Welcome!
Recently retired from my professorial post in Fribourg, I now work as a part-time contractor with the State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI) in Bern and with two high schools in Ticino, while continuing my research in American literature and teaching Continuing Education courses.
As part of my education, I obtained graduate degrees in English at the Universities of Münster (1985) and Virginia (1986/1991). I taught in the United States as a graduate assistant (University of Virginia 1986-1991), as assistant and associate Professor (Drury University 1991-2000), and as associate and full Professor (University of North Georgia 2000-2006). From 2006 to 2025, I served as Chair and Professor of American Literature at the University of Fribourg.
My scholarly interests include studies of poetry and poetics, 20th- and 21st-century literature (especially Modernism and contemporary texts), the American South and West, music and literature, and memoir.
Contact
University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Avenue de l’Europe 20, CH-1700 Fribourg
email: thomas.austenfeld[@]unifr.ch
