Alumni & Friends

Message from the Chair

Your help makes success possible! It is through the continued generosity and support of our dedicated donors, alumni and friends that we are able to provide our students with the kinds of opportunities that will help them succeed while at UCLA and later in their personal and professional lives beyond the university. Thanks to your thoughtful philanthropy, we have been able to sponsor a broad range of programs, expand the curriculum, and help fund travel and study abroad programs in Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris, and Rome. We have been working very closely with newly reopened Thomas Mann House in the Pacific Palisades and recently collaborated with the Getty Research Center on an international conference in November 2019 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Danish author and political columnist Carsten Jensen was Distinguished Faculty-in-Residence during the Winter 2020 quarter, and we are planning a conference on Italian film director and screenwriter Federico Fellini on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Our student-run Clubs continue to thrive, and they organize film and food festivals throughout the academic year. We are also very excited to have recently welcomed three new colleagues: Dr. Raphaëlle Burns (Ph.D., Columbia University) who focuses on Medieval and Renaissance French and Italian literature, Dr. Cécile Guédon Ph.D., London Consortium, University of London) whose research is on “Intermediality” (Theatre, Dance, Media, Film, Literature), and Dr. Kalani Michell (Ph.D., University of Minnesota Twin Cities), a scholar in film and media studies, German Civilization and Culture, literature, and exhibition practices.

Todd Presner
Department Chair
Professor of European Languages & Transcultural Studies