MDR Info Radio has interviewed American Studies Leipzig about the growing role of the internet in American politics, especially for the presidential election in 2007. Reporter Ralf Geissler spoke with Crister Garrett about how the internet can shape various aspects of elections, from funding, to message, to mobilizing grass roots.

On May 8 and May 9, ASL joined the Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture in hosting two events on Jewish-American Literature:

The James Byrnes Center for German-American Affairs in Stuttgart and the Baden-Wuerttemberg Center for European Affairs invited American Studies Leipzig to hold a lecture on 8 May about the state of U.S.-E.U. relations. The date was selected in part since it marks the conclusion of World War II sixty-two years ago. The presentation was held by Professor Crister Garrett and was placed in the context of the United States and the E.U. also celebrating fifty years of the Treaties of Rome (founding the European Community) and therewith a milestone in European integration.

Starting Tuesday, May 8, the American Studies Leipzig Fulbright Lecture Series will move to the Library Lecture Hall in the Bibliotheca Albertina, Beethovenstraße 6.

Phoenix TV invited ASL to participate in a roundtable on 5 June 2007 focusing on the G8 Summit taking place in Germany. The prestigious German newsweekly Der Spiegel has described Phoenix TV as “television for the country’s info-elites and decision-makers”. The journalist Gaby Dietzen led a lively exchange between Herbert Dieter, Shi Mung, and Crister Garrett from ASL.

The Europa Forum Hessen, the City of Kassel, and the American Embassy cooperated with American Studies Leipzig to hold a roundtable on 4 May on the state of transatlantic relations. The roundtable was organized in part to discuss the results of the U.S.-E.U. Summit held in Washington D.C. on 30 April. Participants in the roundtable were Erika Mann, Member of the European Parliament; Jens Scherpenberg, noted expert on European-American relations from the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, and Professor Crister Garrett from ASL.

Today, May 4th, American Studies Leipzig has opened its ASL Shop at spreadshirt.de. The shop offers a great variety of shirts, sweaters, tops, cups and other paraphernalia. Check it out right now at
asl.spreadshirt.net!

The Simon Dubnow Institute and American Studies Leipzig cooperate to organize a lecture and workshop on Jewish American Literature with Julian A. Levinson of the University of Michigan.

Julian A. Levinson holds the Samuel Shetzer Chair in American Jewish Studies at the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies and Department of English Language and Literature, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

American Studies Leipzig participated in a teacher training workshop organized by the State of Thueringia and by the U.S. Consulate in Leipzig and held in Eisenach on 27 April. Just over fifty teachers of English and Social Studies heard a presentation by Crister Garrett on “Integrating Language Learning and Landeskunde: The Case of Teaching American Society and Environmental Politics”.

The annual University Studies Information Day (Studieninformationstag—where prospective students (and many parents!) can speak directly to representatives of the different university degree programs—saw strong interest in American Studies. About fifty curious high school students, often with parents in tow, approached the ASL Display to look at the presentation of the program and to ask staff members a variety of questions about what one can study, and what one can do professionally with a degree in American Studies.