Ethan Blass, a Wartburg College German professor, recently was inducted into the newly established Herbert and Mildred Kleinfeld Professorship in German Language and Culture. This is the college’s 22nd endowed chair or professorship.

The professorship, provided through the generosity of Gerald Kleinfeld in honor of his parents, will support teaching and learning in the German department. Kleinfeld is the founder and former executive director of the German Studies Association and a professor emeritus at Arizona State University.

“Dad was a factory worker, born in the U.S., who did his best and died poor. Mom was born in London, grew up here and died poor,” said Kleinfeld. “They loved that I went on to become a professor. Education was important to them.”

Blass joined the Wartburg College German faculty in 2021and is particularly interested in the history of the German language and its development through the centuries. He earned his Ph.D. in Germanic studies from the University of Chicago. His bachelor’s degree in German and Russian comes from Middlebury College. He has spent semesters abroad at the Johannes Gutenberg Universitat in Mainz, Germany, and at Irkutsk State University in Russia. His dissertation explored how imagery in the poetic works of Johann Wolfgang Goethe reappears in cinema, most notably in the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

“As the founder of the German Studies Association, Gerald Kleinfeld is in many ways a principal architect of the modern field of German studies. He played a crucial role in shaping the field into the open, dynamic, international exchange of ideas it has become,” Blass said. “It is an honor to be named the inaugural Herbert and Mildred Kleinfeld Professorship in German Language and Culture.”

Gerald Kleinfeld has supported Wartburg in numerous ways through the years, recognizing the college as the last German-immigrant founded college in the United States that still supports active programs and relationships with Germany. He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Wartburg in 2008.

“On behalf of the College, our faculty, staff and students, I offer to Dr. Kleinfeld our deep appreciation for his important role in preparing young people to lead and serve as a spirited expression of their faith and learning,” Ehretsman said. “His passion for supporting our students – for teaching and learning – is source of inspiration for generations to come.”

For more information on endowed faculty positions at Wartburg College, visit www.wartburg.edu/chairs.