简介

Rebecca S. Thomas is Chair of the Department of German and Russian, and Associate Professor of German. She received her Ph.D. in German from The Ohio State University and her M.A. and B.A. in German from UCLA. Her areas of specialization are Austrian Literature and Culture, and German Literature and Culture from 1871 to the present. “For the past 20 years I have spent two months of almost every summer in Graz, Austria teaching German at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) summer festival. The AIMS, Graz experience provides an opportunity for me to pursue almost all of my true passions: travel, German, music, hiking, tennis, reading, fellowship with long-time friends from all over the world, and, of course, beer. I grew up playing classical piano and it is a vicarious thrill to live among wonderful musicians as they develop their craft and love of opera and symphonic music. I have really enjoyed being able to take a Wake Forest German student to Graz several times as an intern for AIMS. As a scholar and lover of Austrian Culture I have also really enjoyed the contrast between the relatively provincial feel of Graz and the world capital Vienna where I have been fortunate enough to be faculty director of the Wake Forest Flow House for two semesters, Fall of 2002 and 2007. I have just completed editing a book on modern Austrian culture that will appear any day with Cambridge Scholars Press and am currently completing the authorized translation of a contemporary Austrian novel by Kathrin Röggla. In addition to my summer travel and teaching I enjoy cooking, jogging (well, I don’t always enjoy that as much as I pretend), softball, attending most sporting events and playing with my two great kids, Charlie (13) and Adele (7) who also enjoy our European trips. Charlie and I also pick along a bit in a rag-tag bluegrass band (banjo and mandolin). My husband Chuck is a professor at Georgia Southern University with a specialization in German History.”