Astrida Orle Tantillo Bridges Fund For Students in Germanic Studies Spring 2024 https://german.uic.edu/awards-and-grants/bridges-fund/
Included Recipients Undergraduate Sam Blin Award Amount: $2,500 I am a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Illinois Chicago majoring in Political Science and Philosophy with minors in Germanic Studies and Moving Image Arts and a concentration in Law and Courts. Having originally declared as a Political Science major, I came across several topics outside of my major which piqued my interest. I am pursuing a fifth year to explore these new interests – not the least of which is Germanic Studies – and graduate with a dual degree. I am still deciding where I might end up after UIC; I have my eyes on law school, graduate school, and the Foreign Service with the Department of State (hopefully serving abroad in a Germanspeaking country!). I have worn a few hats at UIC, having been Program Director of UIC Radio, an elected representative in the Undergraduate Student Government, and Treasurer of the UIC Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity. I now spend much of my time with the Center for Student Involvement, staffing the front desk and serving as Chair of the SPARK in the Park (UIC’s annual outdoor concert) Planning Committee. Kaleb Garden Award Amount: $3,800 I am a fourth year Anthropology and Germanic Studies student. I am graduating in May of 2024. I worked as a German peer tutor and language learning assistant for the Language and Culture Learning Center at UIC for three semesters. I have also volunteered in the past for DANK Haus German American Cultural Center. During the spring semester of 2023, I studied in Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany for five months. While there, I delved deeper into my Germanic Studies major and my interest in the German language and culture through coursework and through immersion. My current educational goals are to apply to graduate schools in the fall for the 2025- 2026 school year and to complete an archaeological field school over the summer, which this scholarship is helping me complete. I plan to get a masters degree in archaeology and I hope to be able to focus my studies in archaeology on German speaking countries. For example, I am interested in the study of archaic humans such as Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis, both of which were discovered in Germany! In terms of post-graduation career goals, I am interested in working in cultural resource management as an archaeologist, which would mean helping to excavate and record archaeological sites before they are destroyed or damaged by construction.
Madison Parker Award Amount: $3,000 As a higher level sophomore at UIC, only a few credit hours under a junior status, I am currently majoring in Human Development and Learning, with a minor in Germanic Studies. However, in the fall semester I will be changing my major to English while continuing with a German minor. If time permits, I am strongly considering adding a second bachelor’s degree in German to my current academic schedule. My deep love for German language learning specifically is what reeled me back into completing my Bachelors degree. As I began to learn the German language abroad, I realized how much passion I had for learning and growth as an individual. In turn, this ignited the passion in me to become an English teacher. My educational aspirations are now firmly fixed on the idea of becoming an English teacher in Switzerland, especially in the German speaking parts. Mastering German to native fluency is my most prominent focus, not just for teaching English but also for one day teaching the German language as well. The challenge of immersing myself in a foreign culture while teaching two young children English is what encouraged me to become a teacher. I felt how scary it could be to live in a country where I could not speak the official language fluently, and I have a passion to help non-native English speakers become more confident in the English language so they do not struggle in this same way. I understand how important it is while teaching a foreign language to also understand the native language of the student you are teaching it to, and this is a huge reason why I am set on learning the German language. Looking ahead, I envision a career for myself in upper-level education, possibly becoming a professor, with a main focus on linguistics, foreign language education, English studies, rhetoric, and professional writing. Once I complete my undergraduate studies, I aim to pursue master’s programs in Switzerland to deepen my knowledge in these fields and apply for a Fulbright scholarship position in Switzerland. At UIC, I’m an active member of the community, participating in the German Club, English Club, and seeking out opportunities for cultural exchange and language practice. Additionally, I’m excited to contribute to undergraduate research in Germanic Studies next semester, further enriching my understanding of the language and its nuances. I hope to become even more involved at UIC next semester and I am always looking for new opportunities to grow and give back to the community through all possible efforts.
