Curriculum vitae
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Employment
First Year Academic Advisor, College of Arts & Letters, University of Notre Dame 2022-Present
Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Notre Dame 2021-Present
Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Holy Cross College at Notre Dame 2021-2022
Postdoctoral Research Associate of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies 2018-2021
University of Notre Dame
Education
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley - History 2018
Dissertation: Losing Faith in Civilization: The German Occupation of Congress Poland and the Crisis of Multinational Imperialism.
Committee: John Connelly, Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann, G. Cristina Mora
M.A. University of California, Berkeley - History 2013
B.A. University of Notre Dame – History and Political Science, Magna Cum Laude 2012
Honors Thesis: “In Steadfast Loyalty: Bavarian Nationalism and Imperial Allegiance in the Second Reich”
Research Interests & Teaching Areas
Modern European History, Central and Eastern Europe, Political and Cultural History, Military History, Nationalism, Imperialism and Colonialism, WWI and WWII, Authoritarianism and Fascism, Roman Catholicism.
Books
The Knight, Death, and the Devil: Germany’s Imperial Renewal and Crisis, 1914-1945. (In Preparation).
Chapters & Peer-Reviewed Publications
“The Christ of Empires: German Veneration of Austria-Hungary in the First World War.” (In Preparation).
“Incurable Megalomania” and “Fantasies of Expansion”: The German Army Reimagines Empire in Occupied-Poland, 1915-1918.” Central European History 54, no. 4 (2021) doi: 10.1017/S0008938921000017
“What Did Paul Rohrbach Actually Learn in Africa?: The Influence of Colonial Experience on a Publicist’s Imperial Fantasies in Eastern Europe.” German History 38, no. 2 (2020) doi: 10.1093/gerhis/ghaa013
“Designing Empire for the Civilized East: Colonialism, Polish Nationhood, and German War Aims in the First World War.” Nationalities Papers(May 2019), 1-17. doi: 10.1017/nps.2018.49
Awarded the Huttenbach Prize for the best article published in Nationalities Papers in the course of the Previous year, 2020.
Conference Papers & Presentations
Panel Participant, “Great Turning Points in History”, Faculty Development Panel at Holy Cross College, Notre Dame, IN, 4 November 2022.
“Building Germany’s “New East”: Autarky, Colonization, and Ethnic Cleansing during the First World War.” Paper to be presented at the German Studies Association Conference, Houston, TX, 15-18 September 2022. (Withdrawn due to new staff position).
“Fabricating the Nation: German Narratives of Imperial Collapse in Occupied Congress Poland.” Paper presented at the German Studies Association Conference, Indianapolis, IN, 2 October 2021.
“The Christ of Empires: German Veneration of Austria-Hungary in the First World War.” Invited Talk. Nanovic Institute for European Studies. Notre Dame, IN, 13 October 2020.
“Fabricating the Nation: German Narratives of Imperial Collapse in Occupied Congress Poland.” Paper to be presented at the German Studies Association Conference, Washington, D.C., 2 October 2020. (Seminar postponed due to Covid-19 Pandemic).
“Where the ‘Special Path’ Leads: Reconsidering Germany’s Contemporary National Narrative.” Paper to be presented at 1989: Reconsidering the Nation and its Alternatives in Central and Eastern Europe. Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Notre Dame, IN, 9 November 2019.
“From Compromise to Coercion: Occupied Poland, the German Officer Corps, and the Transformation of German Imperialism in WWI.” Paper presented at the German Studies Association Conference, Portland, OR, 6 October 2019.
“Before Lebensraum Meant Genocide: Autarky, Ethnic Diversity, and German Imperialism in WWI.” Invited Talk. Nanovic Institute for European Studies. Notre Dame, IN, 25 September 2019.
“What Did Paul Rohrbach Actually Learn in Africa?: The Influence of Colonial Experience on a Publicist’s Imperial Fantasies in Eastern Europe.” Paper presented at the Transnational Approaches to Modern Europe Workshop. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 14 November 2018.
