Faculty and Staff

Johannes Evelein (on leave)
Professor & German Studies Section Head
Seabury Hall Tower 214, (860) 297-2490
[email protected]

Johannes Evelein joined Trinity College in 1997.  A native of the Netherlands, he studied Scandinavian languages and literatures in Groningen (Netherlands) and Oslo (Norway), while at the same time pursuing an M.A. in German Studies at Groningen and Oldenburg (Germany).  If you had told him that, one day, he would be a U.S. citizen and a Professor of Language and Culture Studies at a New England liberal arts college, he would have had a hearty laugh.  But here he is.  At Trinity, he tries to be three things: an engaging teacher and scholar with primary expertise in German language, 20th century literature and Exile Studies; a good citizen of the College community and its environs; and a vocal advocate for a more environmentally sustainable Trinity.  Though his home is the Department of Language and Culture Studies, he is beginning to venture into the new field of Environmental Humanities.  His most innovative course at Trinity?  A co-taught first-year seminar-on-bicycle:  “Cycling, Sustainability, and the City of Hartford.” If you’re interested in his scholarly work, a good start will be his recent book Literary Exiles from Nazi Germany: Exemplarity and the Search for Meaning (Camden House, 2014).

Julia Goesser Assaiante
Lecturer
Seabury Hall S-102, (860) 297-4221
[email protected]

Julia Goesser Assaiante was born on August 28th, which means she shares a birthday with the great Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  While coincidence does not equal correlation, her teaching and research interests are primarily centered upon the traditions of German Romanticism and Classicism, in both their historical context and their modern legacies.  This means her work also overlaps significantly with philosophy, as evidenced by her book on the anti-Enlightenment thinker, Johann Georg Hamann.  Most recently she has undertaken two lengthy translation projects of lectures and letters by the 20th century German philosopher Martin Heidegger, a new focus that she plans to incorporate into her teaching in the semesters to come.  Along with German language courses, Julia routinely teaches courses that explore the ways in which 18th and 19th century German-language philosophy and literature engage the big questions of life, as in, for example, “Literature and the Law in the German Tradition,” “The World of Fairytales”, and a survey course on the thought of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud.

Jason Doerre
Visiting Assistant Professor
Seabury Hall S-009, (860) 297-2264
[email protected]

Jason Doerre thinks that you should learn German! Jason began teaching at Trinity College in 2013, where he has been telling students about the value of learning the German language and culture ever since. Having studied German and history, both his teaching and research interests tend to be interdisciplinary in nature, spanning the fields of nineteenth and twentieth century German culture, German history, and film studies. As a language teacher, Jason seeks to introduce students to the world beyond Trinity and the U.S. emphasizing the 5 C’s (communication, culture, connections, comparisons, communities). In addition to language courses, he also regularly teaches courses offered in English such as “Postwar German Film,” “Berlin to Hollywood,” and “Inside the Third Reich” that reflect his research interests. Currently, he is working on a book manuscript about the liberal German bourgeoisie in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as another project concerning German war films of the early postwar period.

Faculty Affiliated with German Studies

	Kathleen A. Curran, Professor of Fine Arts Hallden 112 (860) 297-2504
	Samuel D. Kassow, Charles H. Northam Professor of History Seabury Hall (860) 297-2390
	John Platoff, Professor of Music Austin Arts Center 103 (860) 297-2202
	Gregory Smith, Professor of Political Science McCook 200 (860) 297-5297
	Wendi Delaney Administrative Assistant Department of Language and Culture Studies Seabury Hall, S-109 Trinity College 300 Summit Street Hartford, CT 06106 860-297-2543 [email protected]