Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures

Language(s) taught

German

Teaching/Research

German Language, Literature, and Culture, The Age of Goethe, German Film, Documentaries on German Diaspora.

Degrees/Certifications

PhD, German Literature - University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
MA, German Literature - McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
BA, German - Loyola College, Montreal, Quebec
BA, History - University of Trier, Germany
Banker - Stadtsparkasse Trier, Germany

Website

https://kevinkennedy.info

Academic Achievement

Dr. Kennedy has published various refereed articles ranging from designing and marketing study abroad programs and the use of technology in the classroom to Goethe. He is the author of the book Der junge Goethe in der Tradition des Petrarkismus (Lang, 1995) and editor of the Proceedings of the the 1988 UNC German Colloquium (IN-House, 1989). He has produced, directed, and edited numerous documentaries on the German Diaspora, which have been screened in the U.S.A., Germany, England, Switzerland, Turkey, and Jamaica and on local television stations: Von Essen zum Brot. Eine Geschichte deutscher Immigration in Jamaika (2005); Goethe in Jamaica (2007); Peter Paul Zahl. Ein deutscher Exilschriftsteller in Jamaika (2007); German Enemy Aliens in the Land of the Sky (2012). Germans in Jamaica. War, Spies, and Camps (2016); Baron Maximilian von Ketelhodt (2018)

Dr. Kennedy is the recipient of Foreign Scholar Exchange Award (2004; 2013 and 2019); Recipient of the UNC Board of Governor's Excellence in Teaching Award - Appalachian State University School/College Award (1999 and 2012); Recipient of the Appalachian State Global Leadership Award (2012); Award Nominee for the Wayne Duncan Faculty Enrichment and Teaching Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching in General Education (2012); Appointed member of the College of Arts and Sciences Academy of Outstanding Teachers (2001); Recipient of various research grants (2009, 2007, 2005, 2003). He was the first instructor at Appalachian State to teach via Distance Learning (1991). He was founder and director of the German Distance Learning Program, which developed into the state-wide distance learning Consortium in German Studies (now known as the UNC World Language Exchange) from 1994-2001. Dr. Kennedy served as President of the NC Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German (1990-1993).

Dr. Kennedy established and led Appalachian's Language and Culture Summer School in Trier Germany from 1997-2015. He also established the Pädagogische Hochschule Karlsruhe Exchange program in 1995 which he directed until 2000. He established a first of its kind Gen. Ed. Summer Study Abroad program at Appalachian in conjunction with the departments of History and Sociology (War in Europe) which he led in 2011 and 2014. He also established and directed the Hirschvogel Business and Language Internship program from 1996 - 2018. He served as a Faculty and Academic Development Consultant at the Hubbard Center for Faculty and Staff Support and as member of the editoral board of the "Teaching and Learning at Appalachian" publication from 2000-2002. He served as Associate Program Director of the Association for Global Business International Conference on Communication, Languages, Literature, and Socio-Cultural Studies (1998-1999)

Screenings/Selected Articles

Baron Maximilian von Ketelhodt. Documentary. Dir., Prod., Ed.; kdocfilms.  2018
Screenings and Awards:
- German Jamaican Society, Bonn, Germany, October 21, 2018
- Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures Annual Symposium. Greenbriar Theater Boone, NC. March 26,  2019
- Palm Bay Caribe Film Festival. Palm Bay, Florida. June 6, 2019  (Honorable Mention Award)
- Jamaican-German Society in conjunction with the  German Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica. March 27, 2020