“When Paramilitarism Became a Threat: Readings of Polish Nationalism and German Occupation Policy in WWI.” Paper presented at The Many Faces of War: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Experience and Impact of War throughout History. South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD. 19 September 2018.
“Towards a ‘German-Polish Ausgleich’: German Federalism and Multinational Imperialism in the First World War.” Invited talk. Annual Stanford-Berkeley Conference, Stanford, CA, 9 March 2018.
“A Nation of Barbarians, or Barbarians against Nations: German Depictions of Russian Barbarism in the First World War.” Paper presented at the German Studies Association Conference, Atlanta, GA, 7 October 2017.
“Colonial Object or Staatsnation?: German assessments of Polish nationhood in the First World War.” Paper presented at the Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities, New York City, NY, 4-6 May 2017.
“The ‘Black Pole’ or the White Eagle: Polish Culture and German Ambitions in the First World War.” Paper presented at Der Kreis: Working Group for German History and Culture. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 2 May 2017.
“’Our Victory will simultaneously be their Victory’: German Nationalism, Federalism, and Imagining Multinational Security in the First World War.” Paper presented at the Biennial Interdisciplinary Purdue Graduate History Conference, West Lafayette, IN, 4 March 2017.
Book Reviews & Other Publications
“How Not to Colonize the Past: Repositioning Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)” in Andererseits: Yearbook of Transatlantic German Studies 11/12, (2022/2023): 483-492).
Review of Elusive Alliance: The German Occupation of Poland in World War I, Jesse Kauffman. Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia5, no. 1 (Spring 2016): 97-100.
Awards
Huttenbach Prize for the best article published in Nationalities Papers in the course of the previous year, awarded for “Designing Empire for the Civilized East: Colonialism, Polish Nationhood, and German War Aims in the First World War.” Nationalities Papers47, no. 6 (November 2019), 2020
Best Doctoral Student Paper Award: Central Europe Section, World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities. 2017
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, University of California Berkeley, 2014-2015
Senior Thesis Prize, University of Notre Dame, 2012
R. Stephen and Ruth Barrett Family Grant for Best Research Proposal, awarded for “German National Defense Politics and Catholics in the Second Reich”, Nanovic Institute for European Studies, 2011
Reverend Marvin R. O’Connell Award for Best History Workshop Essay, University of Notre Dame, 2010
Fellowships & Grants
Author, Nanovic Institute for European Studies Speaker Support Grant, awarded to fund a public lecture at the University of Notre Dame by Erik Grimmer-Solem. 2021
Author, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Conference Grant, awarded for 1989: Reconsidering the Nation and its Alternatives in Central and Eastern Europe. 2019
Author, with William C. Donahue, Henkels Conference Grant, awarded for 1989: Reconsidering the Nation and its Alternatives in Central and Eastern Europe. Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame, 2019
Simpson Memorial Research Fellowship in International and Comparative Studies, Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley (Declined), 2018
Doctoral Completion Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley, 2017-2018
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Graduate Research Grant, 2015-2016
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, U.S. Department of Education, 2013
Graduate Division Summer Grant, University of California Berkeley, 2013
Institute of European Studies Fellowship, University of California Berkeley, 2012-2014
Fulbright Research Grant (Declined), 2012
Notre Dame Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures SLA Grant, 2010
Summer Language Study Abroad Stipend, German and Russian Department, University of Notre Dame, 2009
Professional Affiliations & Memberships
American Historical Association
Association for the Study of Nationalities
German Studies Association
Society for Military History
Association for Slavic East European, & Eurasian Studies
Teaching
University of Notre Dame:
The Holocaust and its Legacies Spring 2022, 2023
German Colonialism and its Legacies Fall 2021
Modern Germany Since 1871 Spring 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022
European Studies Today Fall 2019, 2020
European History, Politics, and Society: Global and Regional Challenges Summer 2019
What is Europe? Spring 2019, 2020, 2021
Holy Cross College
European Police States Spring 2022
Colonialism and Post-Colonial Society in East Africa Spring 2022
Western Civilization II Spring 2022
The Haunting of Europe Fall 2021
Western Civilization I Fall 2021
Berkeley
Reading and Composition in History: Empire in the Era of Nationalism (1789-Present) Fall 2016
Teaching Assistant:
War and Peace: International Relations since 1914 Spring 2017
The International Economy in the Twentieth Century Spring 2015
The History and Practice of Human Rights Fall 2014
European Economic History Spring 2014
Europe and the World: Wars, Empires, Nations 1648-1914 Fall 2013
Student Projects directed
Joseph Weas, “Financial Speculation, the Decline of the Liberal Party and the Rise of the Labour Party”, Senior Capstone, University of Notre Dame, 2021.
