History/Social Sciences: 20th-21st Centuries

I am a Professor of History at the University of Southern California where I direct the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. A historian of modern Central Europe, I have particular interest in German Jewish history, the history of the human sciences, and consumer culture. I have written two books and co-edited four volumes and two journal special issues and am currently researching two new book projects. I joined the GSA when I was a graduate student and have attended and presented at the conference whenever possible in the intervening years. I have not yet held a leadership position at GSA, but recently served as history co-chair for the Association for Jewish Studies and am part of the academic advisory board of the Leo Baeck Institute. I also co-founded and organized the Southern California German Studies workshops and am now a host on the New Books in German Studies podcast series.

As Kade Institute director I have partnered with many institutions in LA and beyond to create scholarly exchange, cultural programming, and educational content and to enrich the broader community’s intellectual and cultural life. I hope to bring this energy, organizational experience, and public-facing spirit to the GSA.

I am an associate professor of history at Southern Methodist University. My research interests include modern German and Austrian history, politics, nationalism, and the exploration of German history beyond the borders of the nation-state. My first book, Imagining a Greater Germany: Republican Nationalism and the Idea of Anschluss, showed how the supporters of the Weimar and First Austrian Republics popularized democracy by forging a transborder partnership and creating their own form of German nationalism. It received the Hans Rosenberg and Radomír Luža Prizes. Presently, I am working on a book entitled “Weimar beyond Borders: ‘Germans Abroad’ and the Battle for Political Legitimacy between the World Wars.”

I have been a regular participant in GSA panels since 2007, and I would therefore welcome the opportunity to become involved in the GSA. If elected, I would like to expand GSA programming to include scholars who are unable to travel to the annual conference due to financial, visa, health, and/or family reasons. All scholars should be able to benefit from participation in GSA events. I would propose that the GSA host one or two smaller online workshops per year focused on a specific theme, during which scholars could share their research.