Biography
Jutta Gsoels-Lorensen holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Yale University. She also earned MA degrees from Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz (English, Latin) and SUNY Binghamton (Comparative Literature). Dr. Gsoels-Lorensen teaches courses in German, English, and Comparative Literature at Penn State Altoona.
Her current research focuses on displacement and migration in literature, film, and other forms of cultural expression, with articles published in venues such as Comparative Literature Studies, Arethusa, New German Critique, Mosaic, and African American Review. She recently contributed a chapter to the MLA’s volume on Teaching Migration in Literature, Film and Media, which includes critical and creative work on aspects of displacement by Penn State Altoona students.
Dr. Gsoels-Lorensen is also interested in public humanities projects. She co-created the “Undead Festival” around a screening of F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Dread (1922) to live orchestral accompaniment (with the Altoona Symphony and local high schools) and an event series on the theme of “Divided Societies” built from oral history interviews on the fall of the Berlin Wall (with StoryCorps, the Altoona Symphony, and local high schools).
She has received Penn State Altoona's Grace D. Long Award for Faculty Excellence and the Athlene J. Stere Teaching Award.