PhD Program German, Princeton University

PhD Program in German at Princeton University

by Sara S. Poor, Director of Graduate Studies

The Princeton University Department of German welcomes applications for PhD students beginning in Fall 2020. Long considered a leading program for training Germanists, our graduate program has in recent decades built upon its traditional strengths in literature (from the Middle Ages to the present), literary theory, critical theory and philosophy by developing further faculty specializations in media studies, film, psychoanalysis, gender studies, systems theory, and the visual arts. A key member of the intellectual life of Princeton University, the German Department enjoys close ties with many other departments on campus including Comparative Literature, Art and Archaeology, History, and the School of Architecture.

Beyond Princeton, we enjoy a broad international reach through cooperations with the PhD Net of the Humboldt Universität (“Das Wissen der Literatur”), the Princeton-Weimar Summer School for Media Studies (a collaboration with the IKKM, Bauhaus Universität Weimar), and the Princeton-Oxford Research Collaboration on Walter Benjamin. Our permanent faculty also provide our PhD students with the opportunity for regular exchange with the Humboldt Universität in Berlin.

All graduate students admitted to the program are guaranteed paid tuition and a generous monthly stipend for a minimum of five years (including summers), but often including a sixth year of support for dissertation completion. The department also makes available funds to support scholarly research and participation at conferences. During their time at Princeton graduate students are expected to teach at least one year of German, for which they receive extensive pedagogical training and supervision. Students also regularly take advantage of various other opportunities to gain teaching experience, including teaching the second-year language sequence, leading a section for a university lecture course, and team-teaching a literature course with a faculty member.

In our commitment to principles of fairness and respect for all, Princeton’s German Department seeks to create a climate that is favorable to the free and open exchange of ideas, and reaches out as widely as possible in order to attract the best qualified individuals. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, political views, gender identity or expression, religion, marital status, national or ethnic origin, disability, or veteran status.

Our program’s combination of intellectual intensity, diversity and supportiveness have resulted in a placement record unsurpassed in the field.

For more information about the program or if for any questions, please contact Sara S. Poor, Director of Graduate Studies (spoor@princeton.edu) or visit the German Department’s website (german.princeton.edu).

Information about the application process can be found at: https://gradschool.princeton.edu/admission/applying-princeton. The deadline for submitting applications is December 31, 2019.