Employment:
- Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History, University of Michigan (2010-present).
- Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan (2000-2010).
- Assistant Professor of History, University of Michigan (1994-2000).
Education:
- University of Wisconsin-Madison: Ph.D., 1994.
- University of Warsaw, Poland: Fulbright Fellow, 1986-1988.
- University of Tulsa, Oklahoma: B.A., 1986.
Books
- Commodified Communism: Socialist Values and Capitalist Prices in the Polish People’s Republic (Under Review).
- Poland in the Modern World: Beyond Martyrdom (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014).
- Całkiem zwyczajny kraj: Historia Polski bez martyrologii, translated by Anna Dzierzgowska and Jan Dzierzgowski (Wydawnictwo Filtry, 2021).
- Faith and Fatherland: Catholicism, Modernity, and Poland (Oxford University Press, 2011).
- Wiara i Ojczyzna: Katolicyzm, Nowoczesność, i Polska, translated by Jan Dzierzgowski (Wydawnictwo Filtry, 2022).
- When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth-Century Poland (Oxford University Press, 2000).
- Gdy nacjonalizm zaczął nienawidzić: Wyobrażenia nowoczesnej polityki w dziewiętnastowiecznej Polsce, translated by Agnieszka Nowakowska (Pogranicze, 2011).
- Co-Editor (with Bruce Berglund), Christianity and Modernity in Eastern Europe (Central European University Press, 2010).
- Co-Editor (with Michael Kennedy), Negotiating Radical Change: Understanding and Extending the Lessons of the Polish Round Table Talks (United States Institute for Peace, 2000).
Major Articles and Essays
- “Value, Price, and Economic Reform in the Polish People’s Republic,” Slavic Review 83 (2024): 24-41.
- „Sprzeczności Solidarności” Almanach Concilium Civitas (2024) 337-356.
- “Co się nie udało, gdy nie udał się socjalizm państwowy?” Almanach Concilium Civitas (2023), 319-346.
- “The Birth of the Polak-Katolik,” in Rethinking Modern Polish Identities, ed. Agnieszka Pasieka & Paweł Rodak (University of Rochester Press, 2023), 19-36.
- “Whiteness and Polishness,” Praktyka Teoretyczna 43 (2021): 239-249.
- “Polish Intersectionality,” The Polish Review 66:4 (2021): 53-59.
- “Contextualizing Eastern Europe: The National, the Regional, and the Global in East European Studies,” in Slawisch-Deutsche Begegnungen in der Literatur, Sprache und Kultur, edited by Aleksandra Bednarowska, Beata Kołodziejczyk-Mróz, and Piotr Majcher (Verlag Dr. Kovač, 2020): 13-38.
- “Scale and Agency in the Writing of European History,” East Central Europe 47:2-3 (2020), 367-371.
- Nationalism and Antisemitism,” in Key Concepts in the Study of Antisemitism, edited by Sol Goldberg, Jonathan Judaken, Adam Teller, Scott Ury, and Kalman Weiser (Palgrave, 2020), 161-172.
- “Conceptualizing Consumption in the Polish People’s Republic,” in The Socialist Good Life: Desire, Development, and Living Standards in Eastern Europe, edited by Zsuzsa Gille, Diana Mincyte, and Cristofer Scarboro (Indiana University Press, 2020), 82-103.
- “Meritocracy and Community in 21st Century Poland,” Shofar 37:1 (2019): 72-95.
- “From Homo Sovieticus to Homo Economicus: The Transformation of the Human Subject in Polish Socialist Economic Thought,” East European Politics and Society (2019): 1-25.
- “The Triumph of National Communism,” in Poland’s Memory Wars: Essays on Illiberalism, edited by Jo Harper (Central European University Press, 2018), 65-79.
- “The Theology of the Nation in Postwar Poland,” in Nationalism and Secularism, ed. By Zohar Maor and Yochi Fischer (Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2018): 223-260.
- “The Birth of the Polak-Katolik,” Sprawy Narodowościowe 49 (2017), https://doi.org/10.11649/sn.1280.
- “Exclusionary Egalitarianism and the New Cold War,” Slavic Review 76, S1 (August 2017): 81-97.
- “A lengyel szélsőjobboldal és a római katolikus egyház,” Múltunk 2 (2014): 6-48.
- “Why Do Polish Catholics Hate the Jews? Making Sense of a Bad Question,” in François Guesnet and Gwen Jones, eds., Antisemitism in an Era of Transition: Genealogies and Impact in Post-Communist Poland and Hungary (New York: Peter Lang, 2014).
- “Beyond the Study of Nationalism,” in Nationalism Today, edited by Krzysztof Jaskułowski and Tomasz Kamusella (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2009), 3-15.
- “Podzwonne dla badań nad nacjonalizmem,” in Naród, tożsamość, kultura. Między konieczności a wyborem, ed. by Wojciech Burszta, Krzysztof Jaskułowski, and Joanna Nowak (Warszawa: Slawistyczny Ośrodek Wydawniczy, 2005), 79-89.
- “Hetmanka and Mother: Representing the Virgin Mary in Modern Poland,” Contemporary European History 14:2 (May 2005): 151-70.
- “Anti-Semitism and the Search for a Catholic Modernity,” in Robert Blobaum, ed., Antisemitism and Its Opponents in Modern Poland (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005), 103-123.
- “The Catholic Church in Poland,” a multimedia teaching module in Making the History of 1989, edited by T. Mills Kelley, http://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/exhibits/roman-catholic-church/introduction.
