A. Board: Vice-President

Ela Gezen (Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2012) is Associate Professor of German at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research and teaching focus on 20th and 21st century German literature and culture, with emphases on literatures of migration, theater, minority discourses, transnationalism, and cultural theory. She is the author of Brecht, Turkish Theater, and Turkish-German Literature (2018) and is currently working on her second book, Cultures in Migration: Turkish Artistic Practices and Cultural-Political Interventions in West Berlin. Besides her editorial work, she has published articles on music, theater, and literature, focusing on the intersection between aesthetics and politics in both Turkish and German contexts. She has attended every GSA conference since her very first in 2008, and in addition to presenting papers, has collaborated with colleagues on organizing seminars, panels, and roundtables. Within the GSA she has served on the Program and Arts Night Committees, the Vision and Advocacy Working Group, the Executive Board, and is currently chairing the newly implemented Mentoring Award and Initiatives Committee. Together with colleagues, she plans to continue advocacy work, facilitate cross-committee and multi-organizational cooperation, and support existing committees in their efforts in making the GSA a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive professional organization.

Todd Herzog (PhD University of Chicago, 2001) is Professor of German and Film Studies and Director of the Niehoff Center for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati. He has published six books and over forty articles on topics ranging from the modernist crime story to the history of German-Jewish travel writing on North America. He co-edited the Journal of Austrian Studies from 2011-2021.

A lifetime member of the GSA, Todd co-chaired the Law and Legal Cultures Network (2013-2023) and served on the Executive Board (2020-2022). He has co-chaired the initial stages of the GSA’s Strategic Plan, from the first draft of a mission statement to the current membership survey that will guide the plan.

In the coming years, the GSA will focus on the strategic plan. The key tasks should be: (1) finding creative and sustainable ways to connect GSA members beyond the annual conference and (2) promoting a sense of belonging among members with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, disciplines, and career paths. If elected, Todd would work to elevate the importance of teaching and learning within the GSA, showcasing these endeavors alongside scholarship and the arts and highlighting the important work of GSA members in this area.