Faculty, Staff & Student Honours

Prof. Markus Stock won a SSHRC Insight Grant for his project ‘Medieval Undergrounds: A Cultural History of Extraction.’ (2024-29)

Prof. John Zilcosky won a SSHRC Insight Grant for his project ‘Brutal Embrace: The Story of Wrestling’ (2024-27)

Prof. Angelica Fenner has been awarded a six-month research fellowship with the Jackman Humanities Institute to pursue the project "An Aesthetics of (Dis)Affection: The Films of Maria Speth" (2024-25)

Prof. John Zilcosky was distinguished with a Guggenheim Fellowship for his project on the cultural history of wrestling from Plato to Hulk Hogan. (2022)

Prof. Angelica Fenner won an Insight Development Grant with collaborator Dr. Hester Baer for the project "Feminist Film History Reframed: The Ulm Film School, 1962-68." (2022-2025)

Professor John Zilcosky published his new book The Language of Trauma: War and Technology in Hoffmann, Freud, and Kafka (‎University of Toronto Press, 2021).

Professor Anna Shternshis won a SSHRC Insight Grant for her project "Singing the Archive: How Lost Yiddish Songs Documented Holocaust in the Soviet Union”, 2021.

Professor Anna Shternshis received a Guggenheim Fellowship and won the President's Impact Award, 2020.

Professor Erol Boran received the Innovate German Award, June 2020.

Professor Willi Goetschel was awarded the 2020 Moses Mendelssohn Prize of the City of Dessau, March 2020.

Professor Shternshis has been awarded a six-month research fellowship with the Jackman Humanities Institute to pursue a project entitled “Last Yiddish Heroes: A Lost and Found Archive of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union,” January 2020.

Professor Shternshis received the ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ award, which is granted by the Federation of Jewish Communities, January 2020.

Christine Lehleiter who has been awarded a Humboldt Fellowship for her project ‘Stimulus, Response, Behavior: Habit at the Intersection of Nature and Culture (1750-1850)’, January 2020.

Professor John Zilcosky and Dr. Marlo Burks published their new book The Allure of Sports in Western Culture (University of Toronto Press, 2019).

Professor Erol Boran was awarded the 2019 Faculty of Arts and Science Outstanding Teaching Award.

Professor John K. Noyes was awarded a Fellowship in the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies for 2020 and 2021 for his project "Global Humanities."

Professor Willi Goetschel published his most recent book Heine and Critical Theory (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019).

Professor John K. Noyes was awarded a SSHRC Insight Grant for His Project "Goethe's World" April, 2019.

Professor John K. Noyes published his edited volume Herder's Essay on Being. A Translation and Critical Commentary (Camden House, 2018).

Professor John K. Noyes has been appointed Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Modern Foreign Languages at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. (2018-2019)

Professor Christine Lehleiter was awarded the 2018 Faculty of Arts and Science Outstanding Teaching Award.

Professor Anna Shternshis’ “Yiddish Glory” recording of lost Yiddish songs receives wide international news coverage 2018.

Professor Anna Shternshis was featured in BBC’s article “Yiddish songs from WW2 brought back to life” 2018.

Professor Christine Lehleiter was awarded SSHRC Insight Development Grant for her project "Neurohumanities: What can we learn from the 18th century?" 2018

Professor Angelica Fenner was awarded SSHRC Connection Grant in support of the conference "Transnational Perspectives on Black Germany," May 2018

Professor John Zilcosky was awarded the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Bessel Research Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, for his lifetime achievements in research (2018)

Professor John Zilcosky was a Visiting Fellow at the Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung (Centre for Literary and Cultural Research) in Berlin, Germany (2018)

Professor John K. Noyes won the prestigious Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures for his book, Herder: Aesthetics against Imperialism, published by the University of Toronto Press. (2016-2017)

Professor John K. Noyes was awarded a Fellowship in the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies for 2016 and 2017 for his project "Global Citizenship and the Practice of Being Human. South African Visions and the Legacy of Enlightenment."

