Dept. of Modern Languages & Classics	Home:
Box 870246	1715 3rd Street
The University of Alabama	Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
Tuscaloosa, AL 34587-0246	phone: (205) 345-1598
phone: (205) 348-6954	e-mail: rlazda@bama.ua.edu
fax: (205) 348-2042	http://bama.ua.edu/~rlazda/

EDUCATION

1987-96	University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota Ph.D. in German Literature, Germanic Philology, August 1996 Dissertation: "Die Livländische Reimchronik: Probleme und Hintergründe der literarischen Gattung" (Advisor: Anatoly Liberman)
1986-87	Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany candidate for a doctor's degree
1986	Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany State Exam (equivalent of M.A.; major: German; minor: Luth. Theology, Pedagogy) Thesis: "Der Einfluß der deutschen Bibelsprache auf das religiöse Schrifttum im Baltikum. Das Beispiel Lettlands (1550 -1700)."
1976	Lettisches Gymnasium Münster, Germany (Abitur)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2008- present	Associate Professor of German, University of Alabama
2002- 2008	Assistant Professor of German, University of Alabama
1996-2002	Assistant Professor of German, Baylor University. --Teaching all levels of German language and literature. --Teaching in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core.
1992-96	Teaching Assistant for German, University of Minnesota --Taught: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced German (Conversation and Composition) and specialized courses (Technical German; German Media).
Spring 1994	Research Assistant for Professor Gerhard Weiss, Department of German, University of Minnesota.
1993	Adjunct Lecturer, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN --Taught: Beginning and Intermediate German.
1991-92	Instructor for German at the Goethe Institute Bonn, Germany --Taught: Intermediate, Advanced and Business German (including examinations Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache, Zentrale Mittelstufenprüfung), Individualized German.
1987-90	Teaching Assistant for German, University of Minnesota --Taught all levels of language: Conversation and Composition; Beginning and Intermediate German (six-course sequence).
1986-87	Research Assistant for Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand, Department of German, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.
1985-87	Teacher for German, Lettisches Gymnasium Münster, Germany --Taught all levels of German language and literature (for native and non-native speakers); --Religion (as part of German curriculum for the Gymnasium); --Latvian language.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Tester for Goethe Institute exams Zertifikat Deutsch, B1, C1
• W.I.L.D. Experience (Weekend Immersed on Language Development for German High School Students), funded by AAFLT with the Alabama Humanities Foundation, YMCA Camp Hargis Retreat, December 2006, 2007, 2008; German lead instructor.
• President, Alabama chapter AATG, 2008 -2010.
• Vice-President, Alabama chapter AATG, 2006-2008.
• Program Director Alabama in Austria summer program 2006.
• Organizer of Lectures by German speaking writers at the U of Alabama: Zafer Senocak, Peter Stephan Jungk, Sibylle Lewitscharoff.
• Global Path to Languages - German Immersion Weekend, funded by the Alabama Humanities Foundation, designed and taught with support of Gamin Bartle, U of Montevallo, 15 hrs, for Alabama German teachers, 2004.
• Initiator and responsible coordinater for the exchange between Baylor University and the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg/Germany, 1997-2002.
• Program Director and Organizer of the Baylor in Germany summer program, 1997-2002.
• Organizer of German Lectures at Baylor (Olaf Georg Klein; Gabriele Eckart; Jeanette Lander).
• Teacher for German at St. Paul Academy and Summit Schools, St. Paul, MN (taught German language and literature courses), 1995-1996.
• Instructor for German at the Germanic-American Institute (in preparation for the Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache and Zentrale Mittelstufenprüfung in cooperation with the Goethe Institute Chicago), 1995-96.

PUBLICATIONS

Books:
Lazda-Cazers, Rasma, and Helga Thorson. Neuer Wein und Zwiebelkuchen. An Online Cultural Reader. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2005. [ISBN 0-07-301252-1] [Review NECTFL]

Schriftbilder. Catherine C. Baumann, et al. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Independence Press, Inc., 1989. (Co-author, first year German reader).

Book project::
Ekphrasis Reversed. Representation of German Literature in Contemporary Art.

Articles:

Under review:
- "Northern Europe in Sebastian Münster’s Cosmographei: Travel Writing, Mapping and Early European Identity."
- "A Course Wiki: Facilitating and Assessing Student-Generated Learning Content for the Humanities Classroom."