- “Catholicism, Ethno-Catholics, and the Catholic Church in Modern Poland,” NCEEER Working Paper (2004), http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/2004_818-12_Porter.pdf.
- “Making a Space for Anti-Semitism: The Catholic Hierarchy and the Jews in the early 1900s,” Polin 16 (2003), 415-29.
- “Thy Kingdom Come: Patriotism and Prophecy in 19th Century Poland,” Catholic Historical Review 89:2 (2003): 213-38.
- “Marking the Boundaries of the Faith: Catholic Modernism and the Radical Right in Early Twentieth-Century Poland,” in Elwira M. Grossman, ed., Studies in Language, Literature and Cultural Mythology in Poland: Investigating “the Other” (Lewiston-Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 2002), 261-86.
- “The Catholic Nation: Religion, Identity, and the Narratives of Polish History,” The Slavic and East European Journal 45:2 (March, 2001): 289-99.
- “Democracy and Discipline in Late Nineteenth-Century Poland,” Journal of Modern History 71:2 (June 1999): 346-93.
- “The Construction and Deconstruction of Nineteenth-Century Polish Liberalism,” in Historical Reflections on Central Europe, ed. by S. Kirschbaum (New York: St. Martins, 1999), 37-64.
- “The Social Nation and its Futures: English Liberalism and Polish Nationalism in Late Nineteenth-Century Warsaw,” American Historical Review 101:5 (December 1996): 1470-92.
- “Konstrukcja i dekonstrukcja dziewiętnastowiecznego liberalizmu polskiego,” Studia Polityczne 6 (1996): 81-102.
- “Who is a Pole and Where is Poland? Territory and Nation in the Rhetoric of Polish National Democracy before 1905,” Slavic Review 51 (Winter, 1992): 639-53.
Reviews and Miscellaneous Publications
- “Poland and the War against Ukraine,” Slavic Review editor’s forum (March 11, 2022), http://www.slavicreview.illinois.edu/discussion/.
- “Laughing at the Past,” History Matters (Fall 2022): 19.
- “What is at Stake in Poland’s Elections?” The Globe Post (October 12, 2019).
- “30 Years of Post-Communism in Poland: What Should be Remembered,” The Globe Post (June 12, 2019).
- “One Way Trump is Different From European Nationalists,” The Conversation (January 18, 2017).
- reprinted in Salon; Business Insider; Huffington Post; History News Network; Associated Press.
- Europe has Lost its Polish Anchor,” The Conversation (February 1, 2016).
- Review of Hierarchy and Pluralism: Living Religious Difference in Catholic Poland, by Agnieszka Pasieka, H-Poland (January, 2016).
- “Why We Should Pay Attention to Poland’s Elections,” The Conversation (October 23, 2015).
- “With History of Emigration, Poland Now Confronts Immigration Crisis,” The Conversation (September 24, 2015).
- reprinted in U.S. News and World Report.
- “Why Pope Francis Makes Republicans Squirm,” Newsweek (September 19, 2015).
- “Najsłabsza wśród mocnych i najpotężniejsza wśród słabych,” Czas Kultury 4 (2014): 18-27..
- “Faith and Fatherland in Poland,” East West Church & Ministry Report 22:4 (Fall 2014): 10-13.
- Review of Hierarchy and Pluralism: Living Religious Difference in Catholic Poland, by Agnieszka Pasieka, H-Poland (January, 2016).
- Review of Unfinished Utopia: Nowa Huta, Stalinism, and Polish Society, 1949-1956, by Katherine Lebow, Canadian Slavonic Papers 55, 3-4 (September-December, 2013): 567-568.
- Review of Patrons of History: Nobility, Capital and Political Transitions in Poland, by Longina Jakubowska, Slavic Review 72:2 (Summer 2013).
- “Radio Maryja i Tygodnik Powszechny to dwie twarze soborowej nowoczesności,” Kultura Liberalna (September 10, 2012).
- “Poland’s New Patriotism,” Eyes on Europe (June 14, 2012), http://eurocomment.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/polands-new-patriotism.
- Review of The Land Between: Conflict in the East European Borderlands, 1870-1992, by Alexander V. Prusin. Slavic Review 70, 4 (Winter 2011): 907-908.
- Review of Catholicism and the Roots of Nazism: Religious Identity and National Socialism, by Derek Hastings, Holocaust and Genocide Studies 25:3 (2011): 314-316.
- “The Shadow of the Cross,” Transitions Online (15 October 2010), http://www.tol.org/client/article/21877-the-shadow-of-the-cross.html.
- Review of Rome’s Most Faithful Daughter: The Catholic Church and Independent Poland, by Neal Pease, The Catholic Historical Review 97:1 (1 January 2011) 171-172.
- Editor and Translator of Krzysztof Czyżewski, “Line of Return: Cultivating ‘The Borderland’ in Dialogue with Czesław Miłosz,” Michigan Quarterly 46, 4 (Fall 2007).
- Review of The Jews of Eastern Europe, 1772-1881, by Israel Bartal, Jewish Currents (November 2007): 30-32.
- Review of Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland: A Beleaguered Church in the Post-Reformation Era, by Magda Teter, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 75, 2 (2007): 477-479.
- “Adam Czartoryski,” “Nationalism,” “The Polish National Movement,” “Warsaw,” and “The Endecja,” in The Encyclopedia of Europe, 1789-1914, edited by John Merriman and Jay Winter (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006).
- “The Return of the Polish Radical Right” Jewish Currents 60:5 (September-October 2006): 14-17, 41.
