JYM welcomes visiting professor and academic director in residence
Hi everyone, my name is Nicole Coleman and I am visiting professor and academic director in residence at the Junior Year in Munich an der Universität München for the year 2023-2024.
I grew up in Germany and had my first experience with study abroad when I spent one year at the Charles University in Prague. After graduating from the University of Bonn with an M.A. in Political Science, Modern History, and Comparative Literature and a certificate in Teaching German as a Foreign Language, I spent one year as a DAAD language assistant in Montenegro. When I returned to Germany, I taught language classes for migrants in Berlin for one year. I enjoyed working in the diverse setting of a language school but I missed the university.
In 2010, I went to the U.S. and entered the Ph.D. program in German Studies at the University of Connecticut. There I was able to connect the different interests that had developed through my studies and my travels, and I wrote a dissertation about contemporary German literature, migration, and human rights.
In 2015, I joined the faculty at Wayne State University. I received tenure in 2022 and am now an associate professor of German and director of Global Studies. I have co-authored a German textbook for first- and second-year learners and am passionate about teaching language, culture, and intercultural competence. I also work with the Office for International Programs on initiatives to bring global learning to all students at Wayne State. Naturally, many of my own global connections happen between the U.S. and Germany and I enjoy bringing students from both countries together, be that through collaborative online projects, a summer school I help organize (with Hochschule Ruhr West, Hochschule Harz, and Iowa State University), or this year on the ground in Munich.
Coming from the Rhineland, I am in for some culture shock this year, I am sure and I look forward to learning the ropes in Bavaria alongside the students. I will be living here with my husband and my son who will be going to first grade this year. In my free time, I enjoy reading, cooking, doing all kinds of crafts, traveling, exploring new things and anything cultural really.
