Society for German-American Studies Symposium a success!

Bill, I judge your conference to be the best to date -- at least among the very finest, as to accommodations, organization, quality of scholarly content and genuine local support from one end to the other. Congratulations.

Dear Professor Keel, Just a note to thank you for your hospitality and courtesy. The Symposium was excellently planned and conducted and I learned a great deal. I found the program most stimulating and I met many interesting people. . . . Again, many thanks for allowing me to enjoy your beautiful city and for the truly remarkable tour on Sunday, including the amazing Steamship Museum.

Many thanks for a wonderful meeting. I hope that you've taken at least a minute to congratulate yourself. Great sessions, marvelous venue (the KU campus is as pretty as you all claim) and real elections. Was könnte man sich sonst noch wünschen!

Lastly, I also want to add my voice to those who have commended Bill and his crew for the Lawrence symposium. Everything was exceedingly well coordinated, both up front and whenever needs arose. In all ways it was a successful meeting and a model for how future gatherings should be. Thanks for all of the hard work, Bill, and to your team as well - there is certainly a great deal of pride you can all take in a job very well done.

Thank you to the SGAS conference organizers for a superb event with much vitality and wide appeal to a diverse constituency. It offered a perfect opportunity to hear native speakers of German and meet up again with several long-time academic acquaintances. I was most interested in sessions with a critical historical approach to literature, and found especially exciting Helga Schreckenberger's session on the representation of African Americans in the literature of German exiles. Cora Lee Kluge's "The Pre-Kansas Background of Rosie Ise" was of particular interest to me as well. She posed the key question "Why Kansas?" with reference to the immigration story of this now widely renowned pioneer family, whose life on the frontier has been memorialized in Sod and Stubble by John Ise.

First of all, I wanted to express my appreciation to you and your department for hosting a first class meeting. I am reassured to see what good hands the SGAS is in, and expect to see the SGAS and YGAS continue to grow in academic seriousness.