Ursula Reutner studied European Business Studies, Philosophy and Art History as well as English, Italian and Spanish Linguistics and Literature at the University of Bamberg and Paris-Sorbonne University. Having obtained her doctorate in Romance Linguistics/French with research on Language and Identity at the University of Augsburg in 2004, she embarked on postdoctoral research on Language and Taboo for her postgraduate habilitation degree, which she completed in 2007, thus gaining the formal right to teach and conduct research at professorial level. She was a visiting professor at universities in France, Italy, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil and, in academic year 2007–2008, interim chairholder of the Chair of Romance Linguistics at the University of Duisburg-Essen. In 2009, she joined the University of Passau, where she was appointed Chair of Romance Languages and Cultures. During her time in Passau, she was offered professorial appointments at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Paderborn, which she both declined. Ursula Reutner is a member of numerous Romance Studies associations and sits on the Academic Advisory Board of the journal Romanistik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. She is the Director of the Language Center at the University of Passau and the Director of the Institute of Intercultural Communication, that organizes and conducts intercultural training programs for students, business people and politicians. From 2014 until 2018, she was the Vice President for International Relations of her University; as such she has increased and modernized the international orientation of this Institution, received internationally renowned guests from all over the world and concluded numerous new contracts with outstanding partner universities worldwide.
Research
Ursula Reutner is a specialist in studies on multicultural societies that she analyses with regard to their socio-linguistic situation, their linguistic and cultural history as well as the Language Planning and Policies they are affected by. Her examination of different French-speaking countries using a homogeneous set of criteria allows her to establish a typology of French-speaking countries. She is also highly recognized for her research in the field of language and power, including political correctness and linguistic taboos, and her works in the framework of Intercultural Communication, cultural contact and the cultural analysis of the Internet. Other research interests are Diglossia and Social Multilingualism, Scientific Language, Linguistic Norms and Judgements, Speaker Attitudes, Lexicology and Lexicography and Philosophy of Language.