Germans in Jamaica: War, Spies and Camps. Documentary. Dir.,Prod.,Ed.; kdocfilms.  2016
Screenings and Awards:
- Work-in progress screening in Königswinter, Germany, October 2015
- Jamaica Film Festival in Frankfurt, Germany, November 11, 2016 (Best History Documentary)
-  Greenbriar Theater Appalachian State University. Boone, NC, February 23, 2017
-  International Film Festival at UNCC.  Charlotte, NC, March 31, 2017.
-  Jamaica Military Museum (sponsored by the Museum of the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, the Jamaica National Heritage Foundation, the Jamaican-German Society, and the German Embassy in Jamaica). Kingston, Jamaica, May 18, 2017
-  Houston Caribbean Film Festival, Houston, TX, June 2017  (Semi-Finalist)
-  Impact DOCS Filmfest. La Jolla, CA, January 31, 2018  (Award of Merit)
-  Palm Bay Caribe Film Festival. Palm Bay, Florida, May 31, 2018  (Award of Excellence)
-  South Film and Arts Academy Festival. Rancagua, O'Higgins, Chile, November 27, 2019  (Best Screenplay In a Documentary Feature Film)
- Carolina International Film Festival. Florence, S.C. November 17, 2020  (Gold Award for best International Documentary Feature)
- Catalogued at the National Library of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica

German Enemy Aliens in the Land of the Sky. Documentary. Dir.,Prod.,Ed.; kdocfilms. 2012
Screenings:
-  36th Annual Symposium of the Society for German-American Studies, University of Kansas and Max Kader Institute, Lawrence, Kansas, April 2012
-  North Carolina German Studies Seminar and Workshop Series in conjunction with the Center for the History of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, March 2013
-  Perspectives of the “Great” War/Rückblick auf den Ersten Weltkrieg, Queen Mary, University of London. August 2014
-  Internment During WWI: A Mass Global Phenomenon, DeMontfort University in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum North. Manchester, England, May 2015
-  Hot Springs' Centennial Commemoration of the Great War and Hot Springs 1917. Remembering the German Internment. Hot Springs, NC, September 2017
-  Exhibition: A Fountain of Youth in the Southern Highlands: A History of Hot Springs, North Carolina at the Rural Heritage Museum  at Mars Hill University, Mars Hill, NC, February 3 - August 31,  2019
- Catalogued at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Washington D.C. - Call Number - Disc 154

Peter Paul Zahl. German Exile Writer in Jamaica. Documentary (German). Dir.,Prod.,Ed.; kdocfilms. 2007.
Screenings:
- Tagung der Deutsch-Jamaikanischen Gesellschaft, Königswinter, Germany, October 2007
- International Humanities Conference, Istanbul, Turkey 2008
- North Carolina German Studies Seminar and Workshop Series. UNC-Chapel Hill 2008

Von Essen zum Brot. Eine Geschichte deutscher Immigranten in Jamaika. Documentary (German). Dir.,Prod.,Ed.; kdocfilms. 2005. 
Screenings: 
- Tagung der Deutsch-Jamaikanischen Gesellschaft, Königswinter, Germany (2005); Appstate’s Campus Channel 92, October 24, 25, 27
- Town of Boone Community Channel 21, October 25, 2005

Distance Learning @ ASU. The Inception of the UNC German Studies Consortium using the North Carolina Information Highway. Documentary. 1995
Screenings:
- Appstate’s Campus Channel
- Town of Boone Community Channel

Selected Articles

- "Multidisciplinary Study Abroad Programs: How to Make Them Work". With Bob Goddard and Skip Beck. In: Proceedings of the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Academy of International Business (SE-USA Chapter).  
- "Designing and Marketing Study Abroad Programs: An Update - Creating a Successful Experience." With Bob Goddard and Bonnie Guy.  In: Proceedings of the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Academy of International Business (SE-USA Chapter) 176-184. 
- "A Collaboration to Teach World Civilization in German and via Distance" w/ Peter Petschauer. In: Teaching and Learning, Vol. 5, 
- "Konkurrenz,, Kooperation und Spezialisierung der Bildungstechnologie an den Hochschulen von North Carolina". In: Tagungsband LEARNTEC, Vol. 7.
- "Technology in the Classroom" In: Teaching and Learning, Vol. 1.
- "'Doch bin ich so elend wie zuvor‘: Gestaltung und Überwindung des Petrarkismus bei Goethe." In: Selected Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Foreign Language Conference 1988-1990.