Bio

Education and Degrees

■        University of Vienna, Austria

■        University of Texas, Austin, Texas, B.A.

■        University of Manitoba, Canada, M.A.

■        Harvard University, Cambridge, Ph.D.

■        University of Munich, Germany

Fellowships and Honors

■        Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung fellow: Munich (1960/61), Tübingen (1974), Marburg (1981), travel grant (1985), Marburg (1990), Marburg (1993), Bonn (2001)

■        American Institute of Indian Studies fellow, India 1988

■        Austrian Government, Vienna, research fellow 1977

■        Bush fellow, University of Minnesota 1989-1990

■        Corresponding Member, Center for Multilingualism, Brussels, Belgium since 1986

■        DAAD fellow 2000

■        Faculty fellow, Summer, University of Minnesota 1995, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2007

■        Fulbright Research Professor, University of Iceland 1980, 1994

■        Fulbright-Hayes/NDEA Faculty fellow, University of Iceland 1966/67

■        Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, research fellow 1973

■        McKnight fellow, Summer, University of Minnesota 1995, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2007

■        National Endowment for the Humanities fellow for Independent Study and Research 1980/81, Travel grant 1991

■        Permanent Visiting Professor, Jilin University, Chang Chun, China since 1987

■        Thor Thors Fellow, University of Iceland 1994

Grants and Leaves

■        China Center, University of Minnesota, travel grant

■        Faculty Fellow, Summer, University of Minnesota 1995, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2007

■        Graduate Research Partnership Program, University of Minnesota, 2003, 2007

■        Graduate School, University of Minnesota, research grants 1965-1977, 1978-1980, 1983-1991, 1993-1996, 1998-1999, 2001-2002, 2004-2005, 2009-2010

■        McKnight Fellow, Summer, University of Minnesota 1995, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2007

■        McKnight International Travel Award, University of Minnesota 1995, 1996, 2005-6, 2007

■        McKnight Research professorship 2004-7

■        McMillan Travel grants, University of Minnesota

■        Minnesota Humanities Commission, research grant 1995-96, 1997-98

■        Office of International Education, University of Minnesota, travel grants 1990, 1992-99, 2000-1, 2002-3, 2005

■        Quarter research leaves, University of Minnesota

■        Sabbatical, University of Minnesota 1973-74, 1980-81, 1989-90, 1997-98, 2007-08

■        Summer Institute, Weimar (GDR), faculty grant

■        Travel grants, University of Minnesota 1969, 1971, 1977, 1979, 1987, 1990, 1992-2001, 2002-2003

■        UROP grants, University of Minnesota 1987-88, 1990-2003

Teaching and Administration

■        Teaching Fellow of German, Harvard University 1957/58, 1961/62

■        Instructor and Assistant professor of German, University of Wisconsin, Madison 1962-65

■        Associate Professor of German, University of Minnesota 1965-69

■        Full professor of German and Germanic Philology, University of Minnesota 1969-present

■        Visiting professor, University of Florida, Gainesville 1973

■        Visiting research professor, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan 1982/83

■        Visiting professor, Jilin University, Chang Chun, China 1987

■        Visiting professor, University of Graz, Austria 1989, 1991, 2002/03

■        Visiting Professor, University of Vienna, Austria 1995

■        Visiting Professor, University of Bonn, Germany 1996

■        Visiting Professor, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica 2000

Central Interests

■        Medieval German language and literature (Old High German, Middle High German, Early New High German)

■        History of the German language

■        Medieval Germanic languages (Old Norse, Old English, Old Low German)

■        Medieval Latin

■        Medieval palaeography and text editing

■        Modern German language 

■        German-American language and culture 

■        Translation (German, English, Icelandic, Latin)

■        Bibliography