Director of Undergraduate Studies: Elke Siegel
Director of Language Programs: Andrea Dortmann

The department's undergraduate program offers a broad range of courses in the language, cultures and literatures of German-speaking countries. Students may choose among three majors: German Language & Literature; German Studies; and German & Linguistics. Minor concentrations are available in German Language and in German Literature in Translation.

Along with its German language programs, the department offers an undergraduate program in Swedish and, with the Department of Hebrew & Judaic Studies, courses in Yiddish. Interdisciplinary courses taught in English address issues of German culture, history, philosophy, science, art and literature for students who do not have German language skills. Some of these courses attract a wide audience from across the university, and permit students in schools as diverse as Tisch and Wagner to study the German tradition in depth. Several of the regularly offered courses are cross-listed for credit by Departments such as Comparative Literature and Hebrew and Judaic Studies. An extensive program of individualized study, with flexible credit and meeting options, allows students to work one-on-one with faculty members to pursue topics of individual interest. The department sponsors the activities of the German Club and of the Tau Chapter of Delta Phi Alpha, the national German honor society, as well as a series of annual awards in recognition of outstanding achievement by undergraduate students in the study of German language and literature. Deutsches Haus, the German cultural center at NYU, provides a varied program of films, concerts, lectures and exhibitions.

The German Department places high priority on fostering personal contact between faculty and students, maintains relatively small class sizes (10–12 students on average) and offers comfortable spaces for socializing, study and informal meetings. Advanced courses and some basic language courses are taught by full-time faculty members, all of whom are also involved in student advising.