草榴社区's Cornelius Partsch awarded the 2024 Goethe鈥怚nstitut/American Association of Teachers of German Certificate of Merit
Cornelius Partsch, Professor of German in the , has been awarded the 2024 . He is one of only five educators nationally to be recognized this year.
The Certificate of Merit honors educators who have demonstrated achievement in furthering the teaching of German in the United States through outstanding instruction, creative and successful activities promoting German, innovative curriculum and successful course design, successful interdisciplinary cooperation, and significant contributions to the profession.
Partsch has taught at all levels of the German curriculum as well as courses in the Honors College at Western. Known for his development of new courses on relevant topics that are of great interest to Western students, he has recently offered an upper-division German course on sustainability and an Honors seminar titled 鈥淲orld鈥檚 Most Dangerous Border鈥 on migrant/refugee stories around the Mediterranean Sea. From 2007-2011, Partsch was a member of the Goethe-Institut Trainer Network, and he has presented on topics in curricular design and world language pedagogy at venues such as the Washington Association for Language Teaching conference and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages annual convention.
He is co-author of the German textbook Treffpunkt Deutsch with colleagues Margaret Gonglewski (The George Washington University) and Beverly Moser (Appalachian State University), which is under contract to appear in a new edition in the online learning environment at . Besides his engagement in world language pedagogy, curricular development, and assessment, Professor Partsch has published several literary translations and maintained active research programs in the areas of jazz and film studies, spy fiction, and Holocaust education.
The in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, which was designated an in 2013, offers a German major and minor, majors in German with an elementary or secondary teaching endorsement, and dual-language majors in French/German and German/Spanish.
Partsch will be honored in a virtual ceremony held by the AATG on to celebrate this year鈥檚 awardees. "With their dedication to excellence in German language and culture instruction, these award recipients promote the transatlantic friendship between the US and German-speaking countries and foster the much-needed intercultural awareness so their students can lead successful lives in a globalized world,鈥 said Angelika Becker, president of the AATG.