Graduate Students

Melda Ina Baysal (ABD / TA)

Office: JMZ 3206
Phone: 301-405-4091
Melda’s research interests include eighteenth and nineteenth-century German women writers and issues of gender, identity and  multiculturalism. Her current research focuses on German Orientalism in German speaking Countries from the late 18th Century – early 20th Century. Prior to her current position, she studied at the RWTH-Aachen University, Germany and the Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, Turkey, where she also participated in an internship at the Goethe Institute. In 2008, she attained her Master’s degree from the University of Delaware, where she also received an Excellence in Teaching Award. During her first year of study as a Ph.D. student, Melda attended the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference and the Focus on German Studies Conference in Cincinnati in 2009. In 2010, she presented at a conference in Sydney, Australia, entitled: Transcultural Mappings: emerging issues in comparative, transnational and area studies. In 2010 Melda received the Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Maryland. Previously, she taught beginners, intermediate, and advanced level German courses. She currently teaches a German Conversation and Composition course.

Claudia Biester (Ph.D. Student / TA)

Office: JMZ 4106
Phone: 301-405-4108
Before pursuing her M.A. in German Literature at the University of Delaware, Claudia Biester, studied Theater Studies at the Universität Bayreuth in Germany.  Furthermore, she holds a "Higher Education Teaching Certificate" from University of Delaware.  Claudia's Master's Thesis explored fission figures in Goethe's novel "Elective Affinities".  In Spring 2010, she joined the Germanic Department at the University of Maryland, where she is now pursuing her doctorate degree.  Among other areas, her research interests include 18th century German theater, novellas from the romantic period, as well as Kafka’s and Brecht's works.  Recently, she presented her paper on violence and the female body in Christa Wolf's novel "Cassandra" at the Midwest MLA conference.  Publications include an interview with director Gabriele Jacobi and a review of her production of Brecht's "Mother Courage and her Children" in Communications (2009) from the International Brecht Society. Currently, Claudia is working on her presentation “Caricaturing France: The ‘honnête homme’ in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Drama Minna von Barnhelm oder das Soldatenglück” for the 2011 Kentucky Foreign Language Conference. During previous semesters, Claudia taught Elementary and Intermediate German language courses at various institutions and also supervised independent study courses in German culture.

Victoria Finney (ABD / TA)

Office: JMZ 3206
Phone: 301-405-4091

Victoria attained both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Delaware majoring in German Language and Literatures. Her second (Honors) Bachelor’s degree is in Psychology. While pursuing her MA, Victoria was a recipient of the Fulda scholarship, which allowed her to study at the Fachhochschule Fulda in Hessen. In addition, Victoria holds the Higher Education Teaching Certification. Her most recent conference presentations were focused on the issues of heroic identity development in Ernst Junger’s Storm of Steel (the Focus on German Studies Conference in Cincinnati, OH) analyzing Franz Grillparzer’s play “Medea” from the colonial perspective (The European Studies Conference in Omaha, NE), and on exploring urban and provincial landscape in Irmgard Keun’s The Artificial Silk Girl (the Graduate Research Interaction Day, UMD). Her research interests include identity questions, especially the construction of heroic self-image in the 20th century, Colonialism/ Post-colonialism Theory, and Germanic mythology. Victoria taught Beginner and Intermediate Intensive German (GERM103 and GERM203) and was involved with teaching two courses in the Scandinavian Studies cluster (with Professor Dr. Rose-Marie Oster): Viking Culture and Civilization (GERM 283) and Norse Mythology (GERM282). Victoria is currently writing her dissertation proposal and developing a summer course titled "Magic and Supernatural Beings in Medieval Scandinavia."

