Conferences and Talks
(Click the title for an abstract)

“North Hungarian Slavic: Political Roots of a Transient Language,”
June 2007 Conference: Failed National Languages: National Languages Through Historians' Eyes.
New Europe College, Bucharest, Romania.

“The Regional Basis of Macedonian Ethnic Identity: Slavic Macedonia, 1903-43”
May 2007 Conference: Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in South-Eastern Europe."
West-University of Timisoara.

“The Slavs of Hungary”
April 2007 Talk at the Invitation of Eva Kowalska
Slovak Academy of Sciences

“National Anatomy: Racial Thinking and the Biologicization of National Difference”
June 2006 Conference: “Without Let or Hindrance .”
Lancaster University, UK

“The Hungarian Reform Age.”
Guest lecture for John Ashbrook, May 2006.

. “Budapest and Thessaloniki as Slavic Cities.”
May 2005 conference: “Urban Life and Culture in South-Eastern Europe.”
Philosophical Faculty of the University of Belgrade.

“Hungarian Rune-Writing as a Secret Language.”
April 2005 conference: “Signs and Secret Languages.”
Marmara University, Istanbul.

“Slovak History and Accidental Nationalism.”
September 2004 talk at the Central European Seminar.
Cseh Centrum / české centrum, Budapest

“Women, Sovereignty and Fashion.”
May 2004 talk at the invitation of Ann Heilmann, (Women and Gender Seminar).
University of Swansea, Wales.

“National Moustaches, National Fashion.
May 2004 talk at the invitation of Johan Schot.
Technical University, Eindhoven, Netherlands.

“ Linguistic Taxonomies: Languages and Dialects.”
November 2003 Conference: “Four Empires and an Enlargement.”
London School of Slavonic and East European Studies.

“Rune Writing Subculture as a Minority National Movement in Modern Hungary.”
August 2003 conference: “The Cultures of Post-1989 Central and East Europe.”
Petru Maior University, Târgu Mures.

“Hungaro-Slavic Women and National Brotherhood.”
November 2002 conference: “Power and Power Relations in East Central Europe.”
University of California, Berkeley.

“The East-West Discourse.”
March 2002 talk at the invitation of Juraj Hvorecký.
Center for Theoretical Study, Prague.

“Taxonomies of Slavic Identity.”
Conference: “Europe 1000-2000.”
Central European University, Budapest; April 2001.

“Sozialgruppenformung und Rhetorik in der slowakischen Nationalbewegung.”
Conference: “Nationalisierung der Religion und Sakralisierung der Nation.”
Geisteswissenchaftliche Zentrum Geschichte und Kultur Osteuropas (GWZO),

“Hungaro-Slavism.”
Midwest Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS).
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana; March 2000.

“Literary Language and the Emergence of a Macedonian Nationality.”
Conference:  European Borderlands.
University of Wisconsin, Madison; April 1999.

I attended “Die Situation der Roma in der Slowakei und Österreich” in Košice in 1997.



Fellowships and Scholarships

2007 Europa Program Fellowship at the New Europe College, Bucharest, Romania.

2005 Maria Sibylla Merian Transatlantic Fellowship University of Erfurt, Germany

2002 University Fellowship – U.W. Madison History department Merit scholarship for one semester of financial aid, Madison Wisconsin.

2000 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Summer Hungarian at the University of Indiana, Bloomington.

1998 National Security Education Program (NSEP) This award supported my second M.A. degree at CEU.

1997 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS). Awarded for Serbo-Croat, this supported my second year at Madison.

1997 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS). Summer Czech at Masaryková univerzita, Brno.

1996 University Fellowship - U.W. Madison History Department. This fellowship supported my first year of graduate study.

1995 Masaryk Fellow, Foundation for a Civic Society. This was an NGO position in Prague castle. I counted Václav Havel’s bodyguards among my students.

1992 Contact Scholarship as an exchange student in Göttingen.

1991 National Merit Scholarship (Davis, California).

1990 Bonheim Merit Scholarship (Davis, California)



Teaching Experience

Lecturer, Victoria University, Wellington New Zealand. Since July 2007 I am a full time lecturer in the history department: Twentieth Century Europe, German History, and the second half of European Civilization. I also taught discussion sections of Modern World with Valerie Weinstein.

