DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN

Denise M. Meuser is a Professor of Instruction and teaches language and culture courses at Northwestern for the Department of German. She received her B.A. in German from DePauw University and a M.A. in Germanic Studies from Indiana University, Bloomington. Denise recently earned a Certificate in Higher Education Administration and Policy from Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy. 

Denise serves as the Coordinator for the Beginning German program and mentors the department’s graduate student instructors. She has served four terms as the Director of the Berlin: Global City in the Center of Europe Program, a joint collaboration between Northwestern’s Global Learning Office and the Humboldt University of Berlin and looks forward to leading the program again in the near future. Recently, she assumed the role of Program Administrator for the Berlin Program in Critical Theory, which will be inaugurated in Fall 2026. This program affords advanced graduate students the opportunity to spend a research year abroad in Berlin.

Denise’s research interests include second language acquisition, teaching language across the curriculum, and study abroad. She employs an interdisciplinary approach to course design and was awarded an Alumnae of Northwestern grant for her course “Focus Reading – Art in the Modern Age”, which takes students out of the classroom and into the museum for an engaging and unique language learning experience. Project-based learning and the use of technology have led to publications. Currently, Denise is collaborating with her colleagues on Akrobatik, an online grammar for intermediate level German language and culture courses. The work is supported by a Hewlett grant and there are plans to publish the site once it is finished as an open educational resource. Denise is a member of the Northern Illinois Chapter of the AATG, and regularly presents at conferences and workshops.

On campus, Denise is a former Chair of Northwestern’s Council on Language Instruction and continues to serve on a number of CLI committees. She provides individualized counseling and instruction as a Weinberg Language Proficiency Adviser and is currently serving on the University’s Faculty Appeals Panel (FAP) representing Weinberg’s teaching-track faculty in the division of the Arts and Humanities. 

Denise provides outreach and support for the greater German community of Chicago in her role as secretary and trustee on the Board of Directors of the German International School of Chicago,