- “August Hlond,” “Wojciech Korfanty,” “Tadeusz Rydzyk,” “Józef Tischner,” “Jerzy Turowicz,” and “Stefan Wyszyński,” in The Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Politics, edited by Roy Domenico and Mark Hanley (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2006), 271-272, 309-310, 479, 561-562, 572-573.
- Review of From Assimilation to Antisemitism: The ‘Jewish Question’ in Poland, 1850-1914, by Theodore R. Weeks, American Historical Review (December 2006): 1626-1627.
- Review of Religion and the Rise of Nationalism: A Profile of an East-Central European City, by Robert E. Alvis, Slavic Review 65, 4 (Winter 2006): 805.
- Review of The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999, by Timothy Snyder, Slavic Review 64 (Spring 2005): 166.
- Review of The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919–1945, by Richard Steigmann-Gall, Holocaust and Genocide Studies 19 (Spring 2005): 125-27.
- “Polish Uprising of 1863” and “Sarmatians,” in The Encyclopedia of Russian History, edited by James Millar (New York: Macmillan, 2004), 1198-1199, 1350.
- “The Warsaw Uprisings,” Detroit News (August 4, 2004).
- Review of History Derailed: Central and Eastern Europe in the Long Nineteenth Century, by Ivan T. Berend, American Historical Review 109 (June 2004): 996.
- Review of A Concise History of Poland by J. Lukowski and H. Zawadzki, Slavic Review 62, 1 (Spring 2003): 157-58.
- “Explaining Jedwabne: The Perils of Understanding,” The Polish Review 47: 1 (2002): 23-26.
- “Pojednanie – niełatwe rzemiosło,” Gazeta Wyborcza 252 (27-28 October 2001).
- Review of Containing Nationalism by Michael Hechter, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 32 (Autumn, 2001): 285-87.
- Review of A History of Polish Christianity by Jerzy Kłoczowski, Slavic Review 60 (2001): 837-38.
- “Solidarność i jej przemilczenia,” Nowy Dziennik (13 October 2000).
- Review of Nationalism, Marxism, and Modern Central Europe by Timothy Snyder, Austrian History Yearbook 31 (2000): 195-96.
- “Making History,” The Journal of the International Institute (Summer, 1999): 1.
- “Ucieczka z więzienia historii,” Gazeta Wyborcza 29 (4 February 1999): 19.
- Review of The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism, by Adrian Hastings, International Affairs 75 (July 1999): 667.
- “Vocabularies of Identity in Eastern Europe,” Ethnos-Nation 6 (1998): 159-60.
- Review of The Gypsies by David Crowe, Slavonica 3/1 (1996/97): 55-56.
- “The Politics of Discursive Analysis,” Dialogues on Discourse 3 (Fall, 1994): 4-5.
- Review of Reluctant Socialists, Rural Entrepreneurs: Class, Culture, and the Polish State, by Carole Nagengast, Slavic Review (Winter 1994): 866-67.
- “The Language of Nationalism,” Dialogues on Discourse 1 (Fall, 1993): 1-2.
- Review of Continuity and Change in Poland: Conservatism in Polish Political Thought, by Rett Ludwikowski, Slavic Review 52 (Summer, 1993): 380-81.
- Review of Kościuszko po insurekcji, by Jan Lubicz-Pachoński, American Studies 9 (1991): 157-61.
- “An Evaluation of Tadeusz Kościuszko’s Contribution to the American Revolution,” American Studies 10 (1991): 93-101.
Awards, Honors, Grants and Fellowships
- Finalist, Moczarski Prize for best book in Polish History, sponsored by the city of Warsaw (November 27, 2022).
- Michigan Humanities Award (2021).
- Best Syllabus Award, Austrian Studies Association (2019)
- ACLS Fellowship (2016-2017).
- Fulbright Fellowship (2016-2017, declined).
- Kulczycki Prize for best book in Polish studies, for Faith and Fatherland (2012).
- Michigan Humanities Award (2012-2013).
- Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship, University of Michigan (2012).
- John Dewey Award for Outstanding Teaching, College of LS&A, University of Michigan (2011).
- Fellow of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies, University of Michigan (2009-2010).
- Induction as an Honorary Member of Phi Beta Kappa, Tulsa University (May 2008).
- Project Completion Leave, History Department, University of Michigan (Winter 2007).
- Excellence in Education Award, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan (2006).
- $36,000 Research Grant, National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (2003).
- $25,000 Postdoctoral Fellowship, American Council for Learned Societies (2003).
- Faculty Recognition Grant, University of Michigan (2003).
- Oskar Halecki Award of the Polish Institute for Arts and Sciences in America, for best new book on Polish history, for When Nationalism Began to Hate (2001).
- Faculty Career Development Award, University of Michigan (2001).
- Amicus Polonae award, presented by Ambassador Przemysław Grudziński of Poland (2000).
- Polish Studies Association Award for best new book, for When Nationalism Began to Hate (2000).
- Metchie J. E. Budka Award for outstanding scholarship on Poland, Kościuszko Foundation (1999).
- $50,300 from the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research for a project entitled “Negotiating Revolution In Poland: Conversion and Opportunity in 1989,” in collaboration with Professor Michael Kennedy, Department of Sociology (1999-2000).
- $30,000 from the United States Institute of Peace for a project entitled “Negotiating Radical Change: Understanding and Extending the Lessons of the Polish Round Table Talks,” in collaboration with Professor Michael Kennedy, Department of Sociology (1999-2000).
- $340,000 from a variety of private and University sources for a conference entitled “Communism’s Negotiated Collapse: The Polish Round Table, Ten Years Later,” in collaboration with Professor Michael Kennedy, Department of Sociology (1999).
