Distinguished Professor Honored by Federal Republic of Germany

UA News Services
Nov. 8, 2004


Albrecht Classen, professor of German Studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson, was recently presented with the highest civilian award conferred by the German government.

Claussen, a University Distinguished Professor, was presented with the "Bundesverdienstkreuz am Band," or Order of Merit for his work in promoting the study of German language, literature and culture.

Hans Wendler, general consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in Los Angeles, presented the award Oct. 28 on the UA campus. Also present for the occasion was Bernard O. Otremba-Blanc, honorary consul of Germany in Phoenix, who nominated Classen for the award.

The Bundesverdienstkreuz was established in 1951. It is awarded to select individuals who support and promote German culture, language and traditions through distinguished personal achievement.

Renate Schulz, also of the department of German Studies received the Bundesverdienstkreuz in 1989.

Classen's award makes the UA's German studies department the only department in the United States with two recipients of this prestigious honor.

Classen was named a University Distinguished Professor in 2004. He becomes the fifth faculty member in the College of Humanities to hold this title in recognition of his outstanding teaching and faculty achievement. In addition to his teaching and scholarly activities, he continues to serve as the department's undergraduate advisor.

He was born near Bad Hersfeld in Eastern Hesse, Germany, and studied at the universities of Marburg; Erlangen; Millersville, Penn.; Oxford in Great Britain, Salamanca, in Spain and Urbino in Italy. He received his doctorate from the University of Virginia in 1986 and came to the UA in 1987.

Perhaps best known among Arizona undergraduates for a now legendary general education course on love in the middle ages, Classen has a broad range of research interests covering the history of German literature from about 800 to 1600. His publications include a monograph on Oswald von Wolkenstein and his Italian sources (1987), a post-structuralist interpretation of Wolfram von Eschenbach's Titurel (1990), a comparative analysis of 15th-century autobiographical European poetry (1991), a monograph on the German Volksbuch (1995) a critical investigation of late-medieval songbooks (2001),and an extensive investigation of the communicative community as portrayed in Middle High German literature (Verzweiflung und Hoffnung, 2002).

He also published translations of Moriz von Cra

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Suzanne Jameson
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