The Halle Foundation has contributed over $400,000 to Morehouse College to increase opportunities for study abroad, innovative instruction, and cultural enrichment through the expansion of the German Studies program in the World Languages & Cultures Department.
Approximately $150,000 will be used over the next three years to send several AUC students to Germany for study abroad experiences beginning in May 2025. The program, Morehouse in Germany: Language, Culture, and (Black) Histories, will offer students an immersive experience in German language studies and culture. Students will earn credits as they tour the countryside, visit museums, governmental centers, and historical landmarks, as well as interact with Germans. Students will also explore the legacy and contributions of Blacks in the diaspora with German roots.
“The Halle Foundation’s generous investment will help to expand Morehouse’s international presence and provide greater opportunities for students to explore the nexus of African American and Black German cultures,” said Dr. Regine O. Jackson, Dean of the Humanities, Social Sciences, Media, and Arts Division at Morehouse College, “We genuinely appreciate the generosity of the Halle Foundation. This gift will help us enhance our academic programs and the curriculum-to-career experiences Morehouse College is able to offer its students.”
The Halle Foundation award to Morehouse also includes $249,000 for faculty support over the next three years, and it continues to supply faculty and students with grants to attend conferences such as the German American Conference at Harvard University each fall and the German Studies Association conference in Atlanta this past September.
As part of this outreach, Morehouse is also working to schedule the Spring 2025 display of a traveling exhibit of 14 panels from the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust that showcases the work of a Morehouse alumnus, “W. A. Scott III Witness to the Holocaust.”
The Atlanta-based Halle Foundation seeks “to promote understanding, knowledge and friendship between the people of Germany, as seen in its European context, and those of the United States.” It specifically supports initiatives in the fields of culture, science, technology, commerce, language, scholarship, and international relations that take place under the auspices of not-for-profit institutions in both the United States and Germany.
The foundation was created in 1986 by Claus Halle, an international business executive and philanthropist who was born in Schwelm, Germany in 1927. Halle began his career with The Coca-Cola Company as a truck deliveryman in Essen, Germany and over the next 45 years, he rose to the most senior ranks of the company, including serving as President of Coca-Cola Germany, President of Coca-Cola Europe and, ultimately, Senior Executive Vice President of The Coca-Cola Company and President of Coca-Cola International. He was a citizen of both U.S. and Germany and lived most of his adult life in Atlanta, encouraging cultural exchange between his homelands.
Morehouse College has a longstanding commitment to providing immersive language experiences and fostering global perspectives through its World Languages & Cultures Department.
“The Halle Foundation’s investment in Morehouse College will open the doors of communication, collaboration, and cultural exchange between Morehouse and German institutions that could lead to international career opportunities for students who benefit from this initial exposure,” said Dr. Matthew Lange, Visiting Assistant Professor of German and European Studies at Morehouse College. “The expanded programming due to this gift will also help to attract more students to the World Languages & Cultures Department where they can hone their linguistic, inter-cultural, and inter-cultural skills that will complement their liberal arts education and enhance their lives. This engagement is all the more important at Morehouse, because Black men are underrepresented in study abroad participation rates.”
To find out more about the College’s World Languages & Cultures Department, click here, or the German Studies blog, click here.