"The History of the Amerika Institut"

Long-awaited and frequently asked for, the ISP on the history of the Amerika-Institut is  officially underway. We have compiled the most important information for you here:

What is an ISP?

ISP is short for Independent Study Project, a mandatory module both in the BA and MA. You can decide if you want to conduct a project individually (for this you need to initiate contact with a professor and propose your idea) or if you want to join an existing course/project. The ISP is designed to equip you with skills that exceed your studies. It allows you to discover new  interests and offers experience for future professional contexts.

What is this ISP about?

This ISP is a project that brings together BA and MA students to work together on something bigger than they could achieve on their own. It differs from individual ISP projects in that there will be regular team meetings to coordinate your efforts.

The subject of this project will be to study the history of the Amerika-Institut and its Alumni. The goal is to create a promotional video for the Amerika-Institut website as well as for the Amerika-Institut “birthday” celebration on October 23, 2024 (mark your calendars). We will also compile a digital archive with all the material from our research for future scholars to use and chronicle the entire project on social media. Depending on you and the time available, there is  potential to expand both projects. More on this in the first meeting.

Which skills will you acquire?

Every student will acquire skills in

• Archival research
• Interview technique
• Academic writing
• PR (i.e. Instagram)

How will I acquire these skills?

In the first phase, every student will engage in archival research, conduct and transcribe an interview, and compose one corresponding Instagram post.

The results of this work will then be applied to the second phase, in which we will break up into groups. There are three groups available:

1. The Promotional Video Group
2. The Digital Archive Group
3. The Social Media and PR Group

Each Group will have one MA student coordinating the efforts and reporting to the coordinating professors.

I’m excited! How can I join?

Since there is a limited number of students we can include in this project, we kindly ask you to submit a short letter of motivation (200 words max.) in which you explain the following:

• What is your motivation to join this project?
• Which semester and degree (BA/MA) will you be in this summer semester?
• Which of the three groups do you see yourself in and why?
• Do you already have any experience or skills that might be relevant? (not necessary)
• For MA only: Could you see yourself coordinating a group?

Please submit this letter of motivation via email to either Charlotte Lerg (charlotte.lerg@lmu.de) or Alexandra Schenke (a.schenke@lmu.de) by April 10, 2024. We will let you know about our decision by April 12, 2024.

If you are interested in joining this project and plan to send us your letter of motivation, please register for the ISP module via LSF with Prof. Michael Hochgeschwender. We can assist you with any changes in registration if the need should arise.

Anything else to keep on mind?

For the two most important meetings (there will be four in total), your presence is imperative. Please make sure you are free on these two mandatory dates:

April 19, 2024, 12 - 14 c.t.: first meeting with everyone involved (in room 201)
May 31, 2024, 12 - 18 c.t.: we collectively reconvene, look at the progress so far, troubleshoot together, and prepare for the second phase of the project.

If you already know of colliding commitments, please indicate so in your letter of motivation.

We look forward to hearing from you!