The Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics (LLL) in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences will host an open meeting and reception to honor the memory of former LLL chair and professor of German, Gerlinde Ulm Sanford. The event takes place Friday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m. in the Hall of Languages, room 107. During the event, three awards will be given in memory of Sanford, who died in April at the age of 70.

The Gerlinde Ulm Sanford Award for Loyalty and Dedication to LLL will be awarded to a department instructor, staff or faculty member whose work at the University may sometimes go unrecognized. The recipient will receive a cash award and plaque.

Two awards will be given to a student of German and a student of another language in LLL. Each recipient will receive a $250 gift card to Follett’s Bookstore in Sanford’s name.

Sanford was a dedicated scholar and teacher who spent her life researching and writing about the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. She was also a world traveler who valued study abroad. To commemorate this at the ceremony, SU Abroad Director Jon Booth and Associate Director Sue Shane and their staff will be on hand to talk about study abroad options around the world.

Sanford wrote several books on Goethe and his son, August. She also edited works on Baroque literature and culture, and published dozens of articles about Austrian and German writers. Born in Austria, she earned a Ph.D. in German at the University of Vienna. Sanford came to the United States in 1965, teaching at Mississippi State University before relocating to SU. She eventually rose to professor and chair of LLL.  

Gail L. Bulman, director of the Program on Latin American and the Caribbean (PLACA) and associate professor of Spanish, has been named department chair.

Sanford will also be memorialized in a public service on Tuesday, Nov. 9, at 4 p.m. in SU's Hendricks Chapel.

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