Dr. Lee Forester, professor of German, has been appointed as the next Vienna Summer School director and will serve a three-year term beginning in 2025.
A member of the Hope faculty since 1992, Forester lived and taught in Vienna from 1990 to 1992 on a Fulbright Scholarship, and taught German at the Vienna Summer School in 2019. He noted that he is excited to assume this leadership role following the retirement of Dr. Stephen Hemenway.
鈥淰ienna is the center of so much of my life 鈥� I studied there on a Fulbright for two years, finishing my Ph.D. thesis and teaching English in a local high school,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 where I met my wife, who was working there with the 脰sterreichische Studentenmission, a Christian campus group. And it鈥檚 where I learned that, though the Austrians speak German, it鈥檚 a different variety and represents a very different culture from Germany, where I had studied previously. And teaching with the program, I was able to observe firsthand how much Hope students learned there in a very short time, and I am honored to serve as director of this important Hope College program.鈥�
The Vienna Summer School is one of Hope鈥檚 oldest and most recognized off-campus programs and was founded in 1956 by Dr. Paul Fried of the history faculty. Dr. Stephen Hemenway of the English faculty assumed leadership of the program in 1976 and faithfully served and grew the program to what it is today 鈥� having introduced thousands of students to Vienna and Central Europe. Hemenway announced his retirement in the spring of 2023.