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  • Personalia 2007
  • Kristopher Imbrigotta

We herewith present Monatshefte's annual issue of Personalia. Personalia contains information concerning staff members and departmental structures for the academic year 2007–2008 and information concerning student enrollments and degrees granted for the academic year 2006–2007. Personalia listings are prepared from material submitted by departments. Monatshefte cannot be responsible for factual errors in the submitted materials. The deadline for returning this year's Personalia forms was May 31; reminders were sent out after that date by email, and we included information that came in as late as the end of August. Departments that did not submit new information before we went to press are still listed—with an asterisk preceding the listing—using last year's information, but deleting statistics, leave and visitor information, and italicized names. Departments that were asterisked last year and did not respond again this year were dropped.

As of this issue, Personalia is 70 years old. Personalia made its debut in Monatshefte volume 29 (1937), where—spread out between the November and December issues—44 institutions were listed. In 1938 that number dropped to 29, but rose to 72 in 1939. These first few issues were rather descriptive, including not only a list of the faculty, but also a survey of the sorts of graduate seminars offered. Personalia has been a part of Monatshefte ever since—with the excpetion of 1943, when the Personalia section was not included.

The format and contents of Personalia have changed dramatically over the course of seven decades. Early sections listed full-time faculty, changes in faculty, the number of students (both at the undergraduate and graduate levels) in the department, as well as graduate students working toward Ph.D. degrees who would likely finish during the next year and hence be available for teaching positions. Only years later were completed dissertations listed. The 1942 issue, as well as several other Personalia listings of that period, listed faculty members on leave to the army or other government agencies. By the late 1940s Personalia had grown to cover over 100 institutions; in 1968 it listed over 200. The Personalia issue for 1957 introduced what became the standard format for listing programs (a two-column layout listing faculty by rank), but it wasn't until 1973 that the type of department (e.g. German or Foreign Language) and the highest degree offered were listed. Canadian programs were first listed in 1964, and for a few years in the 1960s other "overseas" schools (e.g. the University of Auckland, New Zealand; the University of Queensland, Australia; and the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa) were also a part of Personalia.

The 1970s saw a variety of special surveys: German Cultural Studies (1976), GDR Studies (1977), Women in German (1978), Graduate Programs (1979). Then, in 1980, Personalia established its current format, including the departmental statistics and the statistical summary, the necrology, the listing of new hires, etc.

The code following the departmental address designates departmental structure and the highest degree offered in German in that department: G = German (Germanic) only or with minor languages; G + = German plus another language not considered minor, usually Russian; L = German section of a (foreign) language (literature) [End Page 501] department; O = no degree obtainable in German; B = bachelor's degree; M = master's degree; D = doctor's degree. If a + follows the degree designation, a higher degree is obtainable outside the regular program.

Names given in italics identify visitors (followed by the parenthetical notation [vi]) and new appointments. Refer to special listings for information concerning temporary or permanent status and regular or former affiliation. Again, the accuracy of this information depends on the submissions by the departments.

An asterisk following a name indicates the chairperson or head of the department, including (foreign) language departments. A double asterisk following a name indicates the representative, if any, of the German section of a (foreign) language department.

Departmental members on leave are designated by the parenthetical notation (lv), followed by a semester (Roman) or quarter (Arabic) designation. If these designations are absent, leave is for the entire year.The statistical table at the conclusion of a German department listing gives the following information for the preceding...

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