Graduate Wiktoria Adamczyk Award Amount: $4,250 I am an A.B.D. Ph.D. student in Germanic Studies. My dissertation, “Rethinking Heimat. Traces of Utopia in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Oeuvre,” is focused on Rainer Werner Fassbinder and his oeuvre. I trace moments of utopia in Fassbinder’s films and analyze his attempts to imagine Germany differently. I have conducted research at the DFF Fassbinder Center in Frankfurt. My research interests include German Cinema, utopianism, hope and resistance, historical materialism, translation studies, Polish-German translations, the function of language in society, comparative literature, cognitive poetics, and philosophy. I received my B.A. in Jewish Studies in 2015 from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków defending my BA thesis, entitled: “Life is Poetry. An Avant-garde life of Else Lasker Schüler (11.02.1869- 22.01.1945).” Jewish life in Poland, Hebrew, and Yiddish were my major fields of research at that time. I have always been interested in language, culture, history, philosophy, art, political science, and German literature and culture. In Fall 2019 I earned my M.A. in Holocaust Studies at Haifa University in Israel, where my research projects included “The Linguistic Violence of Nazi Propaganda” and “The Representation of Polish-Jewish Relations in Polish Art after ’89.” This experience afforded me the opportunity to enmesh myself in the complexities of Jewish and Israeli histories. In 2021 I earned an MA in German Philology from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland (M.A. thesis: „Explikation als eine Übersetzungsstrategie. Eine translatorische Analyse der polnischen Übersetzung des Romans Vielleicht Esther von Katja Petrowskaja.“) Titilope Ajeboriogbon Award Amount: $4,250 Titilope Ajeboriogbon is a final-semester master’s student in the Department of Germanic Studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in European Studies (German) at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He has developed a keen interest in exploring the intersections of postcolonial studies, transnational literature, migration, multiculturalism, and Afrofuturism. Titilope’s scholarly pursuits are a product of his academic journey and a reflection of his deep-rooted passion. He is interested in the interplay between language, culture, and sociopolitical structures, particularly how Germanic languages have shaped and influenced modern political and cultural frameworks.
Beyond his academic endeavors, Titilope is committed to fostering intercultural dialogue and promoting a broader appreciation for the arts and humanities among diverse audiences. His career goal is to work in a cultural institution where he can leverage his knowledge of Germanic Studies to translate scholarly findings into engaging and accessible narratives, bridging the gap between academic discourse and public understanding. Titilope’s commitment to fostering intercultural dialogue extends beyond his academic pursuits. He has actively engaged in community service initiatives, including volunteering with the Pyramid Educational Advancement Foundation, a non-governmental organization in Lagos, Nigeria. This organization is dedicated to providing scholarships and educational opportunities to students from underserved communities, a cause close to Titilope’s heart. With a unique blend of intellectual curiosity, cultural sensitivity, and a passion for knowledge dissemination, Titilope is poised to significantly contribute to Germanic Studies and the broader realm of intercultural understanding. Phill Cabeen Award Amount: $2,000 Phill Cabeen is a Ph.D. candidate in the Germanic Studies Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where his work focuses on subversive cultural arts movements of the 20th century, media studies, critical pedagogy, and the intersection of these. His dissertation, “Pleasures and Powers of Affective Disorientation: Iconoclastic Ambivalence and Polyvalence in the Neue Deutsche Welle,” is a study of the the New German Wave, a pop music phenomenon that flourished between 1978 and 1983 in the Federal Republic of Germany. Close readings of representative songs, examined through a feminist analytical lens reveal a distinctive, consistently ambiguous posturing– one that nevertheless fostered the development of nationally networked but intimate, local subcultural communities. The project further maps resonances between these songs and the sharply divided contemporaneous journalistic responses to the subculture. That the NDW was home to an increased number of women and other underrepresented groups in German pop music, and that these artists’ work was explicitly collaborative, lends both the new aesthetic and the critical hostility additional significance. The project has been supported by the DAAD with a one-year research grant. Phill earned his Master’s of Arts in Teaching from Columbia College Chicago. His Bachelor’s, from UIC, is in Art History.
Patrick Cook-White Award Amount: $2,000 Born and raised in Würzburg, Germany, I moved to Chicago in the Spring of 2017. In my previous studies, I graduated with degrees in Political Science, Sociology and History (BA and MA) from the University of Leipzig in Germany, as well as TU Dresden, Germany and Universidade Nova, Lisbon, Portugal. Currently, I am in my fourth year of the PhD program in Germanic Studies at UIC, preparing my dissertation on literary identity and represention of “the gypsy” in literary works from Romanticism to Naturalism with a focus on economies of transaction. Having passed my preliminary exams already, I am finishing up my Prospectus and therefor soon be “A.B.D.” During the summer of 2024, I will sight more literary works that previously have been overlooked and try to test if previous research works with other than canonical works. My academic and professional goal is to graduate with a PhD in Germanic Studies and to advance a career in higher education and academic research. Karina Duncker-Hoffmann Award Amount: $3,000 Karina Duncker-Hoffmann is a Ph.D. Candidate in her sixth year in Germanic Studies at UIC. Her dissertation focuses on female authors of the Poetic Realism in Germany in the second half of the 19th century. After a career as a high school teacher and university lecturer of German and ESL in Germany, Japan, Italy, and the US, she decided to apply to the program and is convinced that this was one of the best decisions of her life. Karina is a member of ACTFL, ICTFL, MLA, GSA, Women in German, and the AATG. She has been active on the Executive Board of the Northern Illinois AATG for six years, is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Die Unterrichtspraxis and has been involved in organizing and conducting the annual German Immersion Day for College students in the Chicago area. After completing her Ph.D., she plans to continue teaching German at the university level. Ruth Ireti Falaiye Award Amount: $4,250 Ruth Ireti Falaiye is a second-year graduate student in the Department of Germanic Studies. Her academic goals are to gain a deeper understanding of the German language and culture while honing her research, writing, and intellectual abilities. Ireti aims to explore interdisciplinary approaches to Germanic Studies. She is particularly interested in the intersections between German literature, Postcolonial Studies, Intercultural Studies, and Migration. She aspires to pursue a career in academia or a related field. Ireti has a passion for teaching and desires to positively impact her students by inspiring and motivating them to achieve their full potential while fostering a positive and encouraging environment.
