Successful teaching requires good skills in communication (not to mention performance!), but beyond the teaching I’ve also delivered more than 50 lectures and presentations in both academic and public formats. I’ve played major roles in more than two dozen performances, ranging from operas to musicals to dramas, and I’ve provided voice-over narration (in English and German) for various clients at several local recording studios.
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Language Skills
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English (native speaker)
German (native fluency)
Chinese (advanced)
French (intermediate)
Spanish (novice)
Japanese (novice)
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Keynote Addresses
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“When I Grow Up, I Want To Be a…Dead Poet? — Leaving Room for the Imagination within the University”
National Society of Collegiate Scholars
Rice University 2006
“Envisioning Your Future”
National Society of Collegiate Scholars
Rice University 2003
“This Is Your World: The Architecture of Minds”
National Society of Collegiate Scholars
Rice University 2002
“Small Worlds, Large Worlds, and Meaningful Connections”
National Society of Collegiate Scholars
Rice University 2001
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Selected Lectures on ESL
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“Tips for English Pronunciation”
GRIT English School
Fuzhou, China 2016
“The Dos and Don’ts of Learning English”
Golden Bridge High School
Shunchang, China 2013
“Classroom Activities in ESL”
Fujian College of Education
Fuzhou, China 2013
“Strategies for Language Learning”
Dell English International
Beijing 2004
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Selected Lectures on Study Abroad
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“美国大学生安全知识”
(“Campus Safety in the U.S.”)
GRIT English School
Fuzhou, China 2018
“Notes for Study Abroad”
GRIT English School
Fuzhou, China 2016
“Graduate Study in the U.S.”
Fuzhou University
Fuzhou, China 2016
“Undergraduate Study in the U.S.”
GRIT English School
Fuzhou, China 2016
“High School Study in the U.S.”
GRIT English School
Fuzhou, China 2015
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Selected Lectures on Foreign Language Pedagogy
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“Teaching Foreign Languages in the U.S. and at Rice University”
Anhui Angricultural University
Anhui, China 2003
“Course Software and Placement Tests”
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Annual Meeting 2002
“Vocabulary Building with ExTemplate”
Rice University 2001
“Some Significant Others: (Web-Based) Biographies and Foreign Language Acquisition”
Rice University 2000
“Motivation and Foreign Language Study”
Houston Area Teachers of Foreign Languages Annual Meeting 1981
“Motivational Devices: Past, Present, and Future”
American Association of Teachers of German Annual Meeting 1980
“Reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic? The ‘Three R’s’ in Foreign Language Instruction: Basic Approaches with Concrete Texts”
Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Annual Meeting 1979
“Singing in the Foreign Language Classroom: All Play and No Work?”
American Association of Teachers of German Annual Meeting 1979
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Selected Lectures on Literature and Culture
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“Understanding Woyzeck”
Series of lectures in conjunction with the Houston Symphony 2013
“Of Readers and Directors: Making Sense (and Films) of Texts”
Rice University 2003
“Setting the Stage: A Performance of Voices from Post-Wall Germany”
Rice University Alumni College 2002
“On the Use and Disadvantage of a History of German Studies”
Working Conference on German Studies in the U.S.: Models and New Directions, Emory University 1988
“The Vocabularies of Criticism and Theory: The (Dis)Location of Foreign Terms”
Modern Language Association Annual Meeting 1985
“What’s After the Avant-garde?”
The Sunday Evening Club, University of Houston 1984
“The Work of Discourse and the Development of Literary Study”
Society for Critical Exchange Symposium, University of Indiana 1983
“Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm”
Friends of Goethe, Goethe-Institut Houston 1983
“From Genesis to Convention: Literary Criticism as a German-American Institution”
Symposium on Teaching German in America, University of Wisconsin/Madison 1983
“Bekenntnisse eines Deutsch-Amerikaners zweiter Generation”
German-Texan Heritage Society, Houston 1983
“300 Years of German in America”
University of Houston Downtown Campus 1983
“Past the Tip of the Iceberg: History in Enzensberger’s Der Untergang der Titanic”
University of Houston 1982
“From Genesis to Convention: Literary Criticism as a German-American Institution”
Modern Language Association Annual Meeting 1982
“Woyzeck, Man is Free!”