• "Landscape as Other in the 'Livländische Reimchronik.'" Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik 65 (2009): 183-209.
• "Oral Sex in Oswald von Wolkenstein." Sexuality in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times. Ed. Albrecht Classen. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 20008.
  (= Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture vol. 3).
• "Old Age in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival and Titurel." Old Age in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to a Neglected Topic. Ed. Albrecht Classen. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2007, 201-218.
  (= Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture vol. 2).
• "Initiatives to Educate Foreign Language Faculty on Teaching Students with Disabilities", (with Helga Thorsen, University of Victoria) Worlds Apart? Disability and Foreign Language Learning. Ed.Tammy Berberi, Elizabeth Hamilton, and Ian Sutherland, Yale UP, 2007, 107-133.
• "Hybridity and Liminality in 'Herzog Ernst B.'" Daphnis 33 (2004): 79-96.
• "Implementing eBIC into the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core." Conference Proceedings Computers on Campus National Conference, November 2001, Myrtle Beach, SC. Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina, 2001: 39-42.
  (Co-author with Anne-Marie Bowery, Henry Wright and Lenore Wright) <http://www.rcce.sc.edu/coc/coc01.pdf>
• "Integrating Technology into the Teaching of Culture: Producing Your Own Digitized Video." Exploring New Directions in the Language Learning Technology. Proceedings of the SOCALL 2001 Conference at Rice University. Waco: LAC Baylor U, 2001: 107-113.
• "Reading, Culture and the Web: Using Netscape Communicator to Edit Web Pages." Uniting Language, Culture, and Technology in the New Millennium. Proceedings of the SOCALL 2000 Conference at Louisiana State University. Waco: LAC Baylor U, 2000: 115-122.

Reviews:

• Wolfram von Eschenbach. Titurel. Ed. Helmut Brackert and Stephan Fuchs-Jolie. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2003. The German Quarterly 77 (2004): 363-364.
• History as Literature: German World Chronicles of the Thirteenth Century in Verse. Excerpts from: Rudolf von Ems, Weltchronik; The Christherre-Chronik; Jans Enikel, Weltchronik. Ed. and trans. Graeme R. Dunphy. Series: Medieval German Texts in Bilingual Editions, vol. 3. Kalamazoo: Western Michigan UP, 2003. The Medieval Review. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan University Library, Scholarly Publishing Office, 2004. TMR ID: 04.01.17
  [online <http://name.umdl.umich.edu/baj9928.0401.017>]