Professor John Zilcosky published Uncanny Encounters: Literature, Psychoanalysis and the End of Alterity. (Northwestern University Press, 2016)

Professor John Zilcosky won a SSHRC Connection Grant for the 9th Annual Toronto German Studies Symposium 2016, entitled “Sports: Allure and Ethics”.

German Department Alumni Ambassador and Executive in Residence Joan Andersen won an Arbor Award (2015-2016).

Professor Anna Shternshis was awarded a 5-year SSHRC Insight Grant for her project “Yiddish Culture in the Soviet Union During World War II” (2015).

Professor Anna Shternshis won a SSHRC Connection Grant for the 2015 Toronto German Studies Symposium of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature, entitled “Global Yiddish Culture 1938 – 1948.”

Professor John Noyes won a twelve-month National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) fellowship for his project “The Legacy of Johann Gottfried Herder’s Theories of Cultural Difference and Universal Reason”. (2014-2015)

Professor Stefan Soldovieri was awarded a SSHRC Connection Grant for the international conference “Specters of the Other Germany: 25 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall,” held 11-12 April 2014 at the University of Toronto.

Professor John Zilcosky was named Honorary President of the Literary Theory Research Committee of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) (2014)

Professor Willi Goeschel published the seventh volume of the Hermann Levin Goldschmidt-Werkausgabe: Haltet euch an Worte: im ganzen! Texte und Thesen (Passagen Verlag, 2013).

German Department Prof. Emeritus Heinz Wetzel published his novel Wo die Bäume im Wasser stehn (Athene Media Verlag, 2013).

Professor Markus Stock received a SSHRC Connection Grant for the international conference “Rethinking Philology,” Nov 8-9, 2013 at the University of Toronto.

Professor Willi Goetschel took on the role of Executive Editor of the Germanic Review, one of the most respected journals in our field.

Professor John Zilcosky won a SSHRC Insight Grant for his project “Uncanny Encounters: Literature, Psychoanalysis, and the End of Alterity.”

Professor John Noyes won a SSHRC Insight Grant for his project “Globalization in the Age of Goethe.”

Professor Christine Lehleiter won a Curriculum Renewal Initiative Award for the development of the new “Money and Economy” undergraduate course.

Professor John Zilcosky won a twelve-month National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) fellowship for his project, "The Concept of the 'Uncanny' in 20th-Century Austro-German Thought" (2013-2014).

Professor Willi Goetschel's project called "Difference and Alterity in Modern Jewish Philosophy" is supported by a grant of the Social Sciences and Human Research Council Insight Grant 2012-2020.

Professor Willi Goetschel spent 2012 as Fellow in Residence at the Lichtenberg-Kolleg at the University of Göttingen.

Professor Willi Goetschel published his most recent book: The Discipline of Philosophy and the Invention of Modern Jewish Thought (Fordham University Press, 2012).

Professor John Noyes recently co-edited together with Pia Kelber and Hans Schulte the volume Goethe’s Faust: Theatre of Modernity (Cambrdige University Press, 2011).

Professor Angelica Fenner’s Race Under Reconstruction in German Cinema: Robert Stemmle’s Toxi (University of Toronto Press, 2011) was a finalist for the Theatre Library Award 2012.

Professor Markus Stock won Jackman Humanities Institute Grants for the lecture series "Tasting Histories" and for the 2012-13 JHI Working Group "Sacrality and Space".

Professor John Zilcosky was elected President of the Literary Theory Committee of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) for a three-year term (2011-2014).

Professor Markus Stock was invited to the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies to serve as Senior Research Fellow, January - June 2012. He also recently took on the role of Book Review Editor for Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies.

Professor Christine Lehleiter received a prestigious SSHRC Insight Development Grant that will run for two years (2011-2013) and was awarded for her ongoing research project, "Original Sin: the Quest for the Origin of Evil."

Professor Angelica Fenner published the monograph Race Under Reconstruction in German Cinema: Robert Stemmle's Toxi (University of Toronto Press, 2011).

Professor John Zilcosky was interviewed on the CBC’s “The Current with Anna Maria Tremonti” on the topic of “Unfinished Work and Literary Legacy” (October 13, 2010).

