Fachhochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences

94 | FH-Geschichten |
Saying Goodbye to Alice Ann Hattemer, teacher of Business
English at Fachbereich III
Prof. Dr. Stephanie Swartz-Janat Makan
Von links: Alice Ann Hattemer und
Prof. Dr. Stephanie Swartz-Janat Makan
They have no office, no mention
in our phone directory,
no picture on the „Wall of
Fame“ in our stairwell, and
their letter box is in a small,
dismally lighted room next to
ASTA. Nevertheless, they are
the backbone of our institution,
without whom we would
have fewer lectures, massively
over-crowded classrooms,
and a definite reduction in
the quality of our courses.
Who are they? I’m speaking
about our adjunct professors
(even in English they receive
a higher standing!) or Lehrbeauftragte,
those underpaid and undervalued
but incredible vital members of our staff.
The Foreign Language Department alone carries
out over 50% of its courses with the help
of its adjunct professors. These are extremely
dedicated teachers who prepare and carry
out their classes, correct homework, mark
on the average 35 exams each semester
and take part in teachers‘ conferences and
further training seminars, all for an hourly
wage which makes McDonald’s look attractive.
Taking these circumstances into consideration,
it was both with a heavy heart and
much appreciation that the Foreign Language
Department officially said goodbye
this May to one of its senior teachers, Mrs.
Alice Ann Hattemer, who has left our school
after 20 years of teaching Business English
to students of Business Science/Hospital
Management, Commercial Law and BIS.
Alice Ann Hattemer was born in Indiana, USA
and grew up on the East Coast. She received
her education in well-known, prestigious
universities such as Oberlin College where
she completed her Bachelors of Arts and her
MA at Yale University. It was a Fulbright
Scholarship that brought her to Mainz, where
she studied German, English and Education
at the Johannes Gutenberg-University.
It was probably not academics but rather her
heart that brought her back to Mainz when
she married her husband, Dr. med. Hansjörg
Hattemer. Apart from raising four children,
Alice Hattemer worked as an English tutor
at various schools in Mainz, including Maria
Ward-Gymnasium, Berlitz, the Volkshochschule,
as well as at the Johannes Gutenberg-
University and at the Hochschule für Bankwirtschaft
in Frankfurt in addition to her
classes at the University of Applied Sciences
in Mainz.
Alice Hattemer experienced the development
of the Foreign Language Department at our
institution and contributed greatly towards
building the curriculum of Business English
courses which are now an integral part of
Business Studies at the University of Applied
Sciences in Mainz. She was an indispensible
guide for myself when I began as a professor
for English Language and American Culture
in the fall of 1998. Hers was the first friendly,
encouraging face I saw when I came to do my
„Probevorlesung“ and from then on, she has
been more than a colleague to me, a fellow
New Jerseyian, but also a friend.
In the name of your colleagues at the Foreign
Language Department, the BIS-office, the
administration and of course, your students,
I would like to thank you for the 20 years,
for the „present perfect vs. simple past“, for
the „life cycle of a product“ and for the
„cross-border mergers“. We wish you all the
best for a new beginning and hope that you
don’t forget us. Δ
Jahrbuch Wirtschaftswissenschaften | FH Mainz | 2002