Charlie Johnson Award Amount: $10,500 Charlie Johnson received their MA from the University of Illinois in Chicago in 2021 and is currently a PhD student, TA, and Head TA in the Department of Germanic Studies at UIC. As a TA, Charlie is committed to practicing inclusivity in the classroom with an emphasis on gender-inclusive language. While interested in inclusive pedagogy, Charlie’s dissertation ‘Trans/Figurations’ investigates ruptures in binaries and gender identity in German literature spanning from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century and the ways in which gender is entangled with the concept of “Bildung.” In 2019 they were the recipient of the Max Kade Fellowship and have earned Max Kade travel grants for studying abroad. They have also won Robert Kauf Awards for excellence in teaching and in research. Charlie has recently presented a paper at ACTFL on the topic of gender-inclusive language as well as a paper titled “Gender Ambivalence in Musil’s Törleß” at the Austrian Studies Association conference. They are working on a forthcoming publication on gender-inclusive language with Unterrichtspraxis. Charlie is a member of the German Studies Association, the Austrian Studies Association, American Association of Teachers of German, and the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages. Ian Marks Award Amount: $1,250 I am in my final semester of the MA in Germanic Studies. During the 2022-2023 academic year I was a recipient of the Max Kade Fellowship and was able to focus entirely on my studies. Additionally, I have received generous funding to take German intensive language classes in Freiburg, Germany and to take my C1 Exam. This experience abroad has formed me into the global citizen I am today. I now think and pay attention a lot more to the complex issues that face our society in order to create more inclusive spaces for everyone to be heard and flourish. Upon returning from Freiburg, I began my TAship during the 2023-2024 academic year in the German Basic Language Program and have formed my passion for teaching foreign language. I wouldn’t have been able to be awarded a Fulbright fellowship to teach Austria through the USTA Fulbright Program without the help and push from my professors at UIC. I am looking forward to embark on this journey in my life and to build a career teaching English and German as a foreign language and to never stop learning. After finishing the Fulbright program, I would like to continue working in either a German or Austrian high school. Teachers have always been important, but I think now more than ever before due to technological advancements in AI, etc. We need to keep the human in the Humanities.
Andrew Modaff Award Amount: $4,250 My name is Andrew Modaff and I am a graduate student in the Department of Germanic Studies nearing the end of the second semester of my Master’s program. My research interests include: the history, identities, and literatures of the so-called Mischkulturen of Alsace, France and Luxemburg, border studies, the aesthetics of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, silent Weimar cinema, psychoanalysis, and Chicana Feminism. This varied list is constantly expanding in the congenial environment of the Department of Germanic Studies, where I am encouraged to pursue any and all interests that pull at me. Upon the completion of the Masters program, I intend to continue my studies as a doctoral student with the ultimate goal of entering the academic job market and securing a teaching position. Spending my career teaching the German language and researching in any capacity would be supremely gratifying. Outside of academics and my other passion, music, I am involved in helping those in my community suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction to find recovery by, among other means, speaking at rehabilitation centers and educating the public. Folorunso Odidiomo Award Amount: $4,250 Folorunso Odidiomo has taught German language, culture, and literature on-and-off for over twenty years, and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in German. He is currently a Max Kade Fellow in his second semester of the first year of his Ph.D. studies at the UIC Department of Germanic Studies. His research interests are in German literature, comparative gender studies, post-colonial and post-migrant writings in German and African literature from the late eighteenth century to the present. His career goal has always been to be a qualified teacher and researcher in German literature, culture, and film. In four years, he will have finally fulfilled the education and experience requirements to qualify for a tenure-track position in the academic profession, which he is very determined to achieve. As a Max Kade Fellow he has participated in organizing a Department of Germanic Studies Max Kade Colloquium and other departmental programs such as German High School Day 2024. Since the fall semester 2023, he has been working with other colleagues to organize the weekly UIC Department of Germanic Studies Kaffeeklatsch (German Conversation Hour). During the 11th German Immersion Day on the University of Chicago Campus, Folorunso served as a volunteer panelist in the alumni panel for students of German. He is an alumnus of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Erin Ritchie Award Amount: $3,000 Erin Ritchie is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Germanic Studies program. She is currently working on writing her dissertation and is a Head TA. Erin’s dissertation centers around the representation of fat bodies and other bodies in excess in German literature and film. Because Fat Studies is relatively new in the German academic community, Erin hopes to help create a network of German-speaking Fat Studies scholars who are committed to increasing awareness and body advocacy in all forms, shapes, sizes, and abilities. More locally, Erin also teaches the 6th grade class for the Donau Schwaben German Weekend School in Des Plaines, Illinois. Erin is also a yoga teacher in training and hopes to instill and encourage bodily awareness through movement and breath work as she continues to grow as a yoga teacher. It is Erin’s belief that happiness and bodily movement is for everybody and every body. Erin ultimately aspires to secure a professorship or other teaching position teaching German Studies at the collegiate level. She hopes to spread the love of the German language and culture in new ways via comfortable and accessible environments.