Professor Angelica Fenner was awarded a residency with the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France and will spend Fall 2009 researching her book project on sound, space, and mobility in European Cinemas.

Professor Willi Goetschel was the Charlotte M. Craig Distinguished Visiting Professor of German Studies at Rutgers University (spring semester 2009)

Professor Markus Stock was Visiting Professor at the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University (spring semester 2009).

Professor John Zilcosky was interviewed on CBC Radio’s “The Current with Anna-Maria Tremonti”: “ Abdelrazik/Kafka” (April 9, 2009).

Professor Anna Shternshis won a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) research grant for her project, The Evacuation and Escape of Jewish Civilians in the Soviet Union during World War II (2008-11), $62,000, and a Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany grant for her project (with Zvi Gitelman), The Soviet Government and Soviet Jewry During World War II: Soviet Policy, Combat and Evacuation (2008 - 2011).

Professor Markus Stock published Topographies of the Early Modern City (ed. Arthur B. Groos, Hans Jochen Schiewer, and Markus Stock), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Unipress, 2008

Professor John Zilcosky published Writing Travel: The Poetics and Politics of the Modern Journey (ed. John Zilcosky), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008

Professor John Noyes won a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) research grant for his project,Colonialism and the German Enlightenment (2007-10).

Professor John Zilcosky won an Alexander-von-Humboldt Research Fellowship (2004-2005).

Professor John Zilcosky won the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures for his book Kafka’s Travels: Exoticism, Colonialism, and the Traffic of Writing (2004)

Professor John Zilcosky won a multi-year SSHRC Standard Research Grant (2003-2007).

Professor John Zilcosky published his most recent book: Kafka’s Travels: Exoticism, Colonialism, and the Traffic of Writing. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)

In memoriam: University Professor Emeritus Hans Eichner

PhD candidate Sophie Jordan won the 2024 Innovate German Award (GSC/DAAD)

PhD candidate Miriam Schwartz won an OGS for 2024-25.

PhD student Jacob Hermant won a three-year SSHRC CGS scholarship (2023-24).

PhD student Eli Jany won an OGS for 2023-24.

PhD student Sophie Jordan won Waterloo Centre for German Studies 2023-4 Diversity and Inclusion Grant (2023)

PhD student Laurence Côté-Pitre won an OGS for 2021-22.

PhD student Miriam Bordern won a three-year SSHRC CGS scholarship (2020-23).

PhD candidate Vardit Lightstone won a Doctoral Scholarship from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture (2020-21)

PhD student Eli Jany won a three-year SSHRC CGS scholarship (2020-21).

PhD candidate Vardit Lightstone won a Bernard & Elinore Persiko Merit Scholarship, awarded by the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University (2020)

PhD candidate Laurence Côté-Pitre won a DAAD Short-Term Research Grant (November 2019 – February 2020)

PhD student Laurence Côté-Pitre won an OGS for 2019-20.

PhD student Florian Müller won a highly competitive Connaught Award (for five years). All across the University of Toronto, only 26 were awarded for 2019-2020.

PhD student Miriam Borden won an OGS for 2019-20.

PhD student Virginia Shewfelt won the Irving (Itche) Himel Yiddish Award (Spring 2019) and the Dr. Lieba Wilensky Lesk Graduate Scholarship for Women in Jewish Studies (Fall 2019)

PhD student Rita Laszlo won an OGS for 2019-20 (declined) and was awarded a three-year SSHRC Doctoral Award (2019).

PhD candidate Veronica Curran received a JIGES Reasearch Travel Grant (2019) and a SGS Research Travel Grant (2019).

PhD student André Flicker won a highly competitive Connaught Award (for five years). All across the University of Toronto, only 27 were awarded for 2018-2019.

MA student John Evjen was awarded a CGS-M for 2018-2019.

MA student Marten Henning won an Iter Graduate Fellowship for 2018-2019.

PhD candidate Vardit Lightstone won the Marcia Koven Award for Best Student Paper and a M.A.A.Sh Scholarship 2018.

PhD student Laurence Côté-Pitre won an OGS for 2018-19.

