The Department offers the B.A., the M.A., and the Ph. D. in Germanic Studies. Students are encouraged to engage in interdisciplinary work. Some areas of our curriculum allow for special concent rations. (For a detailed description of the graduate programs, see below.)

Language Program

The Department of German at the University of Illinois at Chicago offers basic and advanced languages courses, including business German. The use of the recently developed modified natural method in basic language instruction by our well-trained staff enhances student motivation and ensures that communication remains the goal of language instruction.

Most courses utilize a multi-media approach. Our language lab offers students many possibilities for improving language and pronunciation skills via audio-visual material and computer supplements. We administer the Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache, an official certificate sponsored by the Goethe Institute that is recognized world-wide. Many business, engineering, and pre-professional students acquire their language skills in our courses. Our alumni praise the individual attention they received from our faculty.

International Exchange Programs

Study in German-speaking countries is possible through a wide variety of programs for a summer or an academic year. Programs of long standing and new ones are established in Vienna and Hamburg.  Recently, students have also studied in Berlin and Frei burg. A number  of graduate students from German-speaking countries are regularly on this campus to study and to assist in our language program.

Scholarships and Awards
The Department awards annually three to five students prizes recognizing achievements and promise; the awards range from $100 to $1000. Outstanding graduate and undergraduate students are eligible. We offer seven to nine teaching assistant stipends. In addition, teaching assistants may receive an award for excellence. UIC has also a competition for an annual stipend for a new graduate student.

Outreach
The Department sponsors or co-sponsors many events in the Chicago area, such as screening of German films, readings by German authors, and lectures by scholars, business executives, artists, authors, and political figures on topics having to do with German and European history, politics, literature, culture, and the German-speaking countries relations with the U.S. We cooperate closely in arranging events with the German, Austrian, and Swiss consulates and the Goethe Institute and are in touch with th e German-American community and with German-affiliated busin-esses. On campus we work together with the TRIO/Upward Bound program, participating in projects such as bringing Afro-German artists, writers and scholars to Chicago. Each year we invite about 1 50 high-school students from 15 area schools to the campus for German language and literature competitions. There are usually several of our alumni teaching in area schools.

Faculty/Students
Our faculty consists of scholars active on the national and international academic scene, and their expertise ranges from literature and culture to applied linguistics, teaching methodology, business operations and interdisciplinary work, covering most of the major areas of German study (with special strength in women's studies).This is a growing Department. In 1997 it included seven faculty members (searches for three more are authorized), seven teaching assistants, and 27 majors. Our classes attract more than 625 students each year.

Research Facilities

The resources for graduate-level research in Chicago are excellent. In addition to the vast collection of German literature and culture available at the University of Illinois, both in Chicago and Urbana, students have access to the internationally ren owned Newberry Library. The graduate program offers students the opportunity to work closely with an innovative faculty in an exciting and culturally stimulating metropolitan center.

The University

UIC is a research and teaching university located on a newly renovated and easily accessible downtown campus. It has an enrollment of more than 25,000 students. The German Department is located in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

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