RIT remembers College of Liberal Arts faculty member Ulrike Stroszeck
RIT mourns the loss of Ulrike “Uli” Stroszeck, principal lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, who passed away on July 6, shortly before her 62nd birthday.
Stroszeck joined RIT in 2007 to teach German language, culture, and film in RIT’s College of Liberal Arts. Her connection with RIT began in 2005 as a part-time instructor of French and German.
Stroszeck was an active member of the RIT community and beloved by her colleagues, staff, and students, said Sara Armengot, chair of Modern Languages and Cultures. “She loved music and dancing and was a deeply empathetic, thoughtful, and generous person.”
Stroszeck was the director of RIT’s German program and advised the RIT chapter of Delta Phi Alpha, the National German Honor Society. She served on Faculty Senate, the Resource Allocation and Budget Committee, and other campus-wide committees.
“Anyone that had the privilege to meet Uli knows what a positive presence she was in our COLA community,” said Kelly Norris Martin, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “She was very dedicated to students and will be greatly missed by them, Modern Languages and Cultures, and all of us in COLA.”
Stroszeck earned her Ph.D. in French literature at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she wrote her dissertation on Albert Camus. During her career, she taught French, Spanish, and German as an instructor at the Eastman School of Music, Duke University, Elon University, and Auburn University. Stroszeck developed a wide array of courses on French, Francophone, Latin American, and German literature and film.
Her scholarly accomplishments include literary translations of works by the Countess of Ségur and Jack London, and presentations on pedagogy and on French and Francophone African literature. Stroszeck was working on a video documentary project about post-war German immigrant women, a translation of a volume of poetry by Louky Bersianik, and a cooperative international digital poetry project.
She is survived by her twin son and daughter, Ian and Una Stroszeck, and her twin sister Jutta Stroszeck. In 2015, Ulrike and her son, Ian, recorded her immigration story for StoryCorps, a national oral history project.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ulrike Stroszeck Memorial Fundraiser for United Way. Condolences may be sent to Ian Stroszeck, at ian@mail.rit.edu.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Aug. 28 at Christ Church Pittsford, 36 South Main St., Pittsford, N.Y., 14534. Services will be held in Germany at a later date.