- Funding from UROP, CAUP, and OVPR to support an exhibit entitled “Making a Space for History,” in collaboration with Professor Craig Borum, College of Architecture and Urban Planning (1999).
- William T. Ludolph, Jr. Junior Faculty Development Award (1999).
- University of Michigan International Institute Travel Grant (1999).
- Funding from CREES, CES, II, OVPR, Rackham, and the History Department for a conference entitled “Vocabularies of Identity in Russia and Eastern Europe” (1998).
- ACLS/SSRC Joint Committee on Eastern Europe Postdoctoral Fellowship in East European Studies (1996-1997).
Professional Presentations
- Wielka Doroczna Debata Concilium Civitas: Stan Gry” Annual Meeting of the Concilium Civitas, Warsaw, Poland (July 14, 2024).
- “Wiara i Ojczyzna,” Annual Meeting of the Concilium Civitas, Warsaw, Poland (July 14, 2024).
- “Kobiety, Mniejszości, Demokracja,” Annual Meeting of the Concilium Civitas, Warsaw, Poland (July 13, 2024).
- “Czy prawidłowo wyznaczyliśmy cele i poziom naszych aspiracji?” XI Congress of the Polish Chamber of Insurance Agencies, Sopot, Poland (May 22, 2024).
- “Przyszłość przeszłości,” Annual Meeting of the Concilium Civitas, Warsaw, Poland (July 23, 2023).
- “Beyond Anticommunism: Studying the PRL in the 21st Century,” The Future of Polish Studies Conference, Warsaw, Poland (July 6, 2023).
- “Socialist Values and Capitalist Prices in the Polish People’s Republic,” University of Michigan Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies (September 15, 2022).
- “The Anniversary of Martial Law in Poland,” University of Wisconsin CREECA Symposium, (April 21, 2022).
- “The Refugee Crises of 2022 in Poland,” University of Michigan, WCEE (March 11, 2022).
- “Contextualizing Communism in the Polish People’s Republic,” University of Halle, Germany (November 2, 2021).
- “The Future of Polish Studies,” Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt-Oder, Germany (June 24, 2021).
- “Całkiem zwyczajny kraj,” Uniwersytet Katolicki Stefana Wyszyńskiego, Warsaw, Poland (June 8, 2021).
- “Value, Price, and Economic Reform in the Polish People’s Republic,” Conference on Global Capitalism and the Worlds of Socialism (Hong Kong, April 28, 2021).
- “Całkiem zwyczajny kraj,” Sopot Museum, Sopot, Poland (April 23, 2021).
- “Why Did Socialism Fail?” University of Washington (October 22, 2020).
- “The Aftermath of the 2020 Elections” University of Michigan Copernicus Program for Polish Studies (October 15, 2020).
- “Poland Compared,” National Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (November 25, 2019).
- “Catholics, Communists, and Dissidents: Who was Responsible for Poland’s Austerity Doctrine?” National Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (November 24, 2019)
- “The Birth of Homo Economicus and the Origins of Austerity in Communist Poland,” University of Michigan conference on Austerity and Anti-Austerity Beyond Capitalism (September 13, 2019).
- “The Devil Really is in the Details: Why Specificity Matters in Understanding the Global Radical Right,” University of California – Berkeley (February 1, 2019).
- “The Warsaw Uprising and the Politics of Martyrdom,” Duke University (November 1, 2018).
- “Polish and Jewish Identity Before WWI,” Fordham University, Columbia University, and the YIVO Institute (October 4, 2018).
- “Nationalism and Populism in Poland,” University of Wisconsin – Madison (March 10, 2018).
- “The Return of National Communism” University of Indiana (March 8, 2018).
- “Polish History and the Politics of Martyrdom,” Oakland University, Michigan (February 6, 2018).
- Socialist Austerity,” National Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (November 10, 2017)
- “Poland at the Crossroads,” Harvard University (October 24, 2017).
- “Problematizing Populism: The Polish Radical Right and the Return of National Communism,” UM CREEES (September 20, 2017).
- “From Homo Sovieticus to Homo Economicus,” Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt-Oder (July 13, 2017).
- “The Politics of Populism in Poland,” paper presented at a conference entitled “Back to the 1930s? Economic Crises, Populism, and World Disorder,” Diplomatische Akademie Wien (June 8, 2017).
- “The Communist Origins of Austerity Economics,” Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt-Oder (July 13, 2017).“The Return of National Communism” University of Indiana (March 8, 2018).
- “The Communist Origins of Austerity Economics,” University of Vienna (June 7, 2017).
- “Polityka grzechu w polskim Kościele,” Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk (May 26, 2017).
- “Everyday Authoritarianism in Poland,” UM Teach-Out on Authoritarianism (March 31, 2017).
- “Contextualizing Poland: The National, the Regional, and the Global in Polish Studies,” University of Łódź (December 15, 2016).
- “PiS and the Return of National Communism,” Cambridge University (December 8, 2016).
- “Contextualizing Poland: The National, the Regional, and the Global in Polish Studies,” Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt-Oder (November 24, 2016).
- “Nationalism and Antisemitism,” at a conference on “Key Concepts in the Study of Antisemitism,” The University of Toronto (October 28, 2016).
- “Globalizing Polish History,” keynote address at the conference “Slawisch-Deutsche Begegnungen in der Literatur, Sprache und Kultur,” Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny, Kraków, Poland (October 23, 2016).
