Getting to know Dr. Julie Koehler

I am the coordinator for the Basic German Language Sequence and a German instructor. As coordinator, I facilitate German 1010, 1020 and 2010 by setting syllabi, maintaining our website and assisting with Blackboard. I also run our orientations and meetings and train and mentor our graduate teaching assistants.

As an instructor, I teach both the online and traditional classroom versions of the undergraduate course Understanding the Fairy Tale, beginning German courses and productive skills in the MALL program (Masters of Arts in Language Learning).

Education

• Ph.D. in Modern Languages, (German Major, Critical Theory Minor), Wayne State University
• M.A. in German, Wayne State University
• M.A. in Education, University of Michigan
• B.A. in German and Creative Writing, University of Michigan

How would you describe yourself?

I would describe myself as an educator. In my career, I have taught at the early, elementary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate levels and have enjoyed them all in different ways, though college-level teaching is definitely my favorite. And I would describe myself as a scholar. My research interests include German fairy tales and folklore, nineteenth-century literature and technology in the language-learning classroom. I recently learned that my first article has been accepted for publication. (Hurray!) Outside of work, I'm a big fan of the Detroit Tigers and the Michigan Wolverines and I cherish every second I get with my husband and our two little boys.

What are some of your hobbies?

Reading, knitting, hiking and traveling.

What do you like best about working at Wayne State?

I love the people at Wayne State. I have wonderful, supportive colleagues in German, on the Ethnic Layers of Detroit team and in the CMLLC. I am constantly amazed by their kindness. I also love being a part of a diverse department where I hear about very different types of research and where interesting events are always happening. And I love our students! Every semester I have students who are curious, intelligent and engaged.

What's your favorite...

• Book? Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger.
• Movie? Too hard to choose... I love watching movies from old Hollywood, cheesy action/adventure flicks and sci-fi.
• Music/Band? My favorite kind of music is folk music.
• Food? Dumplings. All kinds of dumplings.

Where is the best place you've traveled to and why?

I love to travel! It's very hard to say. As an undergraduate, I participated in our Junior Year in Munich Program and that was a time when my life was just packed with new adventures and experiences. I will always love Munich. More recently, I visited a friend who was doing a Fulbright in Nairobi and I simply fell in love with the Kenyan landscape. Everyone I encountered there was amazingly warm and welcoming.

This past summer, I was lucky enough to be a member of a team that received a President's Research Enhancement Program Award in the Arts and Humanities to do research for an anthology of fairy tales written by women in the 19th century. I visited regional archives and libraries in four German cities. My favorite place that I saw was the upper city of Marburg. One can only gain access to it via elevator (or a lot of stairs!) and it's a beautiful view from the top.

What advice can you give your students to succeed both in college and in life?

My best advice to students is that they should decide what is of utmost importance to them and then devise a plan to honor those priorities. There is only so much time in the day and if one doesn't make a real effort, less important or meaningful things will fill up that time.