Katharina von Hammerstein, a scholar of German studies and human rights in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was named a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor this week by the UConn Board of Trustees.
The award is the highest honor that the University bestows on faculty who have demonstrated excellence in teaching, research, and service. Von Hammerstein was one of three UConn professors to receive the honor in 2020.
Von Hammerstein’s research is located at the intersections of literary criticism, human rights, and the studies of gender, war, and postcolonialism. She has published 12 books and more than 70 articles about German, Austrian, and Namibian literature between the late 1700s and early 2000s. Her work on German literature in Europe and Africa and on interdisciplinary curriculum development in the United States has earned her grants from national and international organizations, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council on Education, and the Ministry for Science, Research, and the Arts of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany.
Von Hammerstein is a member of the UConn Human Rights Institute leadership team and the University Senate. She previously served on the University Senate Executive Committee and was chair of UConn’s Global Citizenship Curriculum Committee, the General Education Oversight Committee, and the German Studies Program in the Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages.
An award-winning educator and mentor, von Hammerstein has served as a graduate advisor to approximately 75 MA and Ph.D. students. She teaches courses ranging from large general education lectures on German film to upper-division and graduate-level courses on German Romanticism, German Culture since Martin Luther, and German-African Connections.
Von Hammerstein has given numerous talks and presentations in the United States and around the world, and she was elected Delegate of New England and Eastern Canada at the National Assembly of the Modern Language Association. Most recently, she co-founded and co-directs the Connecticut/Baden-Wuerttemberg Human Rights Research Consortium, which provides a platform to support academic collaboration between research groups at institutions in the U.S. and Germany.
In addition to von Hammerstein, the UConn Board of Trustees recognized two other professors at their April 29 meeting: S. Pamir Alpay, General Electric Professor in Advanced Manufacturing in the School of Engineering, and C. Michael White, professor of pharmacy practice in the School of Pharmacy.
View a full list of UConn’s Board of Trustees Distinguished Professors at the Office of the Provost’s website.