Lecturer in History University of Wales, Swansea . I designed and coordinated HIH 120 Europe of Extremes, (a survey course on Twentieth century Europe), HIH 338 Modern Central Europe (an upper division course on Central Europe and the Balkans), and a Master's Degree seminar on Twentieth-Century Yugoslavia.  Contact Noel Thompson, N.Thompson(at)swansea.ac.uk

Teaching Assistant University of Wisconsin, Madison. I taught discussion sections for History 357 “The Second World War.” Contact Stanley Payne:  sgpayne(at)facstaff.wisc.edu

Open Society Institute Instructor, Sabanci University, Istanbul. In July, I taught a one-week course “Racial Groups in the United States” to participants in the Undergraduate Exchange Program (part of the Open Society Institute). Contact Alex Irwin, airwin(at)sorosny.org

Academic Writing and Humanities Instructor, City University, Bratislava. I taught “Academic Writing” and “European Ethics” at the BA level. I also served as grade grievance auditor and did internet-based teaching. Contact Scott Mason, smason(at)cutn.sk

Teaching Assistant, University of Wisconsin, Madison. History 419 “Soviet History,” taught by Philip Swoboda, and History 356 “Europe Between the Wars,” taught by Stanley Payne.

English as a Second Language Teacher. I worked for the Oxford Hungaria and Magnalingua language schools, and also taught various private students to support my dissertation research.

Assistant Language Teacher, Niikawa Joshii koku, Uozu city, Toyama Prefecture ( 新川女子 魚津市 富山県 ), Japan. I spent a year teaching English in Japanese public schools on the JET Program.

ESL - Grammar Instructor (Delgado Community College).  I taught two sections of “Intermediate Grammar.” The students were mostly Vietnamese or Latin American.

Private Tutor: Math, Physics, English.  I taught High School Math, Physics and English, 15 hours a week, in German. My student was Bavarian child who could not attend public school in Louisiana for some reason. This position ended when the boy returned to Bavaria.

English and German Language Teacher, Státní Jazyková Škola (since renamed the Prague Language School). I taught English and German to Czech students, and taught German to Anglophones.


Sample Syllabi

Courses already taught
Twentieth Century Europe (lower-division survey course)
European Ethics (lower-division course)
Central European History (upper division course).
Nationalism, Culture and Violence in Yugoslavia (MA seminar)

Draft syllabi
Modern World  (lower-division course)
History of Writing (lower division course)
European Intellectual History (Intensive "Great Books" seminar for first year students)
Social History (upper division course)
Russian History (upper-division course)
German History (upper-division course)
Hungarian History (upper-division course)
Military Masculinity (upper-division seminar)
Clothing and Society (upper-division seminar)
Minority Rights and the State (upper division seminar)
Sociolinguistics (upper-division course, also available as a two semester series)
Central Europe Distance Learning (upper-division course using only internet sources)



Miscellaneous Scholarly Work

Qualitative analyst for the TC Group, and contributed to a report on NGOs in Eastern Europe, commissioned by Freedom House.

Subeditor for Gender and Citizenship, Contentions and Controversies in East-West Debates, Joanna Regulska and Jasmina Lukić, eds. Contact Carol Harrington, harring(at)ceu.hu

Proofreader for the English translation of Heiko Haumann's Geschichte der Ostjuden,
Budapest: CEU Press, 2002.

I also proofread Ph.D. theses for the department of Political Science at Central European University



Non-Academic Jobs

2002      English-language voiceovers for advertisements, Budapest.
2000      Census worker, US Census 2000
1996      Fairy tale reader at the Globe, Prague, Czech Republic.
1996      Freelance tour guide in Prague.
1991      Construction worker in Göttingen, Lower Saxony.
1990      Telephone Solicitation for U.C. Davis (alumni fundraising).
1990      Making espresso at Café Roma, Davis California.
1989      Selling bratwurst at Schlosshotel Lisl in Bavaria.
1988      Cashier in a hardware store (summer job).


Languages

German: I attended a German university for two years. I have worked as a German language instructor and German-English translator, and given a conference paper in German. My German is excellent.

Czech: Two years’ coursework, two years’ residence in Prague, and an advanced summer course in Brno. I would describe my Czech as “advanced.” Much of my thesis research was conducted in Biblical Czech (Bibličtina).

Slovak: Despite never having studied formally, I understand Slovak on the basis of my Czech, thesis research, and year-long residency in Bratislava.

Serbian: A year and a half of “Serbo-Croat” in Madison, Wisconsin gives me intermediate reading skills and the ability to conduct everyday conversations.

Yiddish: One year of coursework in Madison, Wisconsin, attendance of the Budapest Yiddish club. My speaking ability is high intermediate; I also have a wide repertoire of folk songs. In the past, I have contributed to Mendele list, dedicated to the study of Yiddish.

French: A year of night school has left me with the ability to understand intermediate texts.

Hungarian: I understand basic texts and can conduct everyday conversation.


Miscellaneous Other Courses

2001     Powerpoint – Central European University, Budapest
2000     Summer Hungarian (basic) – I.U. Bloomington, Indiana
1997     Summer Czech (advanced) – Masaryková univerzita, Brno
1995     Japanese Calligraphy (書道) – Kanazawa, Japan
93-94    Night school French – L’union française, 4522 Prytania Street, New Orleans
1993     English as a Second Language teacher training – Prague


Internet Appearances