Welcome to the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Distinguished by its broad range, its long history, and its award-winning faculty, the department teaches German and Scandinavian languages, and offers courses in literary and cultural studies from the Middle Ages to the present, in historical and applied linguistics, and in film studies and critical theory.

Undergraduates have the chance to explore the history and structure of German and Scandinavian languages and their multifaceted use in literature, culture, and business. Our own study-abroad program in Vienna is synchronized with departmental offerings and requirements. Students can obtain a Bachelor of Arts in one of the following tracks: German and Commercial Studies, Modern German Studies, Language and Literature, Language Studies, and Scandinavian Studies.

The graduate program of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures offers M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the rich and interdisciplinary offerings at Illinois, supplementing course work in the Department with study in other programs such as Comparative Literature, the Unit for Cinema Studies, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, the Women's Studies Program, the Program in Jewish Culture and Society, Medieval Studies, the Program in Second Language Acquisition/Teacher Education, or the Department of Linguistics. Our graduate students have an excellent placement record.

The department has a remarkably active intellectual climate with a robust lecture series and program of regular conferences, colloquia, and symposia, at which we host a wide range of guests and speakers from Germany, Scandinavia, and the United States. In addition to winning competitive grants on a regular basis through venues such as Fulbright, Humboldt, and Max Kade, we have established a wide range of partnerships and opportunities for study, research, and exchange within a network of institutions and programs. These include the Universities of Goettingen, Heidelberg, Greifswald, Oxford, Stockholm, Copenhagen, the Swedish Institute, and the Newberry Consortium.

We welcome your interest in our dynamic and challenging programs, and invite you to explore our website and to contact us.