Danke! Thank You!
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, My name is Sam. I am a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Illinois Chicago. I want to thank you for establishing the Astrida Orle Tantillo Bridges Scholarship Fund and for your gracious support for my studies in Berlin. My interest in German language, culture, and studies has taken me by surprise. Going into college, I did not speak any other language than English. I declared my first major, Political Science, because I had nothing else in mind. I landed on German for my language requirement because I had listened to a few songs by KRAFTWERK. Learning German has enriched my studies and my life more than I would have imagined. What I chose on a whim has become one of my greatest interests and passions. I listen to German music – mostly KRAFTWERK, my favorite band, but also DAF, Faust, Der Plan, Tangerine Dream, and NEU! – more than I care to admit. And some of my favorite films come from German filmmakers like Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Wim Wenders, and Michael Haneke. For my final project in my latest German language course, I presented on the making of Metropolis, one of my favorite films of all time. With my continued education in German language and culture, I am considering opportunities for the future that I had never imagined before. My political science side wants to work for the U.S. Foreign Service, hopefully at an embassy in Germany. My philosophy side wants to follow the footsteps of my previous German language instructor, Izzy, and attend Humboldt-Universität, perhaps to pursue a masters in German philosophy or literature. My film side wants to visit German film museums and look for the places that films like The American Friend were filmed. All these wishes pull me towards Berlin, but your kindness turns all these considerations into real opportunities. Your kindness has truly made a dream of mine come true. I cannot express how excited I am for this opportunity. I applied for the IES Summer Language and Culture Program thinking that it would not amount to anything. Times have been quite stressful as of recent with my studies, my work, and my family. But this opportunity, and your gracious support, keep me motivated to push through and continue my studies. I look forward to meeting you both. Thank you so very much. Or, as I’ve heard they say in Berlin: Danke schön. Samuel Jaeger Blin
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, I want to sincerely thank you for this award. My name is Kaleb Garden and I am a fourth year Anthropology and Germanic Studies student. Through this award, I am taking a significant step towards my academic and career goals. Post-graduation, I want to pursue a career in archaeology. I am using this award for an archaeological field school in Germany where I will learn crucial skills in regards to archaeological excavation. A field school is essential for applying for jobs in the field of archaeology. In addition, I want to apply for master’s programs in archaeology and having completed a field school will better my chances of being accepted into programs. While anthropology is where my post-graduation career and academic goals lie, the German language and culture have been a huge part of my academic and personal journey for the last four years. I have worked for three semesters as a German peer tutor and language learning assistant for the Language and Culture Learning Center at UIC. Being able to help other language learners has been a very meaningful experience for me. I also had the opportunity to experience German culture firsthand by studying for a semester in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. This experience truly put my language skills to the test, which was challenging, but very rewarding. It means a lot to me to be able to participate in an excavation in Germany. By attending a field school in Germany, I get the opportunity to participate in hands-on research that is relevant to both of my majors. To be able to combine two areas of study that I am extremely passionate about in this way is truly the opportunity of a lifetime for me. Not only does this program allow me to fulfill academic goals and take a meaningful step forward in my professional career, it also will fulfill a childhood dream. I have wanted to be an archaeologist since I was seven years old and through this scholarship, I am able to finally get into the field and dig! I cannot thank you enough for this opportunity. Vielen Dank und viele Grüße, Kaleb Garden
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, I hope this letter finds you both very well. To introduce myself, my name is Madison Parker and I am writing to extend my extreme gratitude for the scholarship award that you have generously provided to me. Your kindness has been deeply appreciated, and I am truly honored to be the recipient of your Bridges Scholarship award for my continued German studies. To share a little about myself with you both, and how your scholarship will shape my academic journey, I am currently a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where I am majoring in Human Development and Learning with a minor in German. However, I am excited to be transitioning in the Fall semester to an English major with a minor in German. If time allows, I will also complete a second major in Germanic Studies. This will allow me to follow a degree program that aligns more closely with my future career goals. Currently, I struggle with financial aspects of getting my Bachelor’s degree so I do rely every semester on Federal Student Aid. Before university, I worked full-time as a hairstylist. I loved my career back then because I was able to make the people around me feel great. However, there was always something missing in my life, and I believe that was my further education. Unsatisfied with my career, I decided to take the jump and accept a job as an Au Pair for a lovely Swiss family, which completely changed my career trajectory in life. After I began learning German, I had a renowned sense of urgency to go back to school