PhD student Rita Laszlo won an OGS for 2018-19.

PhD student Laurence Côté-Pitrereceived a DAAD German Studies Research Grant (2018).

PhD candidate Vardit Lightstone received a Peter Lougheed Graduate Fellowship in Canadian Studies, Halbert Center for Canadian Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2018).

PhD student Veronica Curran was awarded a three-year SSHRC Doctoral Award (2018).

PhD candidate Vardit Lightstone received Research Fellowship from Daat Hamakom, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (2017).

PhD student Rita Laszlo won an OGS for 2017-18.

PhD student Tobias René Wilczek won a three-year SSHRC CGS scholarship (2017-18).

PhD candidate Vardit Lightstone won a three-year SSHRC CGS scholarship (2017-18).

Ph.D. student Laurence Côté-Pitre was rewarded a continuous multi-year Jackman Junior Fellowship (2017-18).

MA student Laurence Côté-Pitre won an OGS for 2016-17.

PhD student Vardit Lightstone won an OGS for 2016-17 (declined).

PhD candidate Christin Bohnke was awarded a SSHRC Doctoral Award and won an OGS for 2016-17 (declined) and a Joint Initiative in German and European Studies Grant.

PhD candidate Marlo Burks won an OGS for International Students for 2015-16.

PhD student Will Ohm won a three-year SSHRC CGS scholarship (2015-16).

German Department undergraduate student Emily Tsui won a Gavin Nowlan Campus Student Leadership Award & Katharine Ball Graduating Award for Course Unions (2015-16).

PhD candidate Teresa Sudenis received an OGS for 2015-16 and an SGS Travel Research Grant.

German Department undergraduate student Tobias Wilczek won a very competitive University of Toronto Excellence Award (2015). Less than twenty are awarded each year among all undergraduate students in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

PhD candidate Christin Bohnke received two prestigious awards: the Zantop Travel Award of the Coalition of Women in German and a Fellowship from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (2015).

PhD candidate Marlo Burks was appointed the first ever Amilcare Iannucci Graduate Fellow in the Humanities at the Jackman Humanities Institute (2015-16).

PhD student William Ohm won an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) for 2014-15.

PhD candidate Marlo Burks won an OGS for International Students for 2014-15.

German Department undergraduate student Tobias-Rene Wilczek and the German Studies Student Union won a FAS Dean’s Student Initiative Grant for the creation of the German Studies Undergraduate Journal, Zeitgeist (2014-15).

Nicole Perry (Ph.D. 2011) won a prestigious 2-year Lise-Meitner Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Austrian Science Fund, to be held at the University of Vienna (2014).

Ph.D. candidate Vasuki Shanmuganathan accepted a position as CLT Lecturer in the German Department at Queen’s University.

Incoming M.A. Student Elise Polkinghorne won an Agnes M. Ireland Award, which was only awarded to five students this year at U of Toronto (2013-14).

Incoming M.A. student Vanessa Pfeiffer won a University of Toronto Excellence Award. Less than twenty are awarded each year among all undergraduate students in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

PhD candidate Teresa Sudenis won an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) for 2013-14.

PhD student Marlo Burks won an OGS for International Students 2013-14.

Doctoral candidate Stefana Gargova won the 2011-2012 TATP Teaching Excellence Price of the University of Toronto as well as a Dissertation Completion Award.

Doctoral candidate Lara Pehar won an Ontario Graduate Scholarship for 2012-13.

Ph.D. student Anna Stainton was rewarded a continuous multi-year Jackman Humanities Graduate Fellowship.

Lara Pehar was awarded a SSHRC Doctoral Award and a Ontario Graduate Scholarship (declined) for 2011/12.

Nicole Perry and Andrew Warren were each awarded Ontario Graduate Scholarships for 2011/12.

John Koster and Vasuki Shanmuganathan were each granted Doctoral Completion Awards for 2011/12.

Marlo Burks was awarded the International Connaught Scholarship and the Avie Bennett Award, 2011/12.

Anna Stainton received an Avie Bennett Award and was also nominated as Junior Fellow of the Jackman Humanities Institute.