Why Study German at Pitt?

Why study German at Pitt 
(Link to short video: meet some of your future professors at home!)

Academic and Cultural Diversity

We are a diverse department offering a variety of degree and certificate options at the undergraduate level. Students interested in studying German from beginning to advanced levels will find a home here. We invite you to join our internationally diverse group, which in recent years has included students from Germany, Bulgaria, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States.

Innovative Instruction

Through innovative instruction in German language and culture, we prepare our students for the challenges of the globalized world. If you want to study Goethe or Kafka, Indo-European Folktales or Literary Theory, German for Professional Purposes or German Cultural Politics, the Novella or German Film, or German Intellectual History or German Pop Culture, the German Department has courses that will interest you.

World-Class Faculty

Students work with a world-class faculty respected for their expertise in German literature, culture, film, and philosophy from the 18th through the 21st centuries. Our faculty are active researchers and publishers, serve at the administrative level in national scholarly organizations, and regularly organize panels, conferences, and symposia. Aesthetic theory, minorities and migration, visual alterity in film, terrorism and violence, space and place are some of the themes they have covered in recent graduate seminars.

Individualized Mentoring and Training

Our faculty members offer students close attention and mentoring through all phases of their studies, whether in studying abroad, seeking internships or fellowships, planning careers after graduation, teacher training, or training in professionalization, including conferencing and entering the job market.

Dynamic Intellectual Atmosphere

The department hosts conferences and film series, invites prestigious colleagues to campus to share their research, hosts an annual showcase of student work, and supports a lively and collegial intellectual environment. Our students have won competitive international, national, and university prizes to support graduate study, study abroad, and internships and employment opportunities in Germany.