German and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is proud of our tradition as a distinguished center of research and teaching at the graduate (MA and PhD) and undergraduate levels.  Our strengths are in interdisciplinary literary and cultural studies, including Black German Studies, Cultural and Intellectual History, Film Studies, GDR Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, German-Jewish Studies, Holocaust Studies, Medieval Studies, Minority Studies, Theater and Performance Studies, Transnationalism, and Turkish German Studies. We are home to the DEFA Film Library, a research center focusing on films related to East Germany.  Our resources are enhanced by the Five Colleges, the Yiddish Book Center, and exchange programs with universities in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Austria. UMass offers instruction in German, Swedish, Yiddish, Middle High German, and Old Norse. 

Our MA and PhD graduates include many prominent scholars and teachers worldwide (click here for a list of recent placements and here for recent dissertations).

Program Director of German and Scandinavian Studies: Sara Jackson (@email)

Graduate Program Director: Mariana Ivanova (@email)

Undergraduate Program Director & Language Program Coordinator: Kerstin Mueller Dembling (@email)

Director of iSTEP: international Science, Technology & Engineering Programs: Julia Feldhaus (@email)