About
Lena joined the department of Germanic Languages and Literatures as a PhD student in 2025. She was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, though her family has deep roots in Bern, Switzerland. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and German Language from Bowling Green State University in 2022, followed by her Master of Arts in German Studies from the same institution in 2024. During this time, she also completed a year abroad in Salzburg, Austria during the 2022-23 school year, during which she studied Germanistik at Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg.
Her master’s thesis, “Seeing Sisi: Contemporary Portrayals of Empress Elisabeth of Austria on Page and Screen,” examined the ways in which Empress Elisabeth has been portrayed in biographical narratives since her death. It also deep-dove topics that are often neglected in biographical representations of her life, such as substance use or body modification, and closely analyzed two contemporary Austrian films depicting the Empress’ biography in atypical ways.
In addition to her schooling, Lena also previously worked as a writing and specialized subject tutor for five years at BGSU’s Writing Center, where she earned full CRLA certification and developed training modules to train incoming tutors on pedagogy and methodology relating to tutoring ESOL students in English language, academic writing.
Lena’s primary research interest is Empress Elisabeth of Austria, but she most often finds herself squarely in what is considered to be the “K&K” era of Austrian history — meaning “kaiserlich and königlich,” referring to the Habsburgian court in a broad-reaching, historical sense. Her research examines how literary and historical narratives construct, mythologize, and reframe imperial figures, with particular attention to gender, political identity, and cultural memory. Her work tends to combine narrative studies, feminist historiography, and cultural criticism to explore the intersection of biography, myth-making, and historical reception.
