As the Graduate School considers cutting the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature's doctoral program, faculty say they are concerned about the program's small applicant pool but are optimistic about its future viability.
Many German professors pointed to both the youth of the program and a recent external review that was largely positive and called for the administration to hire two additional experts for the department.
"I think the Graduate School saw a problem," said Ann Marie Rasmussen, associate professor of German studies. "It's their job to point out problems and help fix them. They've done their job and shown a willingness to help us out."
Most professors stressed that the program began only in 1992 and has not had enough time to build a strong reputation. The external review, conducted in February 2001, echoed that sentiment, and praised the doctoral program's interdisciplinarity.
Although most small doctoral programs have problems recruiting large numbers of strong applicants, the German studies department attracted just four applicants last semester--two of whom were Duke undergraduates. In addition, the program has only accepted two graduate students in the last two years. The applicant pool has dropped from about 21 in the program's first six years to an average of 13 the last three years.
Department administrators--Chair Ingeborg Walther and Director of Graduate Studies James Rolleston--plan to increase the department's visibility during next year's application process, by distributing more literature, talking about the program in national forums and visiting other schools. Walther took over as chair last year, and many professors said the transition created more havoc as the department tried to recruit.
Peter McIsaac, one of six faculty members with a primary appointment in the department, arrived at Duke recently. "I have to say, I was very excited to come to Duke," McIsaac said. "I have taught at other schools and Duke is really unique." McIssac, whose research includes gender in German literature and German science and technology, liked the program's interdisciplinarity.
The review also noted an intellectual divide between the undergraduate and graduate programs, but Thomas Pfau, director of undergraduate studies and former director of graduate studies, said he did not think it was a significant problem.
"If the graduate program continues, it will do so by appealing to students with wide-ranging and highly diverse interdisciplinary investments focused on the linguistic and cultural space of German-speaking central Europe," Pfau wrote in an e-mail.
Walther and many professors said German programs across the country, such as Stanford's, are struggling to find applicants.
McIsaac pointed to a decline in the study of German in American high schools, along with Latin and other foreign languages as a reason for a parallel decline in interest within universities. McIsaac also said that after the Cold War ended and German reunification, many expected a surge in interest.
"Right after the [Berlin] wall came down, here was Germany, the most populous nation in Europe," McIsaac said. "But a lot of the things we thought would happen turned out not to be the case."
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