and learn more about language studies. The scholarship that you are providing me will have enormous impacts on my education and career goals for the future. With the support from you both, I will have the opportunity to participate in a super-intensive German language course in Switzerland this summer and intensively focus on the language and all its features. This experience will allow me to fully immerse myself in the language and culture, significantly enhancing my proficiency in German up to the start of a C1 level. As I aspire to become an English teacher abroad in Switzerland, mastering the German language to native fluency is absolutely a crucial aspect. The scholarship opportunity you have given me will provide me with the necessary resources to achieve this goal and set the stage for my future career and education opportunities. Not only will I be learning German every day from 9-12:15, but I will be studying the language intensively on my own as well. The amount of progress I will make over the course of this summer will be one hundred times more effective for fluency than any program I could imagine in a classroom setting here in the US, and for this reason I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to enhance my education.
Looking beyond my undergraduate studies, I hope for a career dedicated to teaching English and creating cross-cultural understanding. Your generosity has not only lightened the financial burden of pursuing my education to a great extent and allowed me to study this summer, but it has also reaffirmed my dedication to the German Language and its fluency. Having this opportunity to attend a super-intensive German course in Zurich, I will also be better equipped to contribute to the Germanic Studies department at UIC through undergraduate research and participation in other German courses. Once again, I extend my deepest gratitude to the both of you for your incredible generosity. Your belief in me means the world, and I am truly grateful for this scholarship opportunity. I look forward to sharing all of my experiences and successes with you as well as writing about my experiences abroad in Switzerland. I hope to come back to UIC as a junior German minor (hopefully double major) with an extensive new German vocabulary, new and improved grammar knowledge, and also experience with how the language is used in an everyday context. I know by the end of this program I will be speaking and understanding German more fluently. I am excited to share more with you about my intensive project and goals for this summer and I can already confidently say that this opportunity will make a huge impact on my education. With warm regards, Madison Parker
Dear Mr. Fruman and Mrs. Marian Jacobson, I am writing to you to express my sincere gratitude for giving me the opportunity to receive the “Bridges Award.” I was pleased to be selected as a recipient for 2024 and I am deeply grateful for your support, for believing in me, and for supporting me in the pursuit of my scholarly and professional goals. Currently, I am an A.B.D. student working on my dissertation “Rethinking Heimat. Traces of Utopia in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Oeuvre.” At the moment I am collecting materials for my chapters and working on my chapter breakdown; I am rewatching Fassbinder films (around 43) and trying to apply Ernst Bloch’s philosophy (“The Spirit of Utopia”; “The Principle of Hope”) to some of the utopian elements I found in films. I am also collecting more materials regarding literature on utopianism. In the past I used to work on the representation of alterity in Fassbinder’s films and my previous topic on the representation of violence against broken, weak figures, and figures of “The Other” in his movies as an example of the transition from the past to the present in post-war Germany, which I developed it into “moments of utopia” in his films and his attempts to imagine Germany differently. Thus I claim Fassbinder was very visionary for his time, and in my dissertation I try to look at his imagination of Germany from a different angle than I did it before. My plan for summer 2024 is to visit the Fassbinder Foundation in Frankfurt am Main to conduct additional research on this extraordinary German filmmaker and his films. I am still in contact with Fassbinder Foundation and the curator at the Film Archive in Frankfurt Film Museum, Ms. Isabel Bastian. I am also planning to travel to Ludwigshafen to do my research in Ernst Bloch Centre and collect more materials on the topic: utopia, utopianism, hope, resistance. This research in Germany I am going to undertake this summer will help me with the writing process that I hope I am going to start soon. I would also love to enrich the resources of our department with all the experience, and knowledge I will gain during my time spend in Germany. During my future university career I would love to focus on a variety of academic projects, on teaching, and writing academic essays in the areas of Film studies, German Studies, philosophy, Holocaust Studies, German- Polish-Jewish history, Memory Studies and Translation Studies. I am very grateful and honored to be a recipient of the “Bridges Award” this year again. My research on Rainer Werner Fassbinder and educational pursuits would not be possible without you and without your generous support. Thank you for the financial support that will enable me to work on my dissertation during Summer 2024, and thereby to help me finalize it successfully and lay the groundwork for my future university career. Yours Faithfully, Wiktoria Adamczyk
