The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce the merger of the Department of German with the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, effective July 1. The combined unit will be called the Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures.
In keeping with the interdisciplinary traditions of Johns Hopkins, the consolidation of the departments will further strengthen graduate and undergraduate teaching and enhance research, particularly through increased opportunities for collaboration. “We expect all four of the department’s graduate programs—in German, Spanish, French, and Italian—to flourish within this new administrative structure,” says James B. Knapp Dean Adam Falk. The arrangement will enable the dean’s office to better support the students, faculty, and programs within the department.
James M. Beall Professor of French Stephen G. Nichols, who will chair the new department, calls the move a dynamic initiative. “It will allow us to undertake programs we’ve never been able to offer and to create the momentum to attract top people,” he says. Nichols, who joined the faculty in 1992, was instrumental in the merger of the French and Hispanic and Italian Studies departments, which in 1999 became the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.
