- Associate Professor of German
- Phone: 401.874.2361
- Email: tracksdorf@uri.edu
- Office Location: Swan Hall 132
Biography
As Associate Director of the German International Engineering Program, Niko Tracksdorf is preparing students for international study, research, and internship opportunities in German-speaking countries. His research and teaching focuses on interdisciplinary language teaching (especially German for professional purposes), intercultural competence, and online and blended learning. He has developed several content-based German language courses, including “Roller Coasters – The Thrill of German Engineering,” “Designing the Car of the Future,” and “Intermediate German for Engineers.” Before coming to URI, Niko taught for the EUROTECH program, a dual degree program in German and Engineering at the University of Connecticut. In recognition of his innovative approaches to combine German and Engineering in the classroom at UConn, he was honored with a university-wide award for Excellence in Teaching.
Niko Tracksdorf is editor and co-author of Impuls Deutsch, a new intercultural, interdisciplinary, and inclusive beginning German textbook that uses a flipped classroom concept, and is the current chair of AATG’s German for Professional Purposes Committee.
Since 2019, Niko Tracksdorf is the founder and Director of the URI German-STEM Immersion School in Berlin.
Education
Ph.D. in Literatures, Cultures and Languages, University of Connecticut, 2017
M.A. in German Studies, University of Connecticut, 2012
Staatsexamen in English, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Universität Duisburg-Essen, 2011
Selected Publications
Berka, S., Tracksdorf, N., & Geithner, A. (forthcoming, April 2020). Integrativ und interkulturell vom ersten bis zum letzten Tag: Fachsprachenorientierter Deutschunterricht im International Engineering Program der University of Rhode Island [Integrative and intercultural from the first to the last day: German for the Professions in the International Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island]. Zeitschrift für den Interkulturellen Fremdprachenunterricht.
Finger, A., & Tracksdorf, N. (forthcoming, November 2019). Go Global, Build Networks, Create Nodes: Integrating the Humanities and the Professions. Die Unterrichtpraxis/Teaching German 52(2
Tracksdorf, N., Coleman, N., Rarick, D., & Weidauer, F. (2019). Impuls Deutsch 1: Intercultural, Interdisciplinary, Interactive – Course Book. (N. Tracksdorf, Ed.). Stuttgart, Germany: Ernst Klett Sprachen. 276 pages.
Rarick, D., Geithner, A., Tracksdorf, N., & Weidauer, F. (2019). Impuls Deutsch 1: Intercultural, Interdisciplinary, Interactive – Workbook. (N. Tracksdorf, Ed.). Stuttgart, Germany: Ernst Klett Sprachen. 492 pages.
Berka, S., & Tracksdorf, N. (2019). Den Deutschunterricht interdisziplinär verankern: Ein Zukunftsmodell für das Fach Deutsch in den USA [Anchoring the teaching of German in an interdisciplinary way: a model for the future of German in the U.S.]. IDV Magazin, 95, 50-55.
Wagner, M. M., & Tracksdorf, N. (2017). ICC Online: Fostering the Development of Intercultural Competence in Virtual Language Classrooms (University students). In M. M. Wagner, P. Dori & Byram, M. (Eds.), Teaching Intercultural Competence Across the Age Range: Theory and Practice. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 135-154.