My
primary academic responsibility is teaching. Miami University Hamilton,
which
has been my professional home since August 1992, is an open admission
campus of
Miami of Ohio, a "public Ivy". In Fall 2009, our campus enrolled over
4200
students. Many of our students are first generation and/or
non-traditional;
most work and have family obligations. Teaching on an open admission
campus
presents unique, albeit rewarding, teaching challenges. One way that I
am
currently attempting to meet these challenges is with new teaching
technologies, including hybrid format course and totally web-based
formats. Another way that I am trying to
meet my students' needs is through exacting assessment of how well
students meet
my learning goals for each class meeting. I am fortunate in this regard
to be
part of a community of scholars committed to teaching. One of the
unique
aspects of teaching at Miami is our use of Learning Communities that
enable
instructors expand their repertoire of teaching skills. I have
participated in twelve such communities, as well as two Learning
Technology Summer Institutes.
Current
teaching
My
current teaching rotation consists of three survey courses (Western Civilization
to 1500, World Civilizations to 1550, and Western Civilization since 1500), the history methods course
Introduction to Historical Inquiry), and a sequence of advanced classes
(Industry and Empire: Europe 1850-1914; Age of Dictators: Europe 1914-1945; and
The Rise of Fall of Hitler: Germany 1914-1945).
I have recently designed courses on The Great War and the End of
European Global Dominance and Hitler's War: The Second World War in
Europe. (See below for a tentative list of when these courses will be
offered.)
I have
conducted three spring abroad Study Abroad workshops - Vienna and Munich: Cradles
of Fascism and Vienna: Cradle of Modernity, and Berlin and the Topography of Terror – in conjunction with
my advanced classes. Summer 2009, I offered Age of Dictators on Miami University's Luxembourg
campus.
Courses
previously taught
I have
taught the following undergraduate courses, but they are not currently in my
regular rotation: The Age of Revolutions: Europe 1750-1850, The Reconstruction
of Europe since 1945, The Historical Foundations of the Social Sciences, The
Age of Bismarck: Germany 1870-1914, and The Nuremberg Trials and their Legacy.
I have also designed and taught two honors seminars: Fin de sicle Paris and
Vienna, and War and Society in Twentieth Century Europe. On the Oxford campus, I
have in the past have offered graduate readings courses in German History, the
Origins of the First World War, and 19th Century Europe, as well as a graduate
colloquium on the Industrial Revolution. Over the years I have had the
privilege of directing numerous departmental honors theses.
Independent
study opportunities
Independent
studies topics that students have pursued with me have included: Imperial
Germany, Nazi Germany, the Origins of the First World War, Anti-Semitism in
Imperial Germany, Social and Cultural Aspects of the Industrial Revolution, and
German Industrialization. Students who wish to pursue an independent study with
me should prepare a proposal that includes a description of the question to be
studied, a set of readings, and a realistic timetable for completion.
Preference will be given to students who have taken one of my courses.