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Titilope Ajeboriogbon, from Nigeria. I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for your generous Astrida Orle Tantillo Bridges Scholarship $4250 award. This scholarship will greatly assist me in bridging the gap between my educational needs and professional goals, which is to work in a cultural institution and to translate findings in the arts and humanities for broad public consumption outside of academia. I am a final-semester Master’s degree student in the Department of Germanic Studies, with a keen interest in exploring the role of Germanic languages in shaping modern social structures. I was thrilled to learn about the award and deeply humbled that you have chosen to invest in my future. As a student, I have always been passionate about my field of study and eager to pursue a career in it. With your support, I am now able to pursue an intensive German language course and gain invaluable firsthand experience with German culture. Through your generous award, I will be going to Germany for a language immersion program, which will further enrich me with a solid understanding of the complex historical and cultural factors that have contributed to the development of modern Germany. In addition to my academic pursuits, I am passionate about promoting intercultural exchange and advocating for intercultural cooperation. I believe an in-depth study of the humanistic tradition in Germanic Studies will be valuable in achieving this long-term career goal. I cannot thank you enough for your kindness and generosity. Your donation will not only help me attain my professional goals, but it will also inspire me to give back to society. Once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your contribution. I am truly honored to be a recipient of your award. Best wishes, Titilope Ajeboriogbon
Dear Fruman and Marian Jacobson, Thank you for your generous offer of financial support this summer, as I work to transform a central chapter of my dissertation into an article for publication. This funding will help me to spend the month between the end of the current semester and the beginning of my midsummer teaching obligation concentrating on that project, and I sincerely appreciate the opportunity! As you may recall, I am writing about the Neue Deutsche Welle, a pop movement of the late seventies and early eighties. One of the points of relevance for that historical analysis to today’s cultural discourse, I believe, is the fact that the German New Wave bands received little acknowledgement for the reparative work that they performed in their communities, which improved their peers’ daily lives in measurable ways. Simultaneously these same bands were vigorously criticized for not incorporating explicit political slogans into their songs. In the article I am planning, I will argue that critics of the day were looking for political solutions in art, when they should have been concentrating on the lived reality of the communities. I find that we experience a similar cultural imperative today. Your support will be extremely meaningful in making this article, both the thinking and the writing, possible. Thank you again for your generosity! Sincerely, Phill Cabeen
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, I would like to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you and express my gratitude for your generous contributions towards our department in general and the support you are giving me in particular. Your generosity helped me tremendously last year and will again support me achieving my academic goals again this year. Since you are meeting so many of us, I would like to refresh your memories and tell you a few words about me: Born and raised in Würzburg, Germany, I moved to Chicago in the Spring of 2017. In my previous studies, I graduated with degrees in Political Science, Sociology and History (BA and MA) from the University of Leipzig in Germany, as well as TU Dresden, Germany and Universidade Nova, Lisbon, Portugal. Currently, I am in my fourth year of the PhD program in Germanic Studies at UIC, preparing my dissertation on literary identity and representation of “the gypsy”. My framework spans literary works from Romanticism to Naturalism with a focus on the economies of transaction, as the main driver behind the “making of the gypsy”. Having passed my preliminary exams already, I am finishing up my Prospectus and will therefor soon be “A.B.D.” During the summer of 2024, I will identify more literary works that previously have been overlooked in studies that are relevant to my research: Another part of my thesis will put previous scholarly research to test with other than canonical works. My academic and professional goal is to graduate with a PhD in Germanic Studies and to advance a career in higher education and academic research, whether that will be in Germany or the United States is yet to be determined. With your generous funding, dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, I will have the chance to focus on finding and collecting many more relevant texts and purchase books (literary and theory), which are not as easily accessible as they are not necessarily part of the common canon. Thank you so much for your ever-generous assistance! Patrick Cook-White
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your generosity in funding the Astrida Orle Tantillo Bridges Scholarship for students in Germanic Studies. I am excited and honored to be one of the recipients again of this award for 2024. I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in my sixth year in Germanic Studies at UIC. My dissertation focuses on the female authors of the Poetic Realism in Germany in the second half of the 19th century. After a career as a high school teacher and university lecturer of German and ESL in Germany, Japan, Italy, and the US, I applied ply to the graduate program in Germanic studies and am still convinced that this was one of the best decisions of my life. I am very much interested in promoting the German language and culture in the US and am a member of ACTFL, ICTFL, MLA, GSA, and Women in German. I have served on the Executive Board of the Northern Illinois AATG for six years and on the Advisory Board of Die Unterrichtspraxis for three years. I also have been involved in organizing and conducting the annual German Immersion Day for College students. After completing my Ph.D., I plan to continue teaching German at the university level. Your generous scholarship will enable me to spend several weeks in Germany this summer, where I will work with the unpublished estate of Louise von François, one of my authors, in the (hopefully not too dusty) archives of the Schlossmuseum in Weißenfels, Sachsen-Anhalt. Thank you for making this possible! Sincerely, Karina