- Awarded 2021 Wegs Prize for best Senior Capstone, Nanovic Institute for European Studies.
Professional Service
Reviewer for The Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies. Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Spring 2022.
Organizer and Discussant, “Red Dawn” (1984), film screening and discussion for Popcorn History, 7 April 2022.
Organizer and Master of Ceremonies, “Perspectives on Migration, Religion, and Integration in Berlin”, a public lecture for The Holy Cross Forum by Sevda Arslan, Holy Cross College, Notre Dame IN, 6 April 2022.
Founding Director, Popcorn History, biannual screenings of popular films followed by guided discussions to analyze them as primary sources, Holy Cross College, founded March 2022.
Founding Director, The Holy Cross Forum, a venue for advanced graduate students to present their research at Holy Cross College, founded March 2022.
Organizer and Master of Ceremonies, “When Empires Fall: Explaining U.S. Strategy towards the Japanese Power Vacuum after WWII”, a public lecture by Moritz Graefrath, Holy Cross College, Notre Dame IN, 9 February 2022.
Panel Chair for “The Peripheries of Europe”, a panel convened for Bloody Years of ‘Peace’: A Global Military History of the Interwar Period, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 8 October, 2021.
Organizer and Master of Ceremonies, “A Place in the Sun: Rethinking German Globalization and Imperialism Before the Great War”, a public lecture by Erik Grimmer-Solem, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 29 September 2021.
Reviewer for The Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies. Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Spring 2021.
Panelist for the “Virtual Handshake”, invited to mentor and host graduate students during the Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities, 5 May 2021.
Strategic planning for the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, in particular benchmarking and analyzing the institute’s aspirational peers, Spring 2021.
Director, second annual Eurocup Team Trivia Tournament, Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Notre Dame, IN, 2 September 2020.
Reviewer for The Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies. Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Spring 2020.
Founding Director, first annual Eurocup Team Trivia Tournament, Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Notre Dame, IN, 13 November 2019.
Conference Co-Director, 1989: Reconsidering the Nation and its Alternatives in Central and Eastern Europe. Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Notre Dame, IN, 8-10 November 2019.
Panel Organizer, “National Phalanx or Imperial Patchwork: The German Officer Corps and the Nation, 1871-1921”. German Studies Association Conference, Portland, OR, 6 October 2019.
Reviewer for The Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies. Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Spring 2019.
Assisted in curricular development for the Nanovic Institute’s undergraduate Transnational European Studies Concentration for the Keough School of Global Affairs, Spring 2019.
Undergraduate Advisor, Nanovic Institute for European Studies. Fall 2018-Fall 2019.
Speaker on the Berkeley Connect Graduate Student Panel, invited to discuss graduate student life with undergraduate history majors, University of California Berkeley, 23 April 2018.
Speaker on the Berkeley Connect Graduate Student Panel, invited to discuss the state of the field, potential careers, and graduate student life with undergraduate history majors, University of California Berkeley, 15 November 2017.
Other Professional Experience
Research Assistant for Professor John Deak, University of Notre Dame 2010
Language Proficiency
German: Fluency
Polish: Proficiency