German welcomes first woman Professor of German since 1904!

We are delighted to announce that Ingrid Sharp has been promoted to a Chair in German Cultural and Gender History, the first woman professor in its long history.

German has been taught at Leeds since 1877, first in the ‘Department of German and Oriental Languages’ and then simply the ‘Department of German’ in 1889, so these departments existed well before university status was granted in 1904.

Since joining the department in 1989, Professor Sharp has offered modules on women’s, gender and cultural history as well as teaching on language and translation modules. Her research has looked at the ways in which women’s organisations and female activists have challenged gender hierarchies at different stages in German history, with a recent focus on women’s support for and resistance to the First World War. Her latest research project is funded by the AHRC and seeks to write women back into the history of the German Revolution in November 1918.