Dr. Harald A. Becker was born in Munich and moved to the United States in 1974. He received his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin, with a specialization in 19th-century German Literature, German History, and modern German cinema. His published repertoire includes a series of book reviews and translations of poetry and prose. Dr. Becker became a member of the Taos German summer school program in 1979, where he has served as associate director since 1995. In 1998 he served as the residential director of the summer school. He began his tenure at SEU in 1990.

Dr. Kerstin Somerholter is a native German speaker and nearly native in English. She is also competent in Russian, French, Spanish, Polish, and Kazakh. Dr. Somerholter joined the SEU faculty in the Fall of 1998. She defended her dissertation, "Language Contact and Shift in the Soviet Speech Community," in the Spring of 1999. Dr. Somerholter begins a new German Business program, and a Russian program in the Fall of 1999. We are proud to welcome her into the SEU community.