Personal Info

By way of introduction, my name is Kerry Cox and I am currently a Ph.D. candidate here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in German Literature. I'm right in the middle of my fourth semester and expect it will take another couple more semesters before my course work is completed. In the meantime, I'm hoping to go to Brazil next summer and do some research for my dissertation. The next summer will hopefully be spent in Germany where I'll complete my research and finish up my dissertation topic on German Exile Literature in Brazil.

Most of my time is spent in both the German Department and the L&S Learning Support Services where I am currently employed as the Helen C. White Project Assistant. My official title is "LSS Microcomputer Support Consultant." It's a fancy title while I provide computer support to nearly the entire Helen C. White building here on campus. I do network installations, hardware support, software troubleshooting, and am on call whenever they need me.

In addition to working 20 hours a week, I teach a an Introduction to Windows class, a class on upgrading from WordPerfect 5.1 to WP for Windows 6.1, and another class I call Navigating with Netscape. During the week I also provide computer support for the College of Letters and Science. It is thanks to the fine people at LSS that I have this useful Web Page.

I also design Web pages on the side for a small fee. My latest, and probably best, project has been designing a page for the International Brecht Society. Here I've been able to implement several new ideas, including some slick JavaScripting features. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I'll also be setting up a Forum in which people can post ideas and comments concerning Brecht.

My wife has also been working on her Homepage and so I've been teaching her some basics in HTML. She and I want to add a couple more pictures of our son and to document some of our travels to Europe, Hawaii, and Alaska. I've finished posting my Master's Thesis and hope to soon add additional links to various German sites on the Web. Please check back often to see what progress I have made.

Background

I spent several years abroad both in Germany and Brazil, gaining experience in the many languages I speak. Most of my time in Germany was spent in Köln and Stuttgart, as an exchange student and as a fungicidal researcher. I am very familiar with the Schwäbisch dialect, thanks to my schooling in that region. Swiss-German and Kölsch are also understandable, though I can't speak them quite as well. Thanks to the two years I lived in the São Paulo, Brazil region, I consider myself also well-versed in the Portuguese language. My experinces there laid the groundwork for my current research. In addition to these two languages, I received a minor in Russian and have studied Latin, Spanish and even dabbled in Hebrew. My next project will be to improve my French reading skills.

Education

I received both my B.A. and my M.A. at Brigham Young University from 1990 until 1995. I first went to Utah State after graduating from High School but quickly outgrew their language programs my first year. After some time abroad, I enrolled at BYU and received my B.A. in 1993 and my M.A. in German Literature in 1995.

Places I have lived

I call Olympia, Washington home since it is there I graduated from High School and lived most of my life. I attended Capital High School and graduated in the Class of '85. Right now Madison, Wisconsin is our current place of residence. We expect to live here for at least a couple more years. Who can say what will happen after that. One of the most interesting places I have ever lived was on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands. I spent four months in a tent doing construction work one summer.