Jessica Leigh Riviere

August 2014

Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages

Vanderbilt University

Station B 351567

Nashville, TN 37235-1567

jessica.riviere@vanderbilt.edu

Postition

Pre-major Adviser, College of Arts and Science, Vanderbilt University

Lecturer, German Department, Vanderbilt University

 

 

Education

Ph.D. May 2014, Vanderbilt University

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany, Summer Semester 2009

M.A. in German Literature, Vanderbilt University, May 2008

B.A. in International Relations and German, College of Wooster, May 2005

Institute for International Education of Students, Berlin, Germany, Spring 2004

Washington Semester, Peace and Conflict Studies, American University, Fall 2003

 

Dissertation

“Women Writers, Essayistic Writing, and the Public Sphere 1770-1830”

 

Argues for the centrality of the essay to the oeuvre of four women authors. The essay’s inherently dialogic form makes appeals to its readers to participate as a public audience by engaging with and responding to contemporary debates.  Sophie von La Roche and Marianne Ehrmann’s journals (Pomona (1783-84) and Amaliens Erholungsstunden (1790-92), respectively) were key venues for the debate around women’s participation as readers and authors. Both wrote essays on topics beyond the immediate domestic sphere to expand the boundaries of female public speech. Therese Huber and Caroline Pichler wrote for different venues: Huber for Cotta’s Morgenblatt für gebildete Stände; Pichler published her essays as volumes in each edition of her collected works. Both authors address the room for maneuver available to women as shapers and objects of public opinion. Key findings include the influence of gender in the public sphere and the close fit between essayistic writing and women’s emerging status as authors.

 

Dissertation Advisor: John A. McCarthy (German)

Committee Members: Meike Werner (German), Barbara Hahn (German), Dahlia Porter (English)

 

Teaching Experience

Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching

Seminar Leader, Certificate in College Teaching

Eight week seminar with 16 graduate students on best principles of effective college teaching. Chose readings, led discussion, assigned reading prompts.

Vanderbilt University, Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages

Instructor for first and second year German language classes  (2007-2012)

Instructor of record for between 7-15 students, solely responsible for instruction and assessment of students, often coordinated across multiple sections of same course. Textbooks: Wie Geht’s, Kaleidoskop, Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik, Homo Faber.

Teaching Assistant, “German Fairy Tales”  (in English) (Spring 2010)

Designed and maintained course blogs as a method of fostering discussion in large lecture setting (~50 students); assisted with designing and grading exams

Vanderbilt University, Max Kade Center for German and European Studies

Teaching Assistant for “The Idea of Europe” (Spring 2011)

Designed final course project (wiki on history of European cities), guest lectured

Co-taught European Studies 260: “The Dutch Model for the EU” (Vanderbilt Maymester at Utrecht Universiteit) (May 2011)

Coordinated excursions to Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam, and the Hague; helped lead seminar style discussion; guest lectured; partially responsible for grading, coordinated with contacts at Utrecht Universiteit.

Europaschule Storkow, Brandenburg, Germany

Fulbright Fremdsprachenassistentin (English Teaching Assistant) 2005-2006

led English courses in grades 7-12, organized “English Language Club”

 

Research and Professional Development

AATG-KEFKO Seminar: Transatlantische Kooperation in der Evaluierung fremdsprachlicher Kompetentenz. Der gemeinsame europäische Referenzrahmen und die ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, June-July 2012

Certificate in Teaching, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University, May 2012

Research trip to Austrian National Library and Vienna City Library, August 2011

Research trip to German Literary Archive (Marbach am Neckar) and Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, June-July 2010

 

Publications

“Challenging generational conflict in short stories by Sophie von La Roche and Therese Huber” New Perspectives on the Eighteenth Century. 10 (2013) 51-62. (peer-reviewed annual publication of the Southeast American Council on Eighteenth Century Studies)

 

Conference Presentations

“In or out? The intersections, overlaps, gaps, and tangents of four women’s participation in the literary public sphere around 1800.” Poster. Coalition of Women in German Annual Meeting, Shawnee-on-Delaware, PA, October 2013.

