Sonja Fritzsche

Biography

Ph.D., University of Minnesota – Germanic Studies (2001)
M.A., University of California, Los Angeles – Modern European History (1995)
B.A., Indiana University (1992)

Through my position of Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Administration in the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University where I have served since January 1, 2024, I am able to pursue highly meaningful, values-driven work together with dedicated colleagues. In this new role, I oversee academic affairs, Integrative Studies in the Arts & Humanities, the Humanities Pre-Law and Interdisciplinary Humanities degree programs, and the Excel Network in the College as well as continue to support the Dean in non-tenure stream promotion and tenure system reappointment, promotion, and tenure review. I continue to share knowledge and expand opportunities via the Culture of Care initiative and Charting Pathways to Intellectual Leadership (CPIL) model, including the recently released CPIL Toolbox. I led our College’s efforts to improve conditions for non-tenure system faculty and academic specialists that recently received the 2024 Delphi Award from the USC Pullias Center of Higher Education. A recent initiative is also our Arts & Humanities Health and Well-being major that is in development in collaboration with MSU Health Sciences and the College of Music together with other campus partners.

In my most recent Academic Personnel and Administration position (2017-2023) in the College, I focused on equitable and inclusive searches and faculty review procedures, College-wide faculty development and leadership initiatives that employ “transformative listening” (ADFL Bulletin 2022), creating habits of equity, inclusion, and belonging for all students across the College, and non-tenure stream mentoring and career pathways.

A Professor of German Studies, my current critical health humanities project in comparative German/US autism and disability studies is entitled “’Ableist Fragility’ and Chronic Stress in a Non-Autistic Parent Memoir from Germany.” A large part of my work focuses on German and Central/Eastern European literary history and film in the area of utopian/dystopian studies and comparative science fiction of the Cold War and related topics, and has appeared in six languages (See my website and c.v.) Resulting publications include: The Routledge Companion to Gender and Science Fiction (2023) with Lisa Yaszek, Keren Omry, and Wendy Gay Peterson, Science Fiction Circuits of the South and East (2018) with Anindita Banerjee, The Liverpool Companion to World Science Fiction Film (2014, 2021 pbk./e-book), and the open access Science Fiction Literature in East Germany (2006). My publications also include articles, book chapters, and public digital scholarship, including the collaborative Inclusive Pedagogy Fellows Toolkit on the Humanities/Knowledge Commons.

A primary goal of my scholarly career has been to foster greater awareness of science fiction and futurisms beyond Anglo-American contexts and to support young scholars doing work on the SF/Futurisms in languages other than English. My mentorship and stewardship contributions include: President of the Association Language Departments (ALD/ADFL) in 2015, Vice President of the Science Fiction Research Association (2019-2021), and service on the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Women in German (2023-2025). I am a Fulbright and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) grant recipient. Consider submitting a proposal to publish in the book series that I founded and now co-edit with Gerry Canavan (Marquette) – World Science Fiction Studies with Peter Lang Oxford.

Currently, I serve as co-PI with the Big Ten Academic Alliance Less Commonly Taught and Indigenous Languages Partnership grant (PI: Christopher P. Long, 2019-2025, $2.5 million) funded by the Mellon Foundation. Less Commonly Taught Languages do not mean less commonly spoken (e.g., Hindu/Urdu, Korean, Portuguese). Among other aspects, this iteration of the grant focuses on supporting Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe instruction in communities and institutions in the Great Lakes region as well as creating cross-institutional partnerships across the Big Ten and nationally to sustain and grow LCTL instruction as central to the equity and inclusion mission of MSU as a public, critical land grant institution and in institutions of higher education.

Finally – remember: practice transformative change to establish the “everyday utopia” (Davina Cooper 2013) and go through life with the radical humility (2022), kindness, generosity (Fitzpatrick 2019, 2023), and grace (Kyodo Williams 2016) that one gets from a life spent tandem cycling many, many miles.