- “Supply-Side Socialism: Communist Poland and the Foundations of Neoliberalism,” workshop on “Iron Curtain Crossings: Eastern Europe and the Global Cold War,” Ohio State University (March 4-5, 2016).
- Roundtable on “Europe’s Right Turn? The Political Shift in Hungary, Poland, and France,” UM International Institute (February 1, 2016).
- Roundtable on Hierarchy and Pluralism: Living Religious Difference in Catholic Poland, by Agnieszka Pasieka, National Convention for the Association on Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (November 19, 2015).
- “Poland Goes Global,” National Convention for the Association on Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (November 21, 2015).
- “Chances and Pitfalls of Transatlantic and Interdisciplinary Polish Studies,” National Convention for the Association on Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (November 21, 2015).
- “Supply-Side Socialism,” Center for Russian and East European Studies, University of Michigan (September 30, 2015).
- “The Birth of the Polak-Katolik,” Instytut Kultury Polskiej, University of Warsaw, Poland (June 13, 2015).
- “Conceptualizing Consumption in the Polish People’s Republic,” University of California – Berkeley (April 24, 2015).
- “Martyrology and Nationalism in Modern Poland,” University of Michigan (March 26, 2015).
- “The Limits of ‘Identity’ as a Conceptual Framework in Polish-Jewish History,” keynote address for the conference “Pragmatic Alliances – Persistent Fidelity. Conceptions of Loyalty in the Polish-Jewish Context in the 20th Century,” Leipzig University (November 6, 2014).
- “Antisemitism and Catholicism in Post-WWII Poland,” Clark University (April 2, 2014).
- “The Memory Wars: Competing Claims of Martyrdom During WWII in Eastern Europe,” Ann Arbor District Library (January 9, 2014).
- “Piłsudski and the Polish Revolution,” UM Copernicus Program and Polish Students’ Club (November 5, 2013).
- “Fighting for God and Fatherland (or not): Catholicism and Modern Politics in Partitioned Poland,” New York University (October 19, 2013).
- “A Tale of Two Popes: The Church of John Paul II and the Church of Francis,” UM Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center (October 4, 2013).
- “Catholicism and Antisemitism in Modern Poland,” keynote address for the conference “Antisemitism in East-Central Europe, 1880-1939,” German Historical Institute, Warsaw (May 16, 2013).
- “Globalizing Poland’s Communist Modernity,” Midwest East European Historians’ Workshop, University of Illinois-Chicago (April 10, 2013).
- “A Perfectly Normal Place: Globalizing Modernity in Eastern Europe,” keynote address for the convention of the Midwest Slavic Studies Association, Ohio State University (April 5, 2013).
- “Religion in the History of East-Central European Political Thought,” Center for Advanced Studies, Sofia, Bulgaria (March 14, 2013).
- “Clickers in the Humanities Classroom,” Eastern Michigan University (February 20, 2013).
- “Faith and Fear in Early 20th Century Polish Catholicism,” Backus Memorial Lecture, University of Kansas (November 12, 2012).
- “The Politics of Sin in 19th and 20th Polish Catholicism,” University of Virginia (October 26, 2012).
- “Nationalism and Universalism in 19th Century Polish Catholicism,” German Historical Institute, Warsaw (October 11, 2012).
- “A Perfectly Normal Place: Globalizing Polish History,” German Historical Institute, Warsaw (June 13, 2012).
- “Austerity and Stimulus in Historical Perspective,” Michigan School of Public Policy (March 15, 2012).
- “Beyond the Polak-Katolik,” National Convention for the Association on Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (November 19, 2011).
- “Beyond Martyrdom: Polish-Jewish Relations During WWII,” UM Frankel Center (October 25, 2011).
- “The Polish Radical Right and the Roman Catholic Church,” Central European University, Budapest, Hungary (October 5, 2011).
- “Polish Catholicism and Antisemitism,” Conference on Antisemitism in Hungary and Poland at University College, London (May 26, 2010).
- “The Ecclesia Militans and the Catholic Nation in Modern Poland,” Columbia University (April 16, 2010).
- “The Ecclesia Militans and the Catholic Nation in Modern Poland,” University of Wisconsin – Madison (March 4, 2010).
- “Anticommunist Dissent and the Catholic Church,” University of Wisconsin – Madison (March 4, 2010).
- “Catholicism and the Ideology of Homogeneity in Polish History,” UM – Flint (January 15, 2009).
- “The Ecclesia Militans and the Polak-Katolik,” National Convention for the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Boston (November 14, 2009).
- “The Antisemite and the Antichrist: Love, Fear, and Catholicism in Modern Poland,” University of Illinois-Chicago (October 20, 2009).
- “The New Lines of Tolerance in Europe,” a round-table symposium sponsored by the UM’s CREES, CES, and EUC (December 6, 2008).
- “New Digital Projects for East European History,” National Convention for the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, New Orleans (November 17, 2007).
- “The Commemorated Talk Back: Excess Meaning and Historical Politics in Eastern Europe”, UM Institute for Historical Studies / CREES Symposium on “Anniversaries, Commemorations, and Historical Memory” (November 1, 2006).
- “Apocalyptic Antisemitism: Faith, Fear, and Polish Catholicism in the early 20th century,” Columbia University (October 30, 2006).
- “Apocalyptic Antisemitism: Faith, Fear, and Polish Catholicism in the early 20th century,” UM Religious Studies Workshop (December 6, 2006).
- “Giving Unto Caesar: Catholic Political Theology in Modern Poland,” Conference on Religion and the Challenges of Modernity, Warsaw, Poland (June 24, 2006).