Goethe-Institut Houston Special Forum 1982
“Past the Tip of the Iceberg: History in Enzensberger’s Der Untergang der Titanic”
Western Association of German Studies Annual Meeting 1982
“Teaching Culture the German-American Way”
Spring Branch In-Service Workshop, Houston 1982
“Wilhelm Tell as American Myth”
Symposium of the Society for German-American Studies Annual Meeting 1982
“New Realism in Recent West German Poetry”
Special Session Moderator
Modern Language Association Annual Meeting 1981
“Bibliography and Research Tools: Poetry, Literary Theory, and Interpretation”
University of Houston 1981
“Deutsche Arbeit in Amerika: The Life and Works of Kuno Francke”
South Central Modern Language Association Annual Meeting 1981
“Export/Import Culture: German Scholars and German Studies in America, 1870-1905”
Western Association of German Studies Annual Meeting 1981
“American Germanistik and German Classicism: A 19th-Century Exchange”
Symposium on Germans in America, New York University 1981
“Social Criticism and Neue Sensibilität. The Poetry of Günter Herburger”
The Georgia Colloquium on 19th and 20th Century French, German, and Spanish Literature, University of Georgia/Athens 1981
“Quest, Discovery, and Realism in Günter Herburger’s Poetry (Orchidee)”
The Ninth Annual Conference on Twentieth-Century Literature
University of Kentucky/Louisville 1981
“German Social Customs: An American Perspective”
University of Houston 1980
“Konkrete Dichtung und Avantgardismus”
University of Houston 1980
“American Germanistik as Mediator of German Culture”
University of Alabama/Birmingham 1980
“Methodologisches Verfahren mit Texten als Literatur: Eine Stilanalyse von Robert Walsers Guten Tag, Riesin!”
Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference Annual Meeting 1979
“The Nature and Influence of Literary Criticism in the 1770s: Reconsidered”
The Ohio State University 1978
“The Nature and Influence of Literary Criticism in the 1770s”
Kentucky Foreign Language Conference Annual Meeting 1978
“Concrete Poetry”
The Ohio State University 1978
“Fate, Chance, and the Comedy of Kleist’s Der zerbrochene Krug”
Pacific Northwest Council on Foreign Languages Annual Meeting 1976
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Performances — Opera
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Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Pasha)
Houston Grand Opera 2008
Carmen (Lillias Pastia)
Houston Grand Opera 2006
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Pasha)
Kansas City Lyric Opera 2003
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Pasha)
Houston Grand Opera 2002
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Performances — Musicals
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Scenes from Cabaret (Emcee)
Seattle 2007
Cabaret (Emcee)
Rice University 2005
Hello Hamlet (Claudius)
Rice University 2004
The Little Shop of Horrors (orchestra member)
Rice University 2002
Chess (orchestra member)
Rice University 2001
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Sheriff Ed Earl Dodge)
Rice University 1998
Godspell (John/Judas)
Rice University 1998
The Little Shop of Horrors (Orin Scrivello, DDS)
Rice University 1996
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Performances — Theater
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Inherit the Wind (Rev. Brown, George Sillars)
Rice University 2005
Paganini (multiple roles)
Rice University 2005
Art (Marc)
Rice University 2003
The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Karl)
Rice University 2003
Heavenly Child (William)
Rice University 2001
American Buffalo (Teach)
Rice University 2001
Damn Yankees (Van Buren)
Rice University 2000
Buried Child (Tilden)
Rice University 2000
Burn This (Pale)
Rice University 1999
Betrayal (Robert)
Rice University 1999
How Much of It Is Only Gravity? (George)
Original script. Written, directed, and performed by me.
Rice University 1999
The Foreigner (Froggie)
Rice University 1995
Nobody’s Hero (Sheriff)
Rice University 1994
Woyzek (Hauptmann)
The Ohio State University 1980
Besuch der alten Dame (Alfred Ill)
Washington State University 1974
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Voice-Over Narration
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Voice-over narration (in English and German) for industrial videos and commercials, with Omni International, Dan Sessions Studios, McNee Productions, and others.
