Ingeborg Walther Associate Professor of the Practice Duke University My interest in German culture and literature, already present due to family heritage and an early passion for the writings of Thomas Mann, developed further during my undergraduate years at Stanford University. Originally a music major, I switched to German Studies after spending my junior year in Vienna. Upon receiving my Master's Degree in German literature from Tufts University in Tübingen, I continued my studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where I received my PhD in 1987 with a specialization in 20th century poetry and drama. Before joining the faculty of Duke University in 1994, I was deeply involved in proficiency oriented language teaching and testing at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, and its European branch in Munich, where I chaired the German department. Engaged as I was in teaching, teacher training, and curriculum development, I was naturally drawn to the fields of second language acquisition and foreign language pedagogy. In addition to my literary training, my experience and expertise in these areas prepared me well to undertake the duties of Language Program Director in the German Department here at Duke, where I coordinate the German Language Program, and prepare graduate students to teach. I have also served as Director of Undergraduate Studies, and most recently as Chair of the German Department. Since arriving at Duke I have felt very strongly that language teaching must be fully integrated into the larger literary and cultural studies mission of our department, and my professional activities have been engaged in linking these in ways which reflect their common theoretical insights and practical goals. My research has focused on investigating the constructions of such traditionally opposed concepts as "language" and "content / knowledge," relating the acquisition of a second language to the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge, and linking these investigations to the question of what it means to be literate or educated in a world which must deal with the multiple tensions created by internationalization and globalization. My book, The Theater of Franz Xaver Kroetz (1990), deals with the intersections of language, culture, and identity with which I continue to be concerned. In a number of papers and presentations at professional conferences, I have addressed issues of language acquisition, culture, and pedagogy in ways that seek to make productive links among what are often perceived as separate and unrelated fields of inquiry. I have also put these ideas into practice with the creation of a coherent, articulated German Language Program Curriculum which integrates language and culture at all levels, while introducing students to some of the primary concerns of our discipline: the relationships between culture and identity, language and power, reader and text, text and context. The workshops and presentations I have given on using poetry, music, and theater in the language classroom show how important cultural texts can be used even at beginning levels in substantive, intellectually challenging ways, while taking fuller account of the affective and extra-linguistic dimensions of communication and learning. In the Spring of 2000, I was honored to receive a Trinity College Distinguished Teaching Award. I have also enjoyed extra-curricular contact with students as Faculty Advisor to the German Club and German Honors Society, and Faculty Associate to the German Hall of the Language Dorm. I also have a strong interest in music, and as a pianist, enjoy playing chamber music and accompanying singers.