Dr. Jill Beckman is the Director of the Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (DWLLC), Interim DEO of the Department of German, and Associate Professor of Linguistics.

Glenn Ehrstine's primary research explores the intersections of literature, religion, and politics in medieval and early modern Germany, with a particular focus on the cultural transformations that occurred between late medieval Catholicism and the early Protestant Reformation. His more recent research concerns the Catholic theatrical traditions that the Reformation erased or altered. For his teaching, he focuses on practical aspects of German language, literature, and culture that hold broader interest for students in Iowa.

Wolfgang Ertl's scholarly interests focus on 20th and 21st century German literature and culture, with emphasis on GDR and postunification literature and German lyric poetry. His research and teaching interests also extend to 19th century German literature and interdisciplinary studies in literature and ecology. He is furthermore engaged in studies in art history and has been exhibiting his paintings in oil, pastel, and acrylics since 2007 in various juried shows in New England (www.wolfgangertlart.com).

Course Management for Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Department of Linguistics, Department of German, Latin American Studies Program, and International Studies Program Graduate Coordinator for Spanish, Spanish Creative Writing, and Linguistics

Sarah Fagan’s research and teaching interests include Germanic linguistics, theoretical linguistics, and the German language.

Meredith Mahy Gall is the senior academic advisor for the Division of World Literatures, Languages, and Cultures (including all world languages, International Studies, linguistics, and translation) and global health studies students.

Prof. Gölz teaches German and Comparative Literature at the University of Iowa's Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. She is also active in the University of Iowa's Program in Literary Translation. In addition to her scholarly work, she also has worked with photography and makes documentary films. Her teaching and research interests include theories of textuality, gender and figurative language, theory and poetics of reading, the history and social impact of the invention of writing, manuscript studies, the relation of photography and textuality, performativity, and the construction of "space," and urban semiotics.

Elke Heckner teaches in the German Department. She is currently completing a book manuscript, tentatively entitled, "Memories of Futurity: Remapping Visual Representations of the Holocaust and Genocide." Her recent articles in Shofar and New German Critque examine issues of second- and third generation witnessing in film, TV productions and memorial culture.

Kirsten E. Kumpf Baele is director of the Anne Frank Initiative and a faculty member in the Department of German. Kirsten holds a PhD in German and has presented and published on topics such as exophonic writers in Germany, the spatial turn and homeless figures in German film and prose, the aesthetics and politics of hair in film of the prewar era, forced adoption practices and control of the female body in Belgian film, and on the limitation of filmic and architectural freedoms in the former GDR.

Andy has an M.A. in Linguistics with a focus on teaching English as a second language from the University of Iowa. His professional interested include language instruction, the promotion of inclusive learning environments, and instructional technology and design. He has studied Russian, French, Italian, and German in the classroom and enjoys working with faculty and students in the division to aid, promote, and enhance the learning of languages.

Waltraud Maierhofer is professor of German and in the Global Health Studies Program. She teaches courses on German literature and culture and also on international culture. Her research and teaching interests include German literature and culture from the eighteenth century to the present. She is especially interested in representations of health and Human Rights issues (contraception, abortion, disabilities), in intersections of historiography and fiction, ego-documents and biography, but also book illustrations and text–image relations, and she has edited several historical documents and translations.

Gabbie holds a bachelor’s degree in English. She taught English Language Learning in the Clear Creek Amana School District and worked in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Office of the Dean prior to becoming Division Administrator for the Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures in 2023. Her interests include building sustainable staffing and communication structures; fostering a strong multicultural community; and supporting the Division in its mission to advance interdisciplinary research, artistic creativity, global awareness, and the study of languages, literatures, linguistics, societies, regions, and cultures. She collaborates with the staff team and faculty leadership to facilitate administrative operations and strategic planning.

Bruce Nottingham-Spencer spent time abroad at the Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Germany and the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, Germany. He currently supervises the Elementary German program and teaches a variety of courses including German Composition and Conversation, and Business German. His interests include Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Language Pedagogy, Second Language Acquisition, Crime Fiction, and Germanic Mythology.