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The University of Leipzig’s official news monthly, the Uni-Journal, covered the inauguration of the new Picador Professorship for Literature at the American Studies Institute in its April 2007 edition. As the author of the story underscored, “the Picador Chair is meant to further establish American Studies at Leipzig as one of the leading programs of its kind n Germany and to substantially encourage the further internationalisation of the university landscape in Saxony.”

American Studies Leipzig and the elite Rice University are in the process of intensifying cooperation. The ties between Leipzig and Rice were initiated through two Study Tours organized by Professor Hartmut Keil to Houston (home of Rice University) in 2003 and 2006 to explore diversity and civil society.

The United States Consulate in Leipzig and American Studies Leipzig cooperated on 17 April to offer a teacher training seminar looking at "Aspects of Contemporary American Society". Some twenty teachers from throughout the region (Mitteldeutschland) participated in the professional training seminar. Faculty member Crister Garrett offered a two-hour session on "Teaching American Politics: The Case of the Presidential Election 2008". A special focus of the session was how to integrate the internet into classroom teaching to allow students to "learn by doing".

Deutsche Bank's main branch in Leipzig (Martin-Luther-Ring) has generously agreed to host a photo exposition put together by American Studies Leipzig students that emerges from their study tour to Houston during September 2006. The theme of the study tour and photo exhibit is "Volunteerism, Diversity, and Civic Engagement". It looks at the religious, ethnic, and myriad of other factors shaping America’s dynamic culture of civic volunteerism, or grass-roots community activism.

American Studies Leipzig is proud to announce this Summer Term's Fulbright Lecture Series on "Contesting the Public Space in American Society." The Lecture Series will be held from April 17 to June 12.

Tuesdays 5:15 – 6:45 pm
Dresdner Bank Building
Dittrichring 5-7, Room 401

For the 2007 Fulbright Lecture Series poster including the individual lectures' topics please click here.

The German-American Institute in Tuebingen invited American Studies Leipzig to speak to a regional audience on 12 April about the unfolding events surrounding the 2008 Presidential Election. In front of an audience of some 50 people at the DAI Tuebingen, ASL faculty member Crister Garrett held a talk entitled “And the Race is On! Trends and Themes in the 2008 Presidential Election”.

Leipzig's independent student newspaper student! reports on the American Studies Leipzig Picador Professorship for Literature. The 400 word article is available online at the student homepage. The article talks about both the last Picador Professor Tristan Hughes and current Picador Professor James Hopkin.

Regular office hours of the American Studies Leipzig faculty are now in effect for the summer term 2007.

Office hours for each faculty member can be found on their individual pages. An overview of all faculty members and their respective office hourse can be found on the Core Faculty page.

The lists of students accepted into American Studies Leipzig BA modules for their Wahlbereich is available for download as of now.

Marie-Luise Löffler has been awarded a highly competitive scholarship from the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung to fund her Ph.D. project on African American women's literature. Marie's proposal was one of around just 50 selected from a pool of several thousand in a rigorous, multi-stage application process. The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung is affiliated with the Green Party and supports, among others, projects addressing gender and minority issues.