Faye Garefalakis (ABD)

Faye received here Master of Arts in German language and literature, Germanic Studies, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures from the University of Maryland at College Park in 2005. B.A. and M.A. in German language and literature from the German Department, School of Philosophy, Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki, Greece: 1996. Her publications include an article titled “Cassandra Reconsidered: The New Concept of a Woman-Myth in the 20th Century” in the journal New German Review (A Journal of Germanic Studies, Vol.21: 2005-2006, University Of California: Los Angeles (1996). Faye’s dissertation topic is: „Antikes Licht auf das moderne Drama: Mythos und Gender in den Werken von Heiner Müller, Peter Hacks, Stefan Schütz und Elfriede Jelinek".

Regina Ianozi (ABD / TA)

Office: JMZ 3206
Phone: 301-405-4091
Prior to acceptance to the Ph.D. program in Germanic Studies at the University of Maryland in 2008, Regina attended UMBC, where she obtained a B.A in Modern Languages (German and Russian), Linguistics and Literature and a M.A. in Intercultural Communication with emphasis on inter- and cross-cultural communication in Germany. She recently published an article entitled “Ethno- and Eurocentric Feminism: German Women’s Colonial and ‘Postcolonial’ Literature” and presented her research at various national and international academic and nonacademic conferences, including in the US (Immigration Summit in Baltimore, 2006; Focus on German Studies: Morphing Identities and the Merging of Cultures in German Language, Literature, and Film, University of Cincinnati, 2009; Second Annual Ohio State Germanic Graduate Student conference, 2010), Great Britain (Creolizing Europe, Manchester University, UK, 2007), Spain (Identity, Migration and Women's Bodies as Sites of Knowledge and Transgression, University Of Málaga, Spain, 2008) and most recent in Australia (Transcultural Mappings: emerging issues in comparative, transnational and area studies, University of Sydney, 2010). Regina is also a recipient of the UMD Distinguished Teaching Assistant Award (2009). During the previous three years at UMD, she taught Intensive Elementary German (GERM103), German Grammar Review (GERM204), Conversation and Composition I & II (GERM301&302) and Highlights of German Literature and Culture II (GERM322). Regina is currently working on her dissertation proposal, which focuses on female transnational authorship in the late 19th, 20th and early 21st century in Germany.

Scot Macaulay (MA Student)
Scot is pursuing his M.A. in Germanic Studies.  He received his Bachelor’s Degree in German (BA, 2001) from the University of Louisville. Scot’s interest in the German language was sparked when he was a boy, resulting in his participation in the American Scandinavian Student Exchange as a high school senior.  He spent his senior year learning German and being introduced to German culture while attending Wermelskirchen Gymnasium.  Scot moved to Vienna in 1987 and landed a job in the logistics industry, where he worked as an Exportsachbearbeiter.  Upon his return to the United States in the early 1990’s, he continued his career in logistics, managing domestic air cargo and airfreight and ocean cargo exports and imports.  After approximately 15 years in the logistics industry, he decided to make a radical change—and joined the U.S. Army in 2002.  He enlisted as a 92Y, Unit Supply Specialist, was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, and was quickly promoted to Sergeant.  Fifteen months in South Korea followed, after which he was sent to Grafenwoehr, Germany.  In the summer of 2005, he was selected for the Warrant Officer Candidate School.  His first assignment as a warrant officer was in Heidelberg, Germany, where he and his family lived from 2005 until 2009.  After a tour of duty in Iraq from April 2008 to July 2009, he was transferred in late 2009 to Fort George G. Meade and is now able to pursue his goal of a Master’s Degree in Germanic Studies at University of Maryland, College Park.   

Ina Sammler (ABD / TA)

Office: JMZ 4106
Phone: 301-405-4108
Ina joined the Germanic Studies PhD program at the University of Maryland in fall 2008. She taught beginner to advanced German grammar, composition, culture and literature to undergraduate students (German 103-301). She was also the Study Abroad instructor for the Tübingen winter program 2011. She graduated with a Master of Arts in Foreign Languages, Literature and Cultures from Colorado State University in May 2008. Before coming to the United States, she taught at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland. Her interest and passion in teaching have garnered her the following awards: She received the Distinguished Teaching Award at University of Maryland and the Ronald Walker Award for Excellence in Scholarship. She was nominated for the Best Teacher Award of the Colorado State University Alumni Association and for the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes). Apart from these, her achievements also include participating in the 15th annual Focus Conference, the Graduate Research Interaction Day and Colorado State University Diversity Conference. Currently at the University of Maryland, the focus of her research is in gender issues and she writes her dissertation on infanticide in German Literature.

