Dr. Giles Hoyt, Professor Emeritus of German and Philanthropic Studies, was honored with an IUPUI 50th Anniversary Chancellor’s Medallion by Chancellor Nasser H. Paydar during the Office of International Affairs 30th anniversary celebration on February 20, 2019, in recognition of his excellence in the areas of international affairs and the interdisciplinary study of the German language and culture.
Dr. Hoyt is an internationally recognized scholar whose service to IUPUI and the broader German-American community, particularly in Indiana and the Midwest, spans more than 30 years. He was integral in the creation of the IUPUI Max Kade German-American Research and Resource Center, a national model for interdisciplinary German and German-American Studies, where he served as director from 2003-2008.
From 1993 to 2002, Dr. Hoyt served in a half-time appointment as Associate Dean for the Office of International Affairs. During this time, he fostered partnerships with German universities, expanded support for student participation in study abroad, and worked with campus leadership to establish funding mechanisms that would help to stimulate and sustain international student enrollment.
Together with his wife, Dr. Dolores Hoyt, as well as Drs. Eberhard and Ruth Reichmann, he endowed the Hoyt-Reichmann Faculty Chair in German American Studies and German Language and Culture, a result of the colleagues’ shared, lifelong dedication to developing the study of German language and culture within the university and across Indiana.
The couple also established the Giles and Dolores Hoyt Student Opportunity Fund to benefit University Libraries student workers, with a preference given to those working with the German-Americana Collections.