Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures • Portland State University PSU - FLL, PO Box 751, Portland, OR 97207-0751 e-mail: fischerw@pdx.edu voice mail: (503) 725-5285 FAX: (503) 725-5276 language learning software: www.cosmolingua.pdx.edu regular weekly schedule • résumé/CV (.rtf)
Chief Professional Interests language teaching and learning; textbook production; computer-assisted instruction; science and technology in literature; curriculum reform and development (member of Oregon State System of Higher Education "PASS" working group for developing proficiency-oriented curriculum, standards, assessment tools and teacher-education programs)
Education 1979 Ph.D., Yale University, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. Subject of dissertation: German science fiction; advisor: Peter Demetz 1969-70 Carnegie Teaching Fellow, Yale University 1965-69 B.A., Yale College. Double intensive major with Highest Honors in German and English. Magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, National Merit Scholar 1954-65 Public schools, Grants Pass, Oregon
Academic Employment 1978- Department of Foreign Languages, Portland State University. Promotions to Assistant Professor, 1980; Associate Professor, 1983; Professor, 1987 1974-77 Instructor, Department of German, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 1969-72 Carnegie Teaching Fellow and graduate assistant, Yale University
top of this page home page
Publications (summary list) most links go to other pages on this site (new windows) Cosmo Courseware & Wie, bitte? (Computer-Based) - multimedia software for language learning; 1997 ¿Cómo? Introductory Spanish for Proficiency (co-author), Simon and Schuster, 1995. Wie, bitte? Introductory German for Proficiency (co-author). New York: John Wiley, 1989. The Empire Strikes Out: Kurd Laßwitz, Hans Dominik, and the Development of German Science Fiction 1871-1945. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1984. articles in Die Unterrichtspraxis, CALICO (1986), and Science Fiction Studies, Oregon English Studies; reviews and article translations in Technology and Culture, Science Fiction Studies, Die Unterrichtspraxis, German Quarterly, Science/Technology and the Humanities, Visions (journal of the Oregon Graduate Center); most recently: "Goethe and Schiller and Me: Reflections on Figuring out Literature While Teaching Others about It and Life Too in a Language They Don't Talk Very Good Yet," Teaching German in America: Past Progress and Future Promise, George F. Peters, ed., Cherry Hill, NJ: American Association of Teachers of German, 2002; ISBN: 0-924017-90-0; "Literatur für Leser and Listeners: Herbert W. Franke's Papa Joe & Co.". literatur für leser (publisher: Peter Lang) 29.4 (4/2006) - article excerpt and publisher's detail Chief consulting editor for 2nd edition of Deutsch für alle by Haas and Mathieu, New York: Wiley, 1984; manuscript reviewer for John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York (1980s); referee for Die Unterrichtspraxis (19890s). Poetry and prose in various local publications
top of this page home page
Other Scholarly Activity & University Service Numerous invited conference presentations and independent workshops; extensive advice to colleagues contemplating writing textbooks; training of graduate students in textbook, tape, and software production President, Oregon Association of Teachers of German, 1980 Chairman, Fall Conference, Confederation of Oregon Foreign Language Teachers, 1983 Chair of Educational Testing Service national committee producing new version of German CLEP test, 1993 PASS and STEP Committees , Oregon State System of Higher Education 1994- Invited keynote address, 20th annual convention of the Japanese Computer Users Association, Tokyo, 11/97 Portland Public Schools Second-Languages Design Team, 1997-8 Board Member, Lutheran Campus Ministry Board Member, Center for the Study of Religion, PSU Board Member, Portland Campus Christian Ministry (one term as President)
top of this page home page
Grants & Awards University-School Partnership (NCLB) grant ($50K) for teacher training, 2006: proposal and website PSU prizes for Teaching with Technology (2005, 1998) Pew Foundation Grant for Redesign of Large Enrollment Courses, 2001- PSU Faculty Vitality Grant, 2000 NEH Fellowship for College Teachers, 1982; DAAD travel grant, 1986; various university grants "PASSport to Proficiency" – Eisenhower/PASS Grant 1996 for development of proficiency-oriented curriculum for second-language teacher-training courses (page elsewhere on this site) "ForReal" – Eisenhower/PASS Grant 1997 for development of www-based second-language learning activities (page at another web site) 6 PSU Faculty Development Grants: Papa Joe & Co. project; Cosmo Lexikon, multilingua talking pictorial dictionary; multimedia prototype of cosmological poem "Die Frühlingsfeier / Celebration of Spring" by Klopstock; computer-conducted pre-testing of second-language oral proficiency; language for business & professional use; distance-learning courses for advanced high-school language students other PSU grants for the "Humboldt Project"
top of this page home page