KU News Release

KU announces new Center for German Business Language

LAWRENCE — The Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures and the Center for International Business Education and Research at the University of Kansas today announced the formation of a Center for German Business Language to serve KU students as well as students in area institutions and high schools in Kansas.

On Friday and Saturday, Sept. 15 and 16, members of the Kansas Association of Teachers of German will learn more about the new center when they gather at KU for their annual “Deutsches Wochenende,” or German Immersion Weekend. Members are teachers in colleges and high schools throughout Kansas.

Housed in the German department in Wescoe Hall, the center's mission is the teaching, training and testing of German business language for undergraduate and graduate students as well as teachers of German at all levels. The center's activities will include outreach to area institutions and high schools.

“We're very pleased that small CIBER investments in course development made several years ago in the German department are paying off with great opportunities for students and national recognition for academic excellence at KU,” said Melissa H. Birch, KU CIBER director.

Besides the establishment of the new center, KU's German department has been selected as a “testing partner” by the international Goethe Institute for testing language competency for the “Certificate in German for the Professions,” said William Keel, department chair. The Goethe Institute is the Federal Republic of Germany's worldwide cultural institution promoting and supporting the teaching of German language and culture.

Rex Clark and Jim Morrison, lecturers in the German department, are co-directors of the center. Clark has worked extensively with instructional technology and language learning. Morrison has more than 25 years of experience of working with German firms and is certified by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry as an “Industriekaufmann.”

During the German Immersion Weekend all sessions will be conducted in German. The annual event provides continuing education in aspects of teaching German at all levels. The programs of the annual meeting are supported by the American Association of Teachers of German and the Goethe Institute.

KU CIBER is one of 31 centers funded by the U.S Department of Education to serve as regional and national resources to business, students, and academics. The CIBER program links the manpower and information needs of U.S. business with the international education, language training and research capacities of the university.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.