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Department of World Languages and Literatures • Portland State University |
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PSU - FLL, PO Box 751, Portland, OR 97207-0751 |
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| e-mail: fischerw@pdx.edu | ||
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voice mail: (503) 725-5285 • FAX: (503) 725-5276 |
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language learning software: www.cosmolingua.pdx.edu |
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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
- 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
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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
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Other Scholarly Activity & University Service
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Numerous invited conference presentations and independent workshops; extensive advice to colleagues contemplating writing textbooks; training of graduate students in textbook, tape, and software production
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President, Oregon Association of Teachers of German, 1980
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Chairman, Fall Conference, Confederation of Oregon Foreign Language Teachers, 1983
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Chair of Educational Testing Service national committee producing new version of German CLEP test, 1993
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PASS and STEP Committees , Oregon State System of Higher Education 1994-
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Invited keynote address, 20th annual convention of the Japanese Computer Users Association, Tokyo, 11/97
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Portland Public Schools Second-Languages Design Team, 1997-8
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Board Member, Lutheran Campus Ministry
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Board Member, Center for the Study of Religion, PSU
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Board Member, Portland Campus Christian Ministry (one term as President)
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Grants & Awards
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University-School Partnership (NCLB) grant ($50K) for teacher training, 2006: proposal and website
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PSU prizes for Teaching with Technology (2005, 1998)
Pew Foundation Grant for Redesign of Large Enrollment Courses, 2001-
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PSU Faculty Vitality Grant, 2000
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NEH Fellowship for College Teachers, 1982; DAAD travel grant, 1986; various university grants
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"PASSport to Proficiency" – Eisenhower/PASS Grant 1996 for development of proficiency-oriented curriculum for second-language teacher-training courses (page elsewhere on this site)
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"ForReal" – Eisenhower/PASS Grant 1997 for development of www-based second-language learning activities (page at another web site)
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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
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other PSU grants for the "Humboldt Project"
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