Dr. Ethan Blass
Herbert and Mildred Kleinfeld Professorship in German Language and Culture
(319) 352-8218
More about Dr. Ethan Blass
The Herbert and Mildred Kleinfeld Professorship in German Language and Culture
Established in 2023 through the generosity of Dr. Gerald Kleinfeld in honor of his parents
Dr. Ethan Blass earned a bachelor’s degree in German and Russian from Middlebury College and a doctorate in Germanic Studies from the University of Chicago. He joined the Wartburg faculty in 2021 and has continually worked to advance the German studies program.
As an undergraduate student, Blass explored a wide variety of fields, from the history of the German language to Greek tragedy.
He spent semesters abroad at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany, and at Irkutsk State University in Irkutsk, Russia. His undergraduate thesis was on the stories of Franz Kafka.
At the University of Chicago, he focused mainly on German literature of the period around 1800. His dissertation explores how imagery in the poetic works of Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) reappears in cinema, most notably in the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
Blass’ research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. He has presented widely at conferences both in the U.S. and internationally and has published in the Goethe Yearbook. A major aspect of his training at Chicago was devoted to language pedagogy, and he especially enjoys introducing students to the German language and German cultural world.
At Wartburg, he teaches German at all levels. The topics of his courses range from German language, German film, and representations of the Holocaust to German literature and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. He also plans and leads May Term study-abroad courses in Germany.
In all his teaching, he strives to make the classroom an interactive place where students have ample opportunity to use their German in novel and creative ways.
Dr. Gerald Kleinfeld is founder and former executive director of the German Studies Association and a professor emeritus of history at Arizona State University. He also founded the German Studies Review and served as its editor for 20 years. He has served as a visiting professor at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Hildesheim, and the University of Greifswald. He also has lectured at 20 German universities and others throughout Europe. He earned a bachelor’s degree from New York University, a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. from New York University. He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Wartburg in 2008. Other honors include the Grand Merit Cross and the Order of Merit, First Class, from Germany and the Austrian Cross for Science and Art, First Class.
Established in 2023 through the generosity of Dr. Gerald Kleinfeld in honor of his parents
Dr. Ethan Blass earned a bachelor’s degree in German and Russian from Middlebury College and a doctorate in Germanic Studies from the University of Chicago. He joined the Wartburg faculty in 2021 and has continually worked to advance the German studies program.
As an undergraduate student, Blass explored a wide variety of fields, from the history of the German language to Greek tragedy.
He spent semesters abroad at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany, and at Irkutsk State University in Irkutsk, Russia. His undergraduate thesis was on the stories of Franz Kafka.
At the University of Chicago, he focused mainly on German literature of the period around 1800. His dissertation explores how imagery in the poetic works of Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) reappears in cinema, most notably in the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
Blass’ research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. He has presented widely at conferences both in the U.S. and internationally and has published in the Goethe Yearbook. A major aspect of his training at Chicago was devoted to language pedagogy, and he especially enjoys introducing students to the German language and German cultural world.
At Wartburg, he teaches German at all levels. The topics of his courses range from German language, German film, and representations of the Holocaust to German literature and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. He also plans and leads May Term study-abroad courses in Germany.
In all his teaching, he strives to make the classroom an interactive place where students have ample opportunity to use their German in novel and creative ways.
Dr. Gerald Kleinfeld is founder and former executive director of the German Studies Association and a professor emeritus of history at Arizona State University. He also founded the German Studies Review and served as its editor for 20 years. He has served as a visiting professor at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Hildesheim, and the University of Greifswald. He also has lectured at 20 German universities and others throughout Europe. He earned a bachelor’s degree from New York University, a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. from New York University. He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Wartburg in 2008. Other honors include the Grand Merit Cross and the Order of Merit, First Class, from Germany and the Austrian Cross for Science and Art, First Class.