The involvement of Susan H. Gillespie with the German language, and her commitment to the idea and practice of translatability, arise from her extensive post-graduate studies at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau. She has translated Theodor W. Adorno and other writers of musicological and philosophical works, as well as fiction and poetry; and her book-length translations include The Correspondence of Paul Celan & Ilana Shmueli, a finalist for the National Translation Award. A graduate of Radcliffe College of Harvard University, she has worked in factories, offices, non-profit institutions, and since 1985 as vice president of Bard College, where she founded the Institute for International Liberal Education, offering academic exchange programs with university partners in Russia, South Africa, Kyrgyzstan, and Palestine, among other places.