- “Love, Hate, and Polish Catholicism at the Start of the 20th Century,” Yale University (April 19, 2006).
- “One Day after the Polish Presidential Election: An Analysis of the New Political Landscape,” UM Center for Russian and East European Studies (October 10, 2005).
- “Polish Catholicism after the Fall of Communism,” Christianity in Eastern Europe Conference, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan (June 9, 2005).
- “For God and Fatherland: Studying Catholicism in Modern Poland,” Christianity in Eastern Europe Conference, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan (June 7, 2005).
- “The Legacy of John Paul II,” UM Center for Russian and East European Studies (April 6, 2005).
- “Poland after the US Elections,” UM Center for European Studies (December 15, 2004).
- “Is the Pope Catholic? Drawing the Boundaries of Roman Catholicism in Modern Polish History,” Louisiana State University (November 12, 2004).
- “Love, Hate, and Polish Catholicism in the early 20th Century,” Hebrew University, Jerusalem (May 17, 2004).
- “Who is a Catholic and What is Catholicism: Defining the Church in Modern Poland,” CREES Brownbag Lecture, UM (April 7, 2004).
- “Hetmanka and Mother: Representing the Virgin Mary in Modern Poland,” National Convention for the American Historical Association, Washington, DC (January 9, 2004).
- “Love and Hate in Interwar Polish Catholicism,” National Convention for the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Toronto (November 21, 2003).
- “The People of God: Poland, Catholicism, and History,” The University of Wisconsin (March 31, 2003).
- “The Many Meanings of the Modern Mary: The Virgin in Polish Catholicism.” UM CREES Faculty Colloquium (March 11, 2003).
- “Beyond Jedwabne: Setting a New Research Agenda,” National Convention for the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (November 23, 2002).
- “For God and Fatherland: Poland, Catholicism, and Modernity,” Stanford University (November 7, 2002).
- “Is the Pope Catholic? Defining Roman Catholicism,” University of West Virginia (September 25, 2002).
- “Antisemitism and the Search for a Catholic Modernity,” University of West Virginia (June 22, 2002).
- “The Silences of Polish History,” CREES, UM (April 20, 2002).
- “What’s Wrong with the History Channel,” Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program Lecture, UM (February 20, 2002).
- “Does ‘Religion’ Exist?” PROFS Lecture, UM (February 19, 2002).
- “The Resurgence of Religious History,” Phi Alpha Theta lecture, UM (December 5, 2001).
- “Polish Jews and Jewish Poles: Overcoming the Dichotomies of Identity,” National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Washington, D.C. (November 17, 2001).
- “Reconciling Oneself to Reconciliation: Confronting Polish-Jewish Relations,” Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute, Manila, Philippines (August 17, 2001).
- “Making a Space for Anti-Semitism: The Polish Catholic Hierarchy and the Jews in the Early 20th Century,” Georgetown University (April 25, 2001).
- “Anti-Semitism, Anti-Polonism, and the Perpetuation of Hatred,” Hillel Lecture Series, UM (March 18, 2001).
- “The Search for a Catholic Modernity: Anti-Semitism and the Boundaries of Catholic Discourse in Poland,” Indiana University Polish Studies Center (November 2000).
- “Anti-Semitism, Catholicism, and Modernity in Poland,” The VI Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies, Tampere, Finland (August 2000).
- “Setting the Boundaries of the Radical Right in Contemporary Poland,” UM Center for European Studies (April 2000).
- “New Approaches to the Study of Nationalism,” UM History Department Colloquium (March 2000).
- “Marking the Boundaries of the Faith: Catholicism and the Radical Right in Early Twentieth-Century Poland,” Miller Center Lecture, The University of Virginia (March 2000).
- “New Approaches in Critical Oral History,” Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Political Science (October 1999).
- “Hatred and History,” Phi Alpha Theta Lecture, The University of Tulsa (May 1999).
- “For God and Fatherland: Catholic Narratives of Polish History,” UM Institute for the Humanities, (February 1998).
- “Translating and Retranslating the Struggle for Survival: Spencer in Poland,” National Convention of the American Historical Association, Seattle, Washington (January 1998).
- “Poland’s Multiple Modernities,” National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Seattle, Washington (November 1997).
- “The Silences of Polish History,” Workshop on Women and Gender in Poland, UM (May 1997).
- “Hatred and History,” UM Department of History Commencement Address (May 1997).
- “The Political Landscape in Poland,” Cleveland Society of Poles (May 1997).
- “The Politics of Mickiewicz in the World of Gumplowicz,” National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Boston, Massachusetts (November 1996).
- “Nationalism and Mass Politics: Rethinking the Role of the Endecja in Polish History,” The Annual Meeting of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, Washington, D.C. (June 1996).
- “Modernization, Democracy, and the Narratives of Polish History,” Symposium on Cultural Studies in Eastern Europe, UM (April 1996).
- “‘Modernism’ and ‘Public Action’ in fin-de-siècle Poland,” Cultural Studies Group of the Center for Russian and East European Studies, UM (April 1996).
- “When Poland Learned to Hate: From the National Ideal to the National Struggle, 1863-1905,” UM History Department Faculty Colloquium (December 1995).
- “Reconfiguring the Nation in Nineteenth-Century Poland,” National Convention for the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Washington, D.C. (October 1995).
- “The Construction and Deconstruction of Nineteenth-Century Polish Liberalism,” The V Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies, Warsaw, Poland (August 1995).
- “The Construction of the Social Nation in Nineteenth-Century Poland,” UM Center for Russian and East European Studies (April 1995).
