Studying Nationalism and Mennonites in Germany

Linford Ranck, a rising senior at Millersville, will spend the coming academic year in Germany.  Ranck, a history major, concentrating in modern European history, with a minor in German, is a recipient of the German Academic Exchange Service Undergraduate Scholarship. He will study in Mainz, Germany (just west of Frankfurt) at Johannes Gutenberg University.

“I feel humbled, deeply honored and very excited,” said Ranck. “I did not expect to receive the DAAD (English translation – German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship. Getting this scholarship is not only really, really cool and an amazing opportunity, but is professionally very affirming and may open doors for my career in the future.”

Ranck will be writing his departmental honors thesis while he is in Germany. His topic relates to German nationalism and Mennonites in Germany during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

He took three semesters of German at Millersville and has been learning about local customs, “One German custom I learned in class is the German practice of “squeezing the thumbs” (like crossing fingers) to wish somebody good luck.”

Ranck credits Dr. Susanne Nimmrichter, German professor, for the opportunity. “It was Frau Nimmrichter who nurtured my German language study, believed in the possibility of me going to Germany and pushed me through the DAAD scholarship application process. I am indebted to her for her help and encouragement.”