It is not unusual for students who study and travel abroad to develop interests that are later explored in depth in their Independent Study (I.S.) projects. During the senior year, each German major, with the guidance of a faculty member, undertakes an I. S. research project that culminates in a thesis, normally written in German.

During her junior year in Berlin, Elizabeth Starr, a recent senior major, lived with a family in Koepenick in former East Berlin. Her interest in their experiences since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 provided the starting point for her study of problems involved in the unification process. Another student, Eric Jacobsen, who spent his junior year in Freiburg, became interested in the German environmental movement and returned to Wooster his senior year to write an I.S. on recent issues addressed by the Green Party in Germany. Colleen McFarland, who had a double major in German and History, wrote a paper on the history of German medicine and examined the depiction of doctors and medicine in novels and films of the 1930's and 40's.

Some of our students have explored the opportunities to teach English to German Gymnasium students. Sharon Mortimer, for example, enjoyed the experience of being a Fulbright teaching assistant in Wernigerode so much that she extended her stay for another year.

Information:

German IS Guide (updated Feb. '08)
( online version / downloadable )

German IS Grading Scheme
( downloadable )

Recent IS in German (2008):

Irene Rhine - (German and International Relations)
Germany’s Perceptions of Turkish Accession to the European Union