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Ruth Ireti Falaiye, and I am writing to express my heartfelt gratitude for your support and kindness with the Bridges Award granted to me. Your generosity has not only made my summer goals possible, but it will also set me on a transformative academic journey. As a second-year graduate student in the Germanic Studies Department, I have two academic goals: to gain a deeper understanding of the German language and culture and to develop my research, writing, and intellectual curiosity. Furthermore, I am particularly interested in the intersections between German literature, Postcolonial Studies, Intercultural Studies, and Migration Studies. The Bridges Award has further solidified my commitment to these academic pursuits and will allow me to deepen my understanding and engagement with these areas of study. I am thrilled to be taking an intensive language program at the Goethe-Institut in Germany this summer. This course aligns perfectly with my academic goals of understanding the German language and culture. It will provide me with direct exposure to German society, improve my intercultural competence with other students from diverse backgrounds, and facilitate the cross-pollination of cultural understanding and values. By participating in this program, I am eager to become more integrated into German society and further develop my teaching skills. I am excited about the potential to contribute to the academic community and to inspire my future students with my enriched knowledge and experiences. My ultimate goal is to become a highly respected professor of German Studies. By gaining advanced language proficiency and cultural exposure through this program, I will be well-equipped to excel as a teacher and share my experiences with future students. These experiences will broaden my artistic perspective and help me foster inclusivity, promoting diversity in my work as a scholar. Once again, I sincerely appreciate your support and kindness. Thank you for making it possible for me to achieve my dreams of continued integration into the German language and culture. With gratitude, Ruth Ireti Falaiye
Liebe Frau und Herr Jacobson, I would like to extend my gratitude for being selected as a scholarship recipient for the Astrida Orle Tantillo Bridges Scholarship Fund. I am currently finishing my third year in the Germanic Studies PhD program at UIC. With my funding from the Bridges scholarship I will be able to study abroad in Berlin for 10 months beginning in October 2024. This funding will assist me with my travel expenses and living expenses, and with expenses associated with studying at Humboldt University. In Berlin I will be working on my dissertation while taking a few classes to bolster my knowledge of my dissertation topic. My dissertation has to do with the concept of Bildung and the ways in which gender nonconformity and Bildung are tied together. Living in Germany will allow me to meet and work with other scholars who I would not have the chance to work with in the US. I will also be attending a conference in Essen to present some research I have done on Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Lehrjahre. One of my other goals while in Germany is to improve my language skills to achieve the C1 certification by the end of the next school year. This scholarship money will help me get many steps closer to finishing my dissertation, publishing, networking with various scholars, improving my German, and much more. Thank you so much for your generous support! Danke vielmals, Charlie Johnson
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, My name is Ian Marks and I’m in my final semester of the MA in Germanic Studies. During the 2022-2023 academic year I was a recipient of the Max Kade Fellowship and was able to focus entirely on my studies. Additionally, due to your generous support I was able to take German intensive language classes in Freiburg, Germany and to take my C1 Exam (I passed!). This experience abroad has formed me into the global citizen I am today. Upon my return from Freiburg I began my TAship in the Basic Language Program and have found my passion for teaching foreign languages. I wouldn’t have been able to be awarded a Fulbright fellowship to teach English through the USTA Fulbright Program without the help and push from my professors at UIC. I am looking forward to embarking on this journey in my life and to building a career teaching English and German as a foreign language. With your continued support I will be using the Bridges Fund this year to pay for consular fees and for travel to Salzburg, where I have been assigned to teach English beginning October 1st. Kindest Regards, Ian Marks
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, My name is Andrew Modaff and I am a graduate student in the Department of Germanic Studies nearing the end of the second semester of my Master’s program. I am also an eternally grateful recipient of the Astrida Orle Tantillo Bridges Scholarship Fund. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the generous people who are helping me reach Vienna this summer. My research interests are wide-ranging at the moment: the history, identities, and literatures of the so-called Mischkulturen of Alsace, France and Luxemburg, border studies, the aesthetics of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, silent Weimar cinema, psychoanalysis, and Chicana Feminism. This varied list is constantly expanding in the congenial environment of the Department of Germanic Studies, where I am encouraged to pursue any and all interests that pull at me. I am especially excited to work more with the cultures of Alsace and Luxembourg, the historically German- and dialect-speaking regions from which my family originally hails. Upon the completion of the Master’s program, I intend to continue my studies as a doctoral student with the ultimate goal of entering the academic job market and securing a teaching position. Spending my career teaching the German language and researching in any capacity would be supremely gratifying. Outside of academics and my other passion, music, I am involved in helping those in my community suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction to find recovery by, among other means, speaking at rehabilitation centers and educating the public. I am using the Bridges Scholarship funds to finance travel to Vienna, Austria for a German language course at the Sprachenzentrum of the University of Vienna. Upon completing this course, I also plan to take a language exam at the Dialogica EuropaAkademie Wien in order to obtain my ÖSD C1-language certificate. The progress in my language skills that I am sure to make in this course along with the immersive cultural experience of living in Vienna for a month will prove invaluable to my education and career goals. My first year as a graduate student at UIC was generously financed by the Max Kade Fellowship, which meant also that I was relieved of teaching duties. Next semester I will take up these teaching duties, and I am certain that this course, the immersion, and the added confidence of obtaining official recognition of my progress in the form of a language certificate will all contribute to my abilities as a teacher of German language and culture. I want to be as effective, helpful, and insightful as possible for my future students, both as a teaching assistant during my graduate studies as well as in my subsequent career. I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude for this opportunity and feel extremely fortunate to have been selected for Bridges Fund awards and to be a part of this department. I look forward to reporting on all of my wonderful experiences in Vienna upon my return. Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Andrew Modaff
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, I am writing this letter as a first-time Astrida Orle Tantillo Bridges Scholarship Fund recipient. I would like to express my deep appreciation for your generous donation and discuss how it will significantly impact my academic experience. Firstly, let me introduce myself. I have taught German language, culture, and literature on-and-off for over twenty years, with a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in German. I am currently a Max Kade Fellow in my second semester of the first year of his Ph.D. studies at the UIC Department of Germanic Studies. My research interests are in postcolonial and post-migrant writings in German and African literature from the late eighteenth century to the present. My career goal has always been to be a qualified teacher and researcher in German literature, culture, and film. In four years, I will have finally fulfilled the education and experience requirements to secure a tenure position in the academic profession, which he is very determined to achieve. As a Max-Kade Fellow, I have participated in organizing a Max-Kade colloquium and other departmental programs such as German High School Day 2024. Since the Fall semester 2023, I have been working with other colleagues to organize the weekly UIC Department of Germanic Studies Kaffeeklatsch (German Conversation Hour). During the 11th German Immersion Day on the University of Chicago Campus, I served as a volunteer panelist in the alumni panel for students of German. I am a diligent student who is committed to making the most out of this incredible opportunity that your scholarship has provided. The financial assistance you have provided will be instrumental in making my trip to Germany this summer realizable. Apart from planning to do preliminary research in Germany, I will also take an advanced language course (C1/C2) at the Goethe-Institut in Bonn. Further, a research visit to Germany will afford me an immersive experience in the German culture and will help me improve on my proficiency in German, which is crucial to my understanding of readings in German literature, philosophy, history, and theory. I am immensely grateful for your support and generosity and ensure that your donation has a positive impact on my academic journey. Thank you once again, Folorunso Odidiomo
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Fruman Jacobson, I am writing to thank you both for my awarded scholarship funding through the Astrida Orle Tantillo Bridges Scholarship Fund. With the Bridges fund, I will be able to continue to focus on my research and writing this summer. As a PhD candidate, this extra time dedicated to my dissertation is crucial. Due to the funding provided, I will be able to finish a first draft of one of my dissertation chapters and work on turning this chapter into an article fit for publication. While my wider dissertation focus deals with the relatively new field of fat studies within the German context, this particular chapter offers a new perspective into a well-established canonical work by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that lays the foundation for my work with the representation of fat bodies in literature and film. This process of uninterrupted scholarship granted to me this summer with the money from the Bridges fund will help not only to come closer to reach my academic goal of finishing my PhD, but it will also allow me to further hone my writing skills for future employment within academia. This period of uninterrupted scholarship will also allow me the time to further connect with scholars working in fat studies. I plan to carry over my work from last summer and attempt to reach out to scholars who work in fat studies within the German speaking world. With this work, I will be able to forge connections that will help support my research and future career in academia as well as provide a way to further these discussions outside of the academy, shedding further much-needed light on the topic of fat bias. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson, for the important opportunities your funding will provide me. I cannot express my gratitude enough. Sincerely, Erin Ritchie