Summer School Faculty

Nicholas Brooks
Lecturer, Intellectual History and Co-Editor of Symphilologus

B.A. Gordon College
M.A. University of Connecticut
ABD, University of Virginia

A graduate of Gordon College, Nicholas Brooks is currently a doctoral student in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia with specializations in European history and European intellectual history. His dissertation, entitled "Thinking Beyond Theology: Karl Barth and Martin Heidegger 1910-1933" is an intellectual history of two seminal thinkers of the twentieth century that gives an account of the way that important strands of twentieth-century thought developed in antithesis to long-standing theological traditions.

Susan Brooks
Professor of Music

B.M. Houghton College
M.M. Eastman School of Music
Artist's Diploma, Hartt School of Music

Susan Brooks, soprano, has had a varied career as a performer, educator and administrator. A graduate of Houghton College (B.Mus.), she earned a Master of Music degree in voice from the Eastman School of Music and an Artist's Diploma in opera and voice on the doctoral level from the Hartt School of Music. She has done further study at The Chautauqua Institution and Texas Tech University.

She has taught on the faculties of Mercyhurst College and Villa Maria College in Erie, Pennsylvania, The Hartt School of Music, Julius Hartt Preparatory School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, Northwest Connecticut Community College in Winsted, Connecticut, and the Chicago Academy for the Arts in Chicago, Illinois.

Armin Eidherr
Guest Lecturer, Jewish Cultural History
Dr.Phil. University of Salzburg

Dr. Eidherr has taught in the Department of German and the Center for Jewish Cultural History at the University of Salzburg and has recently been appointed Professor of Jewish Cultural History. He has published numerous books and articles on Austrian and German Jewish literature, including books on Yiddish literature. In 2000 he was awarded the Heinrich Voss prize, the most prestigious translation award in the German speaking world.

Alfred Pfoser
Guest Lecturer, Austrian Cultural History
Dr.Phil. University of Salzburg

Dr. Pfoser studied German, History, and Communication Arts at the University of Salzburg. From 1982 until 1998 he was head of the acquisition department of the Viennese Public Libraries. From 1998 until 2007 he served as Director of the Viennese Public Libraries. Since 2007 he has been head of the Print Department of the Vienna City and State Library in Vienna’s City Hall. In 2009 he was appointed as the library’s deputy director. Dr. Pfoser has taught at the University of Salzburg and the University of Vienna and was a visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis. A prolific writer, he has published numerous articles and books about literature, cultural history and library science.

Tom Preston
Guest Lecturer, Theology and Church History
M.Div. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Pastor, Christuskirche Salzburg

Tom Preston is a pastor at the Christuskirche, Salzburg’s oldest protestant church and teaches protestant religion at several high schools in Salzburg. A gifted musician, Reverend Preston has been working on several music projects, including a recording of J. R. R. Tolkien’s songs and the “Bob Dylan Project.”

Hal Rennert
Guest Lecturer, German Literature and Culture

Ph.D. University of Washington

Dr. Rennert is Emeritus Professor of German at the University of Florida where he spent most of his career after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He has published articles and books on 19th and 20th century German literature and culture. His latest book is Essays on Twentieth Century German Drama and Theater (Peter Lang, 2004).

Pamela Thuswaldner
Lecturer, Cross-Cultural Studies and German

B.A. Louisiana State University
Universität Mainz-Germersheim, Universität Salzburg
M.A. Bowling Green State University

Pamela Thuswaldner studied German at Louisiana State University, Universität Mainz-Germersheim, Universität Salzburg, and Bowling Green State University. After receiving her M.A., she was awarded a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship for two years in Vienna, Austria.

She has taught at universities and companies including Duke University, EMD Pharmaceuticals, Berlitz Language School in Vienna, Volkshochschule Favoriten in Vienna, Bowling Green State University, and BASF. She has over 20 years of teaching experience and was recently awarded the 2011 Academic Service Award for distinguished teaching and service for part-time faculty at Gordon College. Currently she serves not only as adjunct professor of German and as director of the Fulbright Program at Gordon College, but also as an instructor of German and ESL at Osram Sylvania in Danvers, MA.