Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth earned two materials grants from the German Foreign Office and the German Academic Exchange Service, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). The grants cover two curated collections of German language publications: German language poetry across the ages, and German language texts in natural history, climate science, and the anthropocene. Students will engage with those collections in their studies of German language, literatures, and cultures at all proficiency levels. Success with DAAD materials grants is made possible through Berroth’s commitment to community engagement as a DAAD Ortslektorin.

—April 2025

Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth presented research on curriculum and instruction at the annual conference of the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) from November 22-24 in Philadelphia, PA. Berroth organized a session “From Aschenputtel to Schneewittchen: the Culinary in German Fairy Tales.” Fostering insights into a plurality of experiences around food, this session enhanced understanding of the culinary aspects of the Grimm’s fairy tales and showed how teachers can support learners across proficiency levels to analyze texts through the critical lens of food studies, while also working creatively with fairy tale-based recipes.

—November 2024

Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth co-presented a poster on “SPARK for German: Challenges and Success Stories” at the online conference of the Coalition of Women in German from October 24-26. Berroth, together with Dr. Stefanie Ohnesorg of the University of Tennessee, Dr. Susanne Rinner of the Goethe Institut in Washington D.C., and Nella Spurlin of Baylor University, engaged audiences in exploring and discussing SPARK, the Structured Program for the Acquisition of German in the U.S., resources and know-how. Mindful of their ecological footprint, the Coalition of Women in German offers the annual conference online every third year.

—November 2024

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.

—October 2024

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.

—October 2024