The Wittenberg Summer School 2008
“Vigorous Executive: The President in American Politics and Culture”
Leucorea Foundation, Lutherstadt Wittenberg
August 10–16, 2008

Faculty

Dr. Andreas Etges is Professor of North American History at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies of the Free University of Berlin. Among his research interests are nationalism, the Vietnam War, the Kennedy presidency, and history and memory. He was the curator of the exhibit “John F. Kennedy” (Berlin 2003, Vienna 2005) and is the curator of the museum “The Kennedys” at Pariser Platz in Berlin. His publications include a comparative study of economic nationalism: Wirtschaftsnationalismus: USA und Deutschland im Vergleich, 1815-1914 (Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 1999), and John F. Kennedy, 2nd ed. (Munich: dtv, 2003). He is currently working on a study of “The Ugly American.”

Dr. Hans-Jürgen Grabbe is Professor of British and American Studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Director of the Center for United States Studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He received his Dr. phil. in 1982 and his Habilitation in 1990, both from the University of Hamburg. He was a faculty member in the History Department of the University of Hamburg and served as a professor of American history at the Universities of Kassel, Halle, and Oldenburg (1990–94). In 1994, Dr. Grabbe returned to Halle-Wittenberg to chair the department of British and American Studies. His research focuses on the history of transatlantic migration and on German-American relations. He is an officer of the European Association of American Studies and served for many years as President and Executive Director of the German Association for American Studies. He is co-editor of the American Studies Journal and of the quarterly Amerikastudien/American Studies and edits the monograph series USA-Studien (Franz Steiner Verlag)

Dr. Holger Kersten is Executive Director of the German Association for American Studies and Professor of American Literature and Culture at Magdeburg University. His areas of research include the representation of German-American relations in literature and popular culture, the use of nonstandard language in literature, the study of American humor, and late-nineteenth-century American literature and culture. His most recent publications are "Tramps and Hobos" (American History through Literature, 1870–1920, eds. Tom Quirk and Gary Scharnhorst, Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006) and "Mark Twain and Continental Europe" (A Companion to Mark Twain, eds. Peter Messent and Louis J. Budd, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005).

Dr. Martina Kohl studied at the Johannes-Gutenberg University in Mainz and Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. She received an M.A. (1985) and a Dr. Phil. (1992) from Mainz University. Her research interest concentrated on 19th and 20th century American literature. From 1985 to 1990, Dr. Kohl taught in the English Department and the English Composition Board and served as writing consultant at the Business School of the University of Michigan. Since 1993, Dr. Kohl has been working as Cultural Affairs Specialist for the U.S. Embassy in Bonn and Berlin. Dr. Kohl frequently teaches Cultural Diplomacy courses at Humboldt University Berlin. Her publications include “The Wilhelm Meister Pebble”: Bildungs-
romanelemente in Thomas Wolfes Look Homeward, Angel (1929), Of Time and the River (1935), The Web and the Rock (1939) und You Can't Go Home Again (1940) (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1994) and Visual Culture in the American Studies Classroom. Proceedings of the U.S. Embassy Teacher Academy 2003 (Vienna: RPO, 2005) which she co-edited with Udo J. Hebel. Together with Hans-Jürgen Grabbe, Alfred Hornung, and Rolf Theis, Dr. Kohl edits the American Studies Journal.

Dr. Janet Martin is a Professor of Government at Bowdoin College with teaching interests and responsibilities in American national government and research methods. In 1989–90, she was an APSA Congressional Fellow, and worked as a legislative assistant for Senator Herb Kohl from Wisconsin, and Senator George Mitchell. She is the author of The Presidency and Women: Promise, Performance, and Illusion (Texas A & M University Press, 2003; Winner of the 2004 Richard E. Neustadt Award); Lessons from the Hill: The Legislative Journey of an Education Program (St. Martin's Press, 1994), co-editor of The Other Elites: Women, Politics, and Power in the Executive Branch (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1997), and author of the Instructor's Manual for a Delicate Balance: An Essential Introduction to American Government (St. Martin's Press, 1997). In addition, she has published articles and reviews in The Journal of Politics, Western Political Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Congress and the Presidency. In the spring of 1990, Dr. Martin participated in an exchange program in Ottawa, sponsored by the Canadian Government, to study the Canadian Parliament. Before coming to Bowdoin in 1986 she taught at Gettysburg College for three years, including courses on Urban Politics, and Survey Research and Public Opinion Polls. In 1978 and 1979 Dr. Martin was a graduate fellow in the Central Intelligence Agency's Summer Studies Program, and was a Regional Finalist in the 1983–84 White House Fellowship Competition.

Dr. Mark Rozell is Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Policy, George Mason University. He specializes in executive privilege and the presidency, religion and politics, and media-politics. He is the author of Executive Privilege (University Press of Kansas, 2d edition, 2002) and Power and Prudence: The Incremental Presidency of George H.W. Bush (Texas A&M University Press, 2003). He is co-editor of The Bush Presidency: First Considerations (Oxford University Press, 2003) and co-author of Second Coming: The New Christian Right in Virginia Politics. His most recent publications are The Values Vote?: The Christian Right in the 2004 Elections (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2006, edited volume with John C. Green and Clyde Wilcox) and Religion and the Presidency (New York: Palgrave/MacMilllan Press, 2006, edited volume with Gleaves Whitney). Teaching interests include American institutions, interest groups and elections, media-politics, religion and politics.