Dr. Kurash has been teaching courses in German language, literature, film, and culture at Pitt since 2016, and since 2020 she has served as the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Advisor for the German Department. She also hails from the Pittsburgh area (Ambridge, PA).

She completed her PhD in 2015 with her dissertation Mechanical Women and Sexy Machines: Typewriting in Mass-Media Culture of the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933, which investigates intersections of femininity and machinery in images of women’s office work in popular literature, film, and advertising of the German interwar era. Her research leverages gender studies and cultural studies approaches, and these methods underpin many of the courses that she teaches. Her course GER 1530 Sex, Robots, Revolution: Germany’s Weimar Republic, for example, explores representations of technology, gender, sexuality, and work in visual art, literature, and classic German cinema, such as Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and M, Oswald and Hirschfeld’s Different than the Others (Anders als die Andern, 1919) and Sagan’s Girls in Uniform (1931).

In addition, Dr. Kurash teaches beginner and intermediate level German language courses, the German Writing-Intensive course (“Writing on the Margins”), as well as other courses in English on 19th and 20th century German literature and film.

Dr. Kurash has also won the Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising in 2023-2024. As the German Advisor, she helps students plan for the German major, certificate, minor, and study abroad, as well as post-graduation opportunities, such as the German Fulbright ETA or the Congress Bundestag Young Professional Exchange (CBYX).

COURSES
GER 1502 Indo-European Folktales
GER 1530 Sex, Robots, Revolution: Germany’s Weimar Republic, 1918-1933
GER 1545 / FMST 1292 Nazi Culture (recitations)
GER 0058 Munich: History, Society, Culture (taught in Munich)

SERVICE
Director of Undergraduate Studies & German Advisor
Study Abroad Advisor, German Department
Supervisor, German Student Ambassadors
Faculty Leader, Pitt in Munich (May 2023)