Role in Office
Bernd Widdig started his position as the Director of the Office of International Programs in August of 2007.
Education
Bernd Widdig holds a Staatsexamen in Economics, Political Science, and German Literature from the University of Bonn and received his Ph.D. in German Studies from Stanford University in 1989.
Administrative & Academic Experience
Before his appointment at Boston College, Bernd Widdig worked as a professor and administrator at MIT. He joined the faculty of MIT in 1989 and taught courses in German culture and literature as well as seminars on cross-cultural communication.
In 1997 he started the MIT-Germany Program, a tailored international program for engineering and science students. In 2001 he was appointed Associate Director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI), MIT’s cornerstone program for international education. Bernd Widdig has been deeply involved in questions of international education and initiated the Minor in Applied International Studies at MIT in 2004.
In recognition of his achievements in fostering German-American relations, Bernd Widdig received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2008.
Research & Publications
Bernd Widdig is the author of Culture and Inflation in Weimar Germany, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001; Männerbünde und Massen. Zur Krise männlicher Identität in der Literatur der Moderne, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1992; and co-author of In Search of Global Engineering Excellence: Educating the Next Generation of Engineers for the Global Workplace, Hannover 2006.
In addition, he has published numerous articles on the culture of the Weimar Republic and modern German authors such as Thomas Mann, Elias Canetti, and Wolfgang Koeppen.
You may contact Bernd Widdig via e-mail or at (617)552-3827.