MIDDLEBURY, Vt.—Karl W. Obrath of Middlebury College's summer German Language School has received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his work in advancing German culture and language beyond the borders of Germany for the past 40 years.
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| Karl W. Obrath |
The award, called the Bundesverdienstkreuz, is one of the highest honors bestowed by the German government upon an individual who is not a German citizen. The German general consul of Chicago, Wolfgang Drautz, presented the medal to Professor Obrath on November 8 in Cincinnati. Obrath, who is both associate director of the German School at Middlebury and professor emeritus of German at the University of Cincinnati, began his teaching career in 1968 with the National Work-Study Program in Hamburg, Germany. He joined the faculty of the German School, the oldest of the College’s 10 summer Language Schools, in 1980 and has been affiliated with the school ever since.
He earned a B.A. at Bowling Green University, and both an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati where he later earned tenure in the German department, won the Barbour Award for excellence in faculty-student relations, and served 20 years as the director of undergraduate studies for the department. His research interests include 20th century German literature and culture and the image of the "new world" in German imaginative literature.
Obrath plans to return to Middlebury in the summer of 2008 to teach German courses once again at the undergraduate level.
The citation for the award commended Obrath for motivating students to excel in the study of the German language and culture, and the general consul presented it on behalf of German President Horst Köhler.