perry Rhodan collection, donated by his widow Mary Duffy. The many volumes of this epic narrative represent Germany’s most successful and longest running science fiction series that started in 1961, arguably the most successful science fiction novel series in the world. This gift makes Distinctive Collections and Archives currently the only library in the USA that can provide access to a German language collection of the Perry Rhodan series.

Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth presented an invited talk on “Die Zukunft des Sprachenlernens in den USA: Visionen und Innovationen” (The Future of Studying Languages in the USA: Visions and Innovations) at the Goethe-Institut in Washington DC. The joint conference sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) and the Goethe-Institut brought together invited expert voices in education, administration, and professional organizations to collaborate on future oriented visions for the continued success of learning and teaching German across institutions, proficiency levels, and global networks.