By
Wunderbar.
The German word for “wonderful” is an appropriate adjective for a German Studies Department milestone: hitting the “100” mark for the number of undergraduates awarded prestigious Fulbright Fellowships.
A two-day event will be held on campus to celebrate that achievement, which occurred in the spring of 2013, and recognize the numerous BC students for whom Department Chair and Professor Michael Resler has served as mentor over the past three decades. It also will honor Resler’s contributions in establishing his small department as a Fulbright powerhouse.
The German Fulbright Reunion on Nov. 14 and 15, hosted by Boston College and the German Consulate, is expected to draw some 30 alumni as well as members of the BC and Boston communities. The events, including a Friday evening reception and a daylong Saturday symposium in Gasson 100, are free and open to the BC community, but advance registration is required by Nov. 10. [To see the full schedule and to register, go to http://bit.ly/1nCfCIV.]
“Though the statistics are a bit elusive, it’s highly likely that Boston College has sent more Fulbright scholars to Germany and Austria over the years than any other American university to any other country in the world, during the entire history of the Fulbright program,” according to Resler. “It’s important to showcase such a great achievement for the University.”
Resler’s contribution to student exchange between the US and Germany will be formally recognized that weekend when he is presented with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by German Consul General Rolf Schütte. The award is the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany can pay to individuals for services to the nation.
“This is a tremendous honor, and I feel nothing less than humbled by it,” Resler said. “However, I’m afraid that I get far too much of the credit for our Fulbright successes to Germany and Austria. The fact of the matter is, Boston College attracts some really, really gifted students — and fortunately for my department, lots of our top undergrads choose to study German. So we’re working with top-notch fellowship material.
“There ought to be one of these medals for each of our 108 Fulbright scholars, and one each of my colleagues in German Studies,” he added. “We work together closely, happily and collegially in a shared mission, so in the end I can only accept this award on behalf of lots of other wonderful people.”
His colleagues return the high praise for Resler: “[He] instills in his students a love of international learning and enthusiasm for the German language equaled only by his own,” said Associate Professor of German Studies Rachel Freudenberg.
With his support and encouragement, the students who won Fulbright Fellowships to spend a post-graduate year studying and teaching abroad, she said, had “an experience they said profoundly deepened their understanding of the relationship” between the US and those countries.”
The Nov. 15 symposium will feature panel discussions with BC Fulbright alumni, who will explore current issues in international careers and education, such as the value of Fulbrights and other international education programs. Another panel will highlight important events in German history, US-European relations, and global affairs witnessed by Fulbright scholars in Germany since the program’s 1946 inception. The panels are organized by Paul Runci ’88, a Fulbright recipient who is a senior policy advisor for the Fundamental & Computational Sciences Directorate and a senior research scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland.
The Fulbright experience “completely changed my life and was the entire impetus for my career,” said Sam Shiroff ’98, vice president of business and social responsibility at the public relations firm Edelman, who traveled to Frankfurt as a Fulbright in German history at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat – and ended up staying in the country until 2012.
“Professor Resler encouraged me to apply for a Fulbright, but he didn’t see his role merely as a fan cheering from the sidelines. He was an active coach who helped me think through my essays in a way that not only was instrumental in winning the scholarship, but also [at] a level of detail to a few hundred words that I have used as a reference point for the most important documents I have written throughout my career.”
Resler said the reunion will be “a terrific opportunity for me and my colleagues to reconnect with former students, some of whom we haven’t seen for a number of years. A few go back 25 or more years, so there’s a very personal, nostalgic aspect to all of this. I’ve been absolutely delighted to see that at least a third of the former Fulbrighters will be in attendance.”
It also will be a chance for BC German Studies undergraduates, who have received a special invitation to the reunion events, to be paired with returning alumni, he added.
“We want to bring our undergraduate students into contact with the visiting Fulbrighters, who represent some of the brightest minds that have gone through this University in recent decades. We want to create some long-term mentoring relationships.
“I think it’s important for our undergrads to see some of the terrific success stories that have emerged from the various Fulbright experiences over the years. In many cases, they will already have read the successful essays written by these Fulbright scholars – I keep a file of those essays, and it’s now a pretty fat file – so the opportunity to actually meet the people behind those essays will be invaluable for our budding applicants.”
The Saturday evening dinner at which Resler will receive his honor will feature a keynote speech by Association of Friends and Sponsors of the German-American Fulbright Program President Rolf-Dieter Schnelle, and former Consul General of Germany in Boston. Resler was nominated for the award by Professor of Fine Arts John Michalczyk and Friedrich Löhr, former German ambassador to Korea, a Suffolk University distinguished visiting scholar.
Reunion event sponsors are the Institute for the Liberal Arts and the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office.