Sara S. Poor promoted to Professor of German

The German department is pleased to announce that Sara S. Poor has been promoted to Professor of German. 

Professor Poor joined the Princeton faculty in 2002. She received her PhD from Duke University’s Graduate Program in Literature and previously held positions at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg and Stanford University. Her research and teaching focus on Gender Studies and medieval German literature.

Her first book, Mechthild of Magdeburg and Her Book: Gender and the Making of Textual Authority (2004), received the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship’s Prize for the best first book on a medieval feminist topic and the Medieval Academy of America John Nicholas Brown Prize for the best first book on a medieval subject. Her current book, The Literary Agency of Medieval Women: Kunigund Niklasin and the Library of St. Catherine’s in Nuremberg, was published in May of 2026 by Oxford University Press. 

Professor Poor is also deeply engaged in mentoring graduate students and early-career colleagues. She has co-founded medieval graduate colloquia and the association YMAGINA, now reconfigured as the GSA network Medieval and Early Modern German Studies (MEMGS). She also convenes a writing support group for post-Generals students.

The German department congratulates Professor Poor on her promotion.