Born in Ilmenau, in Thuringia, Germany, in 1875, Stroebe studied at the teachers' college in Karlsruhe, and then at the University of Heidelberg. She was among the first women to complete a Ph. D. at Heidelberg, in 1904, with a degree in English philology. The same year she emigrated to the United States. After working for a year as a teacher in Rye, New York, she became professor of German at Vassar College, in 1905; in 1929 she was appointed chair of the department. Stroebe was an innovator in organizing summer language schools with the idea of creating an environment for complete immersion in the language, leading to the founding of the first summer program in German at Middlebury College in 1915. She was engaged in teacher education and was the author of many articles and books related to German language learning, including some co-authored with her colleague Marian P. Whitney. Stroebe retired in 1943, after which she remained initially in Poughkeepsie, before moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, around 1954. She died in 1959.
From the description of Lilian L. Stroebe scrapbook on German summer school, 1912-1917, 1927-1931. (German Society of Pennsylvania). WorldCat record id: 682528473
