Sarah Dinning represents Mercedes-Benz Vans at the job fair of the 2nd CofC German-American Business Summit, February 8th, 2018

Only in her sophomore year, Marketing and German student Sarah Dinning has spent the spring and summer of 2018 interning in Communications at Mercedes-Benz Vans. But are Marketing and German really a good fit? Absolutely, says Sarah:

“When I started at the College, I decided to take German for my language requirement. Halfway through my first semester in German 101, I decided to become a German minor. I really wanted to pursue German but I was worried about how I would incorporate it into my other studies. As it turns out, Marketing and German are a fantastic combination. I landed an internship at Mercedes-Benz Vans, LLC, where I get to use and improve my German everyday while also improving my skillset in Marketing and Communications. It’s really the best of both worlds, because as a business major, people try to sway you away from pursuing a language by saying, “but what will you actually do with it?” but it has helped me immensely in my studies and in finding an internship. I’ve made a lot of really great connections by studying German, and I’m even planning on going to graduate school in Germany – something I never would have considered before. There are so many great German companies in South Carolina, and you are really setting yourself up for unique opportunities by choosing to study German.”

BERLIN – MARCH 25: Adam Chubb of Berlin in action during the Basketball Bundesliga match between Alba Berlin and Ratiopharm Ulm at the O2 World Arena on March 25, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Kern/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Q: What led you to play professional basketball in Germany and what was it like to play there for a decade?

A. I accepted a job in Germany my second year out playing professional basketball. I originally went to Germany because I was offered a job, but stayed for 10 years because I loved the country, its people and culture. They had a great sports culture and basketball was an up and coming sport due to Dirk Nowitzki catching on fast in the NBA. The culture and atmosphere was similar to the United States so that helped me feel comfortable no matter what region of the country I played and lived in some small farm towns as well as big cities like Berlin. I was able to get a feel for the country and its people over my 10 years there.

Q: During your long career in Germany, you worked with a wide range of professionals in sports medicine, physiotherapy, and athletic training. How and why does Germany excel so much in these fields?

A. The German Sport University in a renowned university in Köln that was founded in 1947. With 6000 students, the university produces some of the top sports medicine professionals in the world. Germany also has a strong soccer culture and high-performing clubs that demand top doctors, trainers and physiotherapists to keep their athletes healthy. Even American athletes like Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez have traveled to Germany to see German doctors and get treatment they can’t receive anywhere else in the world.

Q. You didn’t speak German before you made the move, but learned German on the ground and on the court. Why should students interested in careers in sports-related fields learn German?

A. Since Germany is known for its sports medicine, learning German would be beneficial to anyone interested in a sports-related field. With the globalization of sports and business today, speaking German would created great opportunities in the United States as well as overseas. It would give you top-level access to sports and medicine-related fields as well as education.

Q. After you ended your career, you moved to Charleston and recently joined the Advisory Board of CofC’s School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs. Why did you get involved with LCWA at the College and what do you hope to accomplish on the board?

A. I am hoping to be a resource for advice and guidance to the school and students through my international, cultural and business experiences in Europe. Being able help others reach their international business and education goals by sharing my experiences and connections is my ultimate goal.

German + Accounting = Success! Just ask German and Accounting Major Garek Stanley ’20, who is interning at IFA in Finance this summer!

“Standing out in today’s job market is paramount to a successful business career. With the number of German companies growing in the Southeast, choosing a double major in Accounting and German is an avenue that has already paid great dividends to me as an Intern at IFA. My German language skills, paired with Accounting as a second major, sets me apart from others because I am able to communicate with co-workers from Germany and engage in daily Accounting/Business/Finance discussions in their native language. I look forward to what the future holds for me after graduation when I join the elite group of Accountants who operate seamlessly within a German company.”

Garek Stanley at his internship in the Finance department at IFA

Congratulations to Russian Studies minor and polyglot extraordinaire Tyler Owens, who has received a prestigious Critical Languages Scholarship from the US State Department to study Russian in Vladimir, Russia this summer.

The College of Charleston’s MBA program was ranked no. 1 in the nation for job placement by the US News & World Report, and the College’s networks with Mercedes-Benz Vans and the other 160+ German companies in the state of South Carolina (totaling 32,000 direct jobs in SC) have a good deal to do with this success. Our networks with German industry are also a tremendous benefit to undergraduates who are studying Business, Communications, and STEM fields combined with German.CofC’s MBA No. 1 ranking for job placement (with quotes from Mercedes-Benz CEO Michael Balke)

Congratulations to graduating German minor and Hospitality and Tourism Major Brianna Mawra ’18, who was awarded the prestigious Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals for 2018-19. The fellowship, whidch is funded by the German Bundestag and U.S. Department of State, annually provides 75 American and 75 German young professionals, between the ages of 18-24, the opportunity to spend one year in each other’s countries, studying, interning, and living with hosts on a cultural immersion program. Brianna is the 10th German major or minor to be awarded a CBYX fellowship since 2001.

Professor Deirdre Cooper Owens, who delivered the 2017-2018 Conseula Francis Emerging Scholar Lecture in March, received the Organization of American Historians’ Darlene Clark Hine Award for her book, Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology (2017). The OAH also selected her as a speaker for the upcoming academic year’s OAH Distinguished Lectureship Program. Congratulations, Professor Owens!

We will be announcing the invited speakers for the African American Studies Program’s 2017-2018 Conseula Francis Emerging Scholar Lecture Series in the coming months.

What do the political and artistic movements of the late 1960s in Germany have to tell us today in our own moment in 2018 in the United States? The sixteen students of “Deutschland 1968!” explore this question in a revue-style performance that includes self-written sketches as well as stagings and abridged performances of literary and theater texts from the era.

April 20th, 7pm, Wells Fargo Auditorium. Pre-premiere on April 19th at 3:30pm in Wells Fargo Auditorium (BCTR 115). Performance in German with English subtitles. Admission is free!

AAST Director Kameelah Martin was featured in CofC’s The College TODAY.

Check out the article here http://today.cofc.edu/2018/02/15/african-american-studies-black-history-month/

The Conseula Francis Emerging Scholar Lecture Series was established to support the scholarship of junior faculty in the field of African American Studies across the country. On Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 6:00 pm, Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens will deliver a lecture on her new book, Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology, for this lecture series. Cooper Owens is an assistant professor of History at Queens College in New York, and her book explores how pioneers in gynecology experimented on enslaved women and Irish immigrant women to develop a field that simultaneously produced medical advances and lent legitimacy to pseudo-scientific white supremacist and sexist theories. Her work not only recovers the voices of enslaved women who shaped these medical advances but also has implications for understanding contemporary distrust of the medical field on the part of many African American women.

Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens
“Medical Bondage: How Slavery Advanced American Gynecology”
Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 6:00 pm in Addlestone Library Room 227

This lecture is sponsored by the African American Studies Program with additional support from the Avery Research Center, English Department, History Department, Public Health Program, Waring Historical Library (MUSC), and Women’s and Gender Studies Program.