“Marianne Ehrmann’s Amaliens Erholungsstunden (1790-1792): fashion, satire, and female public opinion.”  Southeastern American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (SEASECS), Charleston, SC, March 2013

“The intended Publikum for essays in Pomona für Teutschlands Töchter (1783–84) and Amalien’s Erholungsstunden (1790–1792)” German Studies Association, Milwaukee, WI, October 2012

“Flix’s  Da War Mal Was in the intermediate German classroom”  Northeast Modern Language Association, St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY, March 2012

“If Lessing’s the Father, is there a mother? Essayistic writing and women authors in the Eighteenth Century” Northeast Modern Language Association, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, April 2011

“Women’s essayistic writing in German in the Eighteenth Century”  37th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (SEASECS), Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, March, 2011

 “Imagined genealogies: generations of women writers around 1800,” Focus Graduate Student Conference, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, October 2010

“Goethe’s Campagne in Frankreich and Belagerung von Mainz as attempts at a literary ruin,” German Studies Graduate Student Conference, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, February 2009

 

Invited Talks

“Writing assignments for proficiency.” Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association Conference, Cool Springs, TN, November 2010

“Sprache und Standort: Language and Place in Gottfried von Straßburgs Tristan.” College of Wooster, Wooster, OH, January 2008

 

Awards, Fellowships, and Grants

            Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University 2012-2013 and 2013-2014

Summer Research Award, Vanderbilt University, Summer 2010, Summer 2011

Phillip Rhein Award for Excellence in Teaching, Spring 2010

Gisela Mosig Graduate Fellowship, Spring 2009

Hans Joachim Schulz Graduate Award for Excellence in Research, 2008

University Tuition Scholarship, 2006-2012

Provost’s Supplemental Award, 2006 – 2012

German-American Fulbright Commission Teaching Assistant Grant, 2005-2006

 

Professional Experience

Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching

Senior Graduate Teaching Fellow, 2013-2014

Graduate Teaching Fellow, 2012-2013

Teaching Consultant: working with graduate student teachers across a range of disciplines through one-on-one consultation, classroom observation, small group analysis, video analysis

Facilitator, Certificate in College Teaching Seminar (Fall 2013)

Facilitator, Teaching Certificate Program: supervised two groups of advanced graduate students and post-docs researching best practices in teaching and learning (2012-2013)

Co-organizer and Researcher, Cumberland Project

Contributing blogger, “Professor Pedagogy”

Instructor, Teaching Assistant Orientation (August 2012)

Teaching Affiliate, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University, 2008-2009

Instructor, Teaching Assistant Orientation (August 2008)

Vanderbilt University, Center for Second Language Studies

Graduate Student Assistant, 2013-2014

Research potential of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for language classroom

Host German Department Kaffeestunde (conversational afternoon for German speakers)

Vanderbilt University, Writing Studio

Writing Consultant, 2012-2013

One-to-one consultation sessions across disciplinary boundaries with student-writers of all skill levels and learning styles.

 

Professional Service

Moderator, “Short German prose texts in the 18^th and 19^th Century” Northeast Modern Language Association, St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY, March 2012

Vice President for Academic Affairs, Graduate Student Council, Vanderbilt University 2010-2011

Organized 25^th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium April, 2011

Member of Graduate Development Network

Member of Center for Teaching Advisory Board

German Department Representative, Graduate Student Council, 2009-2010

Professional Memberships

American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) 2007-present

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) 2008-present

Modern Language Association (MLA) 2009-present

Women in German (WiG) 2009-present

German Studies Association (GSA) 2011-present

 

Foreign Languages

Native speaker of English

Near-Native speaker of German (ACTFL OPI rated: Superior)

Reading knowledge of French

Recommendations available upon request