- “1989 and the Collapse of Polish History,” The UM History Honors Club (October 1995).
- “The Romantic in a Positivist Hat: Idealism, Scientism, and the Polish Concept of ‘The Nation’.” UM Department of History (January 1994).
- “Jednostka i zbiorowość w Endeckiej koncepcji narodu przed 1905 r.” Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of History (April 1994).
- “Hermeneutics and the Historian: Recent Methodological Approaches in the Study of Nationalism.” University of Warsaw Department of History (January 1994).
- “The Nation as Discourse: A Methodological Commentary on the Study of Polish National Democracy.” National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Phoenix, Arizona (November 1992).
Service
- Director of Undergraduate Studies, UM Department of History (2024-2026).
- History Department Liaison for Transfer Bridges (2022-2023)
- Member of Concilium Civitas, honorary committee of Polish scholars working internationally (2023-present).
- Selection Committee, Polish Institute for Arts and Sciences in America Book Prize (2022).
- Director of Graduate Studies, UM History Department (2018-2019).
- Committee on Academic Freedom and Advocacy, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (2017-present).
- Editorial Board, Slavic Review (2014-present).
- Advisory Board, Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Polenstudien, Europa-Universität Viadrina (2017-present).
- President, Polish Studies Association (2010-2016).
- Founder and Editor, H-Poland (2010-2016).
- European Caucus Leader, History Department, UM (2015-2016).
- Rackham Dissertation Prize Selection Committee (2014-2015).
- History Department Committee for Outreach, Publicity, and Development (2015-2016).
- Selection Committee, Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize (2015).
- History Department Honors Chair (2013-2015).
- Chair, Promotion Committee for Douglas Northrop (2013).
- Director of Undergraduate Studies, History Department (2010-2012).
- History Department Executive Committee (2008-2010).
- Director, Copernicus Endowment for Polish Studies (2000-2010).
- Search Committee, Cuny Chair in the History of Human Rights (2009).
- Graduate Student Essay Prize Selection Committee, AAASS (2009-2010).
- CES-EUC Fellowships Committee (2009-2010).
- Search Committee, North American Religious History (2008-2009).
- Chair, Undergraduate Advising Committee (2007).
- Executive Committee, Center for Russian and East European Studies (1999-2002, 2005-2007).
- Promotion Review Committee for Dario Gaggio (Fall 2006).
- International Institute Fellowships Committee (2006).
- Center for Russian and East European Studies Fellowships Committee (2006).
- Department of History Postdoctoral Fellowships Committee (2006).
- Review Committee for the Orbis Prize for the Best New Book in Polish Studies (2005-2006).
- Director of Graduate Studies, History Department (2001-2002, 2004-2005).
- Chair, Fellowships Committee, History Department (2000-2001).
- Center for European Studies Advisory Committee (1997-2002).
- Undergraduate and Graduate Advisor, Center for Russian and East European Studies (1997-1998, 2000-02).
- Rackham Dissertation Grant Committee (1998).
- Search Committee, Medieval Jewish History (1997-1998).
- Steering Committee, Cultural Studies Group, Center for Russian and East European Studies (1996-1997).
Teaching
- Completed Dissertation Committees:
- Cristian Capotescu (UM History Department), “Giving in the Time of Socialism: Economic Life, Humanitarianism, and Mobility in the Global Postwar” (2020).
- Johanna Folland (UM History Department), “Globalizing Socialist Health: Africa, East Germany, and the AIDS Crisis” (2019).
- Kathleen Wroblewski (UM History Department), “Migration to the Self: Education, Political Economy, and Religious Authority in Polish Communities” (2018).
- Trevor Kilgore (UM History Department), “Occupying God’s House: Catholics, Sacred Space, and the Religiosity of Postwar Italian Politics, 1954-1969” (2017).
- Deborah Jones (UM Anthropology Department), “Afterlives & Other Lives: Semiosis & History in 21st Century Ukraine” (2017).
- Wiktor Marzec, “Rising Subjects: Forging the Political During the 1905 Revolution in Russian Poland,” (Central European University, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, 2017).
- Jessica Zychowicz, “Superfluous Women: Gender, Art and Activism After Ukraine’s Orange Revolution (Slavic Department, 2015).
- Alexandra Tipei, “For Your Civilization and Ours: Greece, Romania, and the Making of French Universalism (Indiana University, History, 2015).
- Alicja Kusiak-Brownstein, “Peasant Heroes And Symbolic Ennoblement: The Limits of the Modern Historical Imagination in Poland, 1840-1914” (2014).
- Jessica Robbins (Anthropology), “Personhood in Places: Aging, Memory, and Relatedness in Postsocialist Poland” (2013).
- Paul Brykczynski, “Political Murder and the Victory of Ethnic Nationalism in Interwar Poland” (2013).
- Dong Ju Kim (Anthro-History), “Taking Better Care of the Fields: Knowledge Politics of Sugar Beet, Soil, and Agriculture After Socialism in Western Poland” (2012).
- Maria Falina (Central European University, History), “Pyrrhic Victory: East Orthodox Christianity, Politics and Serbian Nationalism in the Interwar Period,” Dissertation from Central European University Press ( 2011).
- Raymond Patton, “Screamed Poetry: Rock in Poland’s Last Decade of Communism” (2011).
- Lenny Ureña, “The Stakes of Empire: Colonial Fantasies, Civilizing Agendas, And Biopolitics in the Prussian-Polish Provinces (1840-1914)” (2010).
- Emanuela Grama (Anthro-History), “Searching For Heritage, Building Politics: Archeology, Architecture and Representations of the Past in Romania (1945-2007)” (2009).
