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 18th and 19th 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 25th 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