Lauren Brooks is currently a Teaching Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University. Dr. Brooks received her PhD in German Studies from the Pennsylvania State University in 2018 with a dissertation titled, “Kafka goes to New York: Reading Kafka in Seinfeld’s America.” Her research focuses on the Kafka’s absurdist treatment of authority and respect across his corpus by analyzing his humor through the U.S. situation comedy Seinfeld. For the past nine years, she has taught a range of German language curriculum from Novice to Advanced, including writing-intensive, conversation, and literature and cultural studies courses. Dr. Brooks also spent close to seven years working and living in the city of Bremen, Germany. She loves to talk about her experiences in Bremen, so when you see her, ask her about her time there! Dr. Brooks enjoys cooking, traveling, and playing with her three cats. In her free time, she also runs and teaches LesMills group fitness classes. Fun Fact: Dr. Brooks starred in a German reality cooking show titled Das perfekte Dinner. There are so many things one can do with a foreign language!