- Ji Li, ”Becoming Faithful: Christianity, Literacy, and Female Consciousness in Northeast China” (2008).
- Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, “Jews, Poles, and Slovaks: A Story of Encounters, 1944-48” (2008).
- Edin Hajdarpasic, “Whose Bosnia? National Movements, Imperial Reforms, and the Political Re-Ordering of the Late Ottoman Balkans, 1840-1875” (2008).
- Sylwia Ejmont (Comparative Literature), “The Troubadour Takes the Tram: Experience in Polish Poetry and Music” (2008).
- Emil Kerenji, “Jewish Citizens of Socialist Yugoslavia: Politics of Jewish Identity in a Socialist State “ (2008).
- Hadley Renkin, “Ambiguous Identities, Ambiguous Transitions: Lesbians, Gays, and the Sexual Politics of Citizenship in Postsocialist Hungary” (2007).
- Anna Mirkova, “Land Ownership and Modernization in the Transition from Imperial Ottoman to National Bulgarian Rule (1878-1908)” (2006).
- Kristin McGuire, “To Do is To Be: Activism, Identity and the Gendered Terms of Citizenship in Poland and Germany, 1890-1918” (2004).
- Bob Greene, “Bodies Like Bright Stars: Saints and Relics in Orthodox Russia, 1860s-1920s” (2004).
- Jeffrey Wilson, “Nature and Nation: the ‘German Forest’ as a National Symbol, 1871-1914” (2002).
- Patrick Patterson, “Consumer Culture under Socialism and the Unmaking of the Yugoslav Dream, 1945-1991” (2001).
- David Althoen, “That Noble Quest: From True Nobility to Enlightened Society in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1550-1830” (2000).
- Hugh Lane, “State Culture and National Identity in a Multi-Ethnic Context: Lemberg, 1772-1914” (1999).
- Theresa Ursic, “Religious Freedom in Post-World War II Yugoslavia” (1997).
- Terry Bodenhorn, “Scribes at War: Propagandists and the Construction of a ‘Modern China’ circa 1935” (1997).
- Master’s Thesis Supervision.
- Ziqian Zheng, “Reimagining the Communist World: China and the 1956 Polish-Hungarian Crises,” 2022
- Dan Glasson, REES MA: “Patterns and Causes of Suburban Development around Warsaw,” 2006.
- Matthew Konieczny, REES MA: “The Polish Constitutional Debates: Constructing Politics,” 2002.
- Ewa Wampuszyc, REES MA: “Conflicting National Mythologies in the Narratives of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944,” 1996.
- Victoria Klein, REES MA: “The Concept of ‘Nation/People’ in the Writing of Michael Bakunin,” 1996.
- Krystyna Bujakiewicz, REES MA: “The Use of History in Polish Constitutional Debates, 1791 to the present,” 1995.
- Christine Stuebner, REES MA: “Fragments of a Federation: Ethnically Mixed Couples in Slovenia,” 1995.
- Elizabeth Belkind, REES MA, 1995.
- Timothy Neboyskey, REES MA, 1995.
- Senior Honors Thesis Supervision.
- Aleksandra Paradowska, “The Politics of National Memory in Contemporary Poland,” 2020.
- Mary Bridget Lee, “Redefining Éireann: The Decline of Women’s Rights in the Era of Irish Nationalism, 1916-1937,” 2015.
- Rachel Lerner, “Butler’s Battle: Wartime and the Nature of Compromise. An Analysis of British Educational Reform during WWII,” 2015.
- Anna Gwiazdowski, “Social Advocacy & Ecumenism: How ministering to Welfare Needs Impacted Interdenominational Cooperation,” 2014.
- Juliann Marie Schwartz, “Gradations of Hate: Father Charles E. Coughlin and the Rhetoric of Anti-Semitism, 1930-1939,” 2009.
- Callie Wang, “Rebellion, Aggression, Empire: The Use of the Language of Just War Theory by the Vatican during World War II,” 2008.
- Luciana Aenasoaie, History Honors Thesis, “Strangers at Home: The Marginalization of Roma in Romania,” 2006.
- Gabriel Edelson, History Honors Thesis, “A Crisis of Identity: Remembering Stalingrad in Anglo-America,” 2006.
- Anna Sidor, REES Honors Thesis, “Orange Alternative and the Fall of Communism in Poland,” 2005.
- Katherine Wroblewski, History Honors Thesis, “Monumental Representations: Constructing National Identity in Post-World War II Poland,” 2003.
- Ramona R. Cotca, History Honors Thesis, “Human Rights in American Foreign Policy: The Romanian Case,” 2001.
- Alyssa Brody, History Honors Thesis, “From Pride to Prejudice: Romanticism and the Origins of German Nationalism,” 2000.
- Chandra Luczak, REES Honors Thesis, “From Nationalist Hostility to Ethnic Persecution: An Analysis of the Polish United Worker’s Party’s Anti-Zionist Campaign and its Origins,” 2000.
- Anna Kovalszki: Art History Honors Thesis: “Munkácsy Mihály: Siralomház,” 1999.
- Danicia Kobasic: REES Honors Thesis: “Bits and Pieces: Anti-Communist Insurgency in Romania, 1945-1956,” 1999.
- Megan Ann Henry, History Honors Thesis: “Rhetoric and Realpolitik: The Helsinki Accords and Czechoslovak Émigrés,” 1997.
- Tiffany Troxel: REES Honors Thesis: “Show Trials and the Question of Believability: The Moscow Show Trials,” 1996.