John Thomas (M.A. Student)

John is pursuing his M.A. in Germanic Studies with an emphasis on modern German literature.  John is almost entirely self-taught in German.  He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education (BME, 1974) from Shenandoah University; he also received his Master’s Degree (MM, 1979) in Music (performance, trombone) from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he conducted complementary research in music theory and musicology under Emeritus Professors Dr. Lawrence Moss and Dr. Eugene Helm. John’s interest in Germanic Studies was sparked when he obtained a minimum reading proficiency in German in order to conduct musicological research. John has also studied computer and information sciences and has programmed computer models of his own design.  After completing the MA in Germanic Studies, John hopes to pursue a multidisciplinary doctoral degree, combining research in the intersection of Germanic Studies and Musicology by means of computer models.  

Uche O. Okafor (EuDoxie) (ABD)

Susanne Van Leuven (ABD / TA)

Office: JMZ 3206
Phone: 301-405-4091
Susanne obtained her Master Degree in German and English Literature with the title “Kaiserin Elisabeth von Ősterreich als Lyrikerin in der Nachfolge Heinrich Heines” as well as her second M.A. in German Cultural Studies with the title “Sisi – Mythos oder Wahrheit” from  the Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität in Munich, Germany. After being rewarded with a Fulbright scholarship, Susanne was teaching German Language and Culture from 2005 till 2007 as a faculty member at Hollins University in Roanoke, V.A. Her research interests include 18th- and 19th Century literature and Gender Studies. Susanne is currently working on her dissertation proposal.

Petra Volkhausen (PhD Student / TA)


Office: JMZ 4106
Phone: 301-405-4108
Petra received her M.A. in Modern German Literature, Medieval Studies, and Media Sciences from the Heinrich Heine Universität, Düsseldorf in 2006 (“Schuld und Sühne in Thomas Manns Doktor Faustus”) and took up her doctoral studies at the University of Maryland in fall 2009.  Her main focus lies on the literature in 19th to the mid 20th centuries (e.g. Thomas Mann, Heinrich Heine, Romanticism). Current fields of interest are “Madness” in German literature, memory studies, and the aspect of loneliness in German literature. At the Graduate Student Conference at the University of Michigan, “Gefühlswelten: Affect, Culture, Community” (Nov. 2010), she presented the paper titled: “Manifestations of Madness in Gabriele Reuters Aus guter Familie”. During previous semesters, Petra taught GERM 103 and 203 (Intensive Elementary and Intermediate German); currently, she teaches GERM 302 (Conversation and Composition: Current Topics in German Society). Petra will be offering a self-designed course “Lyrics of Life in Modern German Music” (GERM 289L) during 2011 summer semester.

Christina Wall (ABD)

Christina Wall is a Ph.D. candidate who is writing her dissertation on the influence of African American culture on contemporary German conceptualizations of “blackness” and “Germanness.” Her research interests include multiculturalism in German-speaking nations and modern media translation/ localization.  She has spoken at various conferences the United States, at Rutgers (and abroad, most recently and most recent in Sydney, Australia (Transcultural Mappings: emerging issues in comparative, transnational and area studies, University of Sydney, 2010) and has recently co-edited a book for Cambridge Scholars Publishing entitled Culture as Text, Text as Culture.

Elke Wojan (ABD)

The dynamics of history, text, and culture; the presentation of individual and subjective motivation; gender studies; Germany in global contexts.

Congratulations to our 2010 graduates!

William Thomas Hildebrandt, M.A. (Spring 2010)
Katharina Rudolf, Ph.D. (Fall 2010)