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I
am Professor Emeritus of German. From 1991-1997 I was Chair of
the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and I chaired
the ISU Linguistics Program from 1998-2004. The English Department
also granted me a courtesy appointment as Professor. I have taught
courses at all levels of German, as well as courses in linguistics
and English. Much of my research effort has been devoted to transmitting
the theoretical developments in German Volkskunde (folklore) to
the English speaking world, and during the last eight years I have
expanded this work to include Austria. I have also been intensively
involved with documenting the activities of folklorists in Europe
and in the United States, through my editorship of the Internationale
Volkskundliche Bibliographie (1978-1988 - computerized under my
editorship), and as co-section head of volume 5 (Folklore) of the
MLA International Bibliography, and as Chair of the MLA Bibliography
Advisory Committee (1992). As of 2002 I am the section head of
volume 5, and was once again reappointed to the MLA Bibliography
Advisory Committee (2002-2005). Finally, I have conducted extensive
fieldwork among the German-speaking populace of Iowa, specifically
the Old Order Amish of Kalona and the Amana Colonists of Amana.
Recently completed research projects: (1) The Study of Ethnology
in Austria, Ashgate Publishers, 2004); (2) a revision of the 807
page Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Facts on File,
2004); (3) the first postwar meeting of German folklorists, in
1951 in Jugenheim an der Bergstra?e, where NS folklorists met with
those whom they had persecuted during the Third Reich - Jahrbuch
für Volkskunde 2004: 7-22. I have two major research projects underway
at this time: (1) A Handbook of German Folklore, Greenwood Press,
delivery date January 1, 2006, and (2) a publication of a Cymbrian
Grammar, for which I have been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim
Fellowship for 2005-2006. During the Fall of 2002 I was on sabbatical
and spent my time in Berlin (Bundesarchiv), Marburg (Deutscher
Sprachatlas and the Herder Institut), and finally in Vienna where
the bibliography and footnote work on my book with Ashgate was
completed. During the Summer Semester 2003 I was Guest Professor
of Linguistics at the Universit?t Bremen, where I taught courses
on “The History of the German Language in America,” and on “Pennsylvania
German.” In 2001 the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences granted
me an award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity, in
2002 the University designated me Distinguished Humanities Scholar,
and in 2003 a Regents Faculty Excellence Award was granted. In
October 2004 I was made a “Fellow” of the American Folklore Society.
I have completed my teaching career and retired officially on January
1, 2005, but there are still many of my research projects which
will take much of the next two or three years to complete.
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