Personal Data

Single

Canadian

German

English, German, French;
reading knowledge of Latin, Italian

e-mail: detlef@sprint.ca

During my stay at McGill University, and subsequently at Université Canadienne en France, I taught courses and seminars, primarily dealing with various aspects of Modern art. In addition to these, I was assigned a variety of other courses, including a general survey course, Canadian art, Renaissance painting, and others.

Due to a thorough education both on the undergraduate and graduate levels, I feel utterly confident to conduct undergraduate classes in virtually every area of Renaissance and post-Renaissance painting, sculpture, and, to a somewhat lesser degree, architecture. The Art History Department at McGill used to take pride in its comprehensive instruction on all levels, and to ensure appropriate results modelled its graduate exams after those of major American universities, primarily Harvard and Princeton. My own Ph.D. comprehensive exam consisted of three parts, each covering the five historical areas in art, as well as related fields such as literature, history, philosophy, the theatre, and music. The three parts consisted of a six-hour, ten-question written test, a 36-hour open book research paper, and an oral exam of two to three hours duration. I managed to pass with an overall mark of A-. While this proved to be a gruelling operation at the time, it should serve as an irrefutable indication of my exhaustive knowledge of the arts.

Three of the M.A. theses I supervised as a professor dealt to some extent with feminist issues, and my own interest in this field, especially relating to conditions in Victorian England, has familiarised me with a great number of related topics. All through my professional career, I have been keenly concerned with and passionate about teaching and matters of student affairs - I am including some course evaluations that I had access to in the application package. As a member of the Student Affairs and Student Liaison committees at McGill, I was involved in effecting a number of changes, including the institution of a "J" (incomplete mark) Appeals Committee in the Faculty of Arts and Science. In my own department, I was instrumental in establishing a career day for art history students, which featured speakers from diverse institutions involved in the arts, and brought about several changes to the Major and Honours curriculums. Due to my experience, I was invited to sit on the Humanistic Studies Committee, which directed an interdisciplinary programme. At the time I began teaching, the Dean of Arts urged my department to reintroduce Summer courses, and as the junior member of the department, I was given that task, although this effectively extended my school-year from one of two semesters into one of three trimesters. At McGill, I also continued to work with the Centre of Continuing Education as an advisor for their adult education courses in art history, and as liaison person between the Centre and local museums and art galleries.

My last position at the Université Canadienne en France, a branch of Laurentian University gave me the ideal opportunity to combine all my concerns. In addition to my courses at the university, I was responsible for the co-ordination of art history and studio courses, and organized field trips to art collections in the immediate area and to Paris, Germany, Italy, and Spain. I also conducted workshops on photography and darkroom technique, as well as effective public speaking. Unfortunately, much to the dismay of students and staff, the program was prematurely terminated for budgetary reasons.

Since returning to Canada, I have furthered my knowledge of computer programs, particularly graphic programs such as Adobe PhotoShop, Corel Draw, and Fractal Design. This gave me the opportunity to participate in the design of a number of web sites, and my previous expertise in photography has helped me to become highly proficient in image manipulation. Moreover, I have produced English and German translations for web sites by the French Ministry of Culture and the Archeveché de Montréal, as well as giving occasional talks on a variety of subjects in art history. In an additional activity, I have been able to expand on a life-long interest in watches. Over the past year, I have been an active participant in TimeZone, the most important international forum on watch-related issues. Recently, I have completed my own personal web site on timepieces, which is listed in TimeZone's directory of members' web sites.

No matter where and in what capacity I have been employed in the past, I prided myself on my problem-solving abilities, openness to new ideas and concepts, and vision to improve existing conditions without resorting to the dismantling of current states of affair. Ever since the age of eighteen, when my two-year stint as officer in the West German army began, I have been accustomed to assume leadership positions, and have routinely succeeded in meeting the given challenges with sensitivity and vision.