Badger Talk: The German Presence in Wisconsin

This is a free, in-person talk hosted on October 22, 2026 at 10:30 AM by Janesville Senior Activity Center in Janesville, WI. More information to come on registration. There will be no virtual option.

In this talk Professor Louden will provide an overview of the impact that German-speaking immigrants and their descendants have had in shaping the life and culture of Wisconsin, from the nineteenth century to the present.

Mark Louden is a linguist who received his training in Germanic linguistics at Cornell University. A fluent speaker of Pennsylvania Dutch, he has published extensively on this language and other German-American varieties, as well as Yiddish. In addition to his position as the Alfred L. Shoemaker, J. William Frey, and Don Yoder Professor of Germanic Linguistics in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+, he directs the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies and is affiliated with the Religious Studies and Language Sciences programs and the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies. He serves as an interpreter and cultural mediator for Plain people (Amish and traditional Mennonites) in multiple settings, especially health care.