April 8, 2005
2004-2005/041

Visiting lecturer to honor UI Professor Marianne Kalinke

Theodore M. Andersson, emeritus professor at Stanford and Indiana universities, will present a lecture entitled “Iceland and Literary History” on Thursday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Room 314A, Illini Union, 1401 W. Green Street, Urbana. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Andersson’s lecture is in recognition of the contributions to research, teaching and administration of Marianne Kalinke, Professor of Germanic Languages and of Comparative Literature, and chair of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at UIUC. Following the lecture, a reception for Professor Kalinke will be held in the Colonial Room in Illini Union.

Professor Andersson’s talk on medieval Iceland and literary history is a topic on which Professor Kalinke herself has published extensively. Andersson received B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University, where he taught in various capacities from 1960 to 1975. He also was Professor of German Studies, Stanford University, from 1975 to 1995, and Professor of Germanic Studies at Indiana University-Bloomington from 1996–99.

Professor Kalinke is stepping down from various administrative responsibilities in August and will be on leave from teaching next academic year to devote all her time to research. Born in Königsberg, Germany (now in Russia), Professor Kalinke lived as a child in Bavaria, and became a New Yorker when she immigrated with her parents to the United States. Although she holds a doctorate in German from Indiana University, her dissertation (on Old French and Old Icelandic literature) and subsequent research and publications are in the field of comparative literature.

Before joining the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois in 1979, Kalinke taught at Albertus Magnus College (1969–71) and the University of Rhode Island (1971–79).

At the University of Illinois, Kalinke teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in medieval German literature and Old Norse-Icelandic language and literature. She has introduced three new general education courses on Viking Mythology, Viking Sagas, and the Legend of King Arthur. She served as head of Germanic Languages and Literatures from 1995-2000 and again from 2003-2005. Kalinke also served as chair of the Foreign Languages Building (FLB) Executive Officers from 1999-2000, and as Transition Manager of FLB from 2003–2005.

Professor Kalinke is an international authority on cultural and literary relations between Scandinavia and the continent in the medieval and early modern period. Her books and articles deal with the impact of French and German secular and sacred romance on the development of Old Norse-Icelandic literature. She has been a Fulbright Fellow, has served as president of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian
Study, and was elected to the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois in 2003.

Professor Andersson’s visit is sponsored by the Center for Advanced Study, the Program in Medieval Studies, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, the Departments in the Foreign Languages Building and the members of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures.