Martina Wells, Ph.D.

Logo: Chatham C
Coordinator of Modern Languages, Program Director
412-365-1129

Joined Chatham: 2002

ACADEMIC AREAS OF INTEREST

Language pedagogy, German and French literature and film

PERSONAL AREAS OF INTEREST

Traveling, mountain hiking, running, reading, community work

BIOGRAPHY

Martina Wells, Ph.D., is the Coordinator of Modern Languages at Chatham University. She oversees the foreign language program and teaches German and French. In addition to being responsible for curriculum development and implementation for all language courses, she manages and supervises the language teaching staff. Her research interests include post-WWII and contemporary German literature and film and German-Jewish literature and culture with a focus on 20th and 21st century texts. Originally from Germany, she obtained her M.A. and Ph.D. in German Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. 

EDUCATION

  • MA, University of Pittsburgh
  • Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • Wells, Martina. “The Language Lab: Cultural Laboratory and Interdisciplinary Experience.” NeMLA Annual Conference. Pittsburgh, PA. April 2018
  • Wells, Matina. “Social Transformations and Identity in the Age of Globalization in Germany: Georg Oswald’s Alles was zählt” Seminar47.3 (September 2011)

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

  • Wells, Martina. “Designing a Language Lab that Encompasses Cultural and Interdisciplinary Experiences.” Outreach Strategies and Innovative Teaching Approaches for German Programs, edited by Melissa Etzler and Gabriele Maier, Routledge, 2021, pp.88-101
  • Wells, Martina and Linh Phung. “Effective Collaboration in Programming to Promote Student Engagement and Growth in Global Learning”. PACIE (Pittsburgh), October 2018
  • Wells, Martina. “Narrating Jewishness at the Intersection with German Culture”. Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (Lexington, KY) April 2017
  • Wells, Martina. ”And why are you here now?” Mapping Jewish Space in the new Europe ”. Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (Lexington, KY), April 2016
  • Wells, Martina. “Schreiben was hier war.” Beyond the Holocaust Paradigm: (Re)Positionings of Jewish Self-Identity in German-Jewish Narratives Past and Present.” Diss. University of Pittsburgh, 2015. Print.
  • Wells, Martina. “So ein Schlamassel”: Alternative Family Lineups and Germany’s New Jewry”. German Studies Association Conference (Washington, DC), October 2015
  • Wells, Martina. “Teaching the Globalized Culture of Germany Through Authentic Materials”. PSMLA World Languages Conference (State College, PA), October 2014
  • Wells, Martina. “Reconfiguring Ecologies of Difference: The “Oriental Jew” in Recent German Film”. Cultural Studies Association Conference (Salt Lake City), May 2014
  • Wells, Martina. “Post-Colonial Perspectives on German-Jewish Narratives of Modernization, Past and Present”. Lightning Rods Dissertation Colloquium (Pittsburgh, PA), April 2014
  • Wells, Martina. “The Oriental Jew and his 21st Century Avatars”. Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures (U Penn Philadelphia, PA), February 2014
  • Wells, Martina. “Social Transformations and Identity in the Age of Globalization in Germany: Georg Oswald’s Alles was zählt”. Graduate Student Conference (Pittsburgh, PA), March 2010
  • Wells, Martina. Graduate Student Conference, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh; presentation: “Social Transformations and Identity in the Age of Globalization in Germany: Georg Oswald’s Alles was zählt.”