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Donauschwaben in den USA |
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VISITING
AUTHOR/EDITOR ARTICLE
JANUARY
2009 Waterloo
Centre for German Studies Receives
its Largest Donation
Forwarded From Kitchener Donauschwaben
The following article is copied from the University of Waterloo’s news releases from November 12, 2008. It is here in full as written by the original author.
WATERLOO, Ont. (Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008) -- A $1.5-million donation will help the Waterloo Centre for German Studies based at the University of Waterloo become one of the best in the world. The late Fred Stork, a successful Kitchener-area entrepreneur of German heritage, and his wife Ruth, donated $1.5 million in support of Germanic studies at UW. The gift goes to the Waterloo Centre for German Studies, with $500,000 to support student exchanges including academic, cultural and work placements in Germany. “The gift was very close to his heart,” said his son, Mike Stork. “Although a true Canadian, he never lost his love for his mother country, Germany. He was an engaged, community- minded citizen and a generous philanthropist.” The centre plays a key role in supporting the mission of UW’s Germanic and Slavic studies department, which is to offer courses in lan- guage, linguistics, literature, film and culture, including applied language courses such as German for business purposes. As well, it pro- vides students with the opportunity to visit and work in German-speaking communities. “This gift is the largest the Waterloo Centre for Germanic Studies has received and will position the centre and the department of Germanic and Slavic studies among the very best in the world,” said Ken Coates, dean of arts. “Over the past 15 years, the University of Waterloo has become one of the major centres in North America for the study of Germanic language and literature.” The centre and department have received sev- eral major donations, bringing private and institutional support to a total of $10 million. These gifts have helped to establish the Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Memorial Chair in German Literary Studies and allowed UW to recruit a world-class scholar, professor Alice Kuzniar, to join the department. Founded in June 2004, the centre has become a major hub for German studies in North America. It focuses on research into all aspects of German-language culture and provides out- reach programs to raise public awareness of the rich Germanic culture in Waterloo Region. Besides hosting conferences and lectures, the cen- tre supports the archiving of specialized library materials to complement existing collections of historical papers. It also produces publications to engage scholars and community members alike, and links scholars around the world. The centre is located in Canada’s most promi- nent area of German settlement. Built by German settlers and immigrants, Kitchener- Waterloo is a significant German heritage site and home to the greatest density of German- Canadians in the country. As a result, a large body of knowledge about German-Canadian culture exists in the area.
A Brief History of the Centre Built by German settlers
and immigrants, Kitchener-Waterloo is a significant German heritage centre in
Canada and is home to the greatest density of German-Canadians in the country. A
large body of knowledge about German-Canadian culture and the German-speaking
peoples exists here. The idea to found the Waterloo Centre for German Studies
goes back many years. It seemed natural to give an academic focus to the long
tradition of German immigration to Waterloo County. The University of Waterloo
was founded in 1957 and already by 1960 the Department of Germanic and Slavic
Studies had been formed and began to grow rapidly so that it is currently the
largest German graduate program in Canada and the third largest at the
undergraduate level. In the late 1990s, in conjunction with a major fundraising
campaign, the University of Waterloo decided to establish the Centre for German
Studies to ensure that the contribution of German-speaking Canadians and
scholarship on all aspects of German language and culture, past, present and
future, is fostered, studied, preserved and disseminated locally, nationally and
internationally. The Centre was founded officially in June 2004 by an act of the
University Senate. It works closely with the Departments of Germanic and Slavic
Studies and History, as well as other departments that share its interests, and
with the special collections branch of the Dana Porter Director of the Centre is Professor David G. John.
Library of Waterloo Centre for German Studies CONTACT INFORMATION: Waterloo Centre for German Studies Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
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