PRESENTATIONS

• "Literature of the Teutonic Order or Deutschordensdichtung – What is it and how do we talk about it?"
  44th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2009.
• "Death and Other in the Ackermann aus Böhmen"
  32rd Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, St. Paul, MN, October, 2008.
• "Anselm Kiefer and Medieval German Literature"
  Word, Image, and Sound: Intermediality in German Cultural Discourse, Bangor University, Wales, June 2008
• "Literary Representation of Masculinity in the Teutonic Order"
  43rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2008
• "Probing the Limits of Visual Representation: Reflections of Walther von der Vogelweide's Poetry in the Art of Anselm Kiefer"
  International Conference on The Language of Images, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, March 2007
• "Old Age in Wolfram's Parzival and Titurel"
  International Symposium on Old Age in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Tuscon, AR, April 2006
• "Negotiating Identity: Contemporary German Art and the Medieval Past"
  29th Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, Milwaukee, WI, September 2005
• "Grumpy Old Men or Older and Wiser? Old Age in Walther's Alterslieder and Wolfram's Titurel"
  40th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2005.
• "Wary Traveler Beware: Representation of Landscape in the Northern Countries from the Middle Ages to the 16th Century"
  121st Annual Convention of the MLA, Washington, DC, December 2005
• "Youth Literature in the German Classroom"
  AATG Alabama chapter meeting, Samford U, Birmingham, AL, November 2004
• "Layers of Meaning: Space and Place in Walther's Under der linden and Kiefer's Gebrochen Blumen und Gras" 39th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2004
• "Defining Identity and Space in the Nibelungenlied and Anselm Kiefer’s Der Nibelungen Leid"
  38th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI May 2003
• "Hybrid Worlds in Herzog Ernst"
  MLA, New York, NY December 2002
• "Campus Initiatives to Educate Foreign Language Faculty on Teaching Students with Disabilities"
  (co-presented with Helga Thorson)
  ACTFL /AATG , Salt Lake City, UT November 2002
• "Identity in/with/through Literature? Bharati Mukherjee and Zafer Senocak as Writers Outside the Nation"
  SCLA, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, October 2002
• "Implementing eBIC into the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core" <http://www.rcce.sc.edu/coc/coc01.pdf>
  (co-presented with Anne-Marie Bowery, Henry Wright and Lenore Wright)
  Computers on Campus National Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC, November 2001.
• "Reading and Dreamweaving a Virtual Trip Abroad"
  ACTFL/AATG , Washington, D.C., November 2001.
• "Integrating Technology into the Teaching of Culture: Producing Your Own Digitized Video."
  IALL/ SOCALL 2001 Conference: Exploring New Directions in the Language Learning Technology, Rice University, TX, May 2001.
• "Mythos als Handlungsauftrag: Sergej Eisensteins "'Alexander Newski'"
  36th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2001.
• "Using the World Wide Web as an Effective Tool for Teaching and Learning"
  Scholar's Day, Baylor University, February 2001.
• "The Wall in the Head: Germany 10 Years after Reunification. An Oral History Project."
  SCMLA, San Antonio, TX, November 2000.
• "Reading, Culture and the Web: Using Netscape Communicator to Edit Web Pages."
  (co-presented with Douglas Crow) SOCALL 2000 Conference: Uniting Language, Culture, and Technology in the New Millennium, Louisiana State University, April 2000.
• "Nation and Identity in the Writings of the German Author Zafer Senocak"
  20th Century Literature Conference 2000, University of Louisville, February 2000 
• "Idealisiertes Mittelalter in der frühen Turnerbewegung"
  M/MLA, Minneapolis, MN, November 1999.
• "Digitized Video in the L2 Classroom"
  SOCALL, Waco, TX, April 1999.
• "Fighting Nasty Places and Nasty People: The Encounter of Otherness in the Northern Crusades"
  Modern Language Association, San Francisco, CA, December 1998.
• "Wishful Thinking: Women in the Middle High German Epic"
  33th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 1998.
• "Teaching/Performing in the First Year Foreign Language Classroom - a Workshop"
  (co-presented with Ann McGlashan), WiG Conference, Aptos, CA, October 1997.
• "Mittelalterrezeption und Nationalbewußtsein im 20. Jahrhundert"
  German Studies Association, Washington, D.C., September 1997.
• "Singing Poets or Fighting Knights: Literary Production in the Teutonic Order"
  32th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 1997.
• "The Teutonic Knights as the Horsemen of Apocalypse: Literary and Film Reception of the Battle on the Ice"
  Texas Medieval Association and Southeastern Medieval Association Conference, Waco, September 1996.
• "Der Struwwelpeter" - Another Hairy Story"
  Struwwelpeter Symposion Struwwelpeter Reconsidered, Minneapolis, MN, November 1996.
• "Si rîten als ir vater reit - das wilde wîp in mittelalterlichen Textzeugnissen"
  Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, KY, April 1993.
• "The Description of Battle Scenes in the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle in Comparison with Other Contemporary Sources" 26th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 1991.
• "The Rhymed Chronicle of Melis Stoke"
  Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, KY, April 1991.
• "Wir sulln ein rede heben an - The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle as the Beginning of Literature in Livonia?" Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, KY, April 1990.

STIPENDS

• University of Alabama Research Advisory Committee Grant (RAC), 2004.
• Oral History Stipend, Institute of Oral History, Baylor University, 2000.
• Graduate School summer stipend, German Department, University of Minnesota, 1990.
• Forschungsstipendium aus Mitteln des Hermann-Aubin Stipendiums, bewilligt vom Johann-Gottfried-Herder-Forschungsrat, Marburg, 1984.

LANGUAGES

• German and Latvian: native speaker
• English: near native fluency
• French: working knowledge
• Latin, Classical Greek, Swedish, Dutch: reading knowledge
  

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• American Association for Teachers for German
• German Studies Association
• Modern Language Association
• South Central Modern Language Association