Faculty Public History Contributions

Many of our faculty use an interdisciplinary approach both in their research and teaching. This approach also extends beyond the university's walls, where our faculty consult on exhibits, advise public agencies and institutions, and serve on institutional boards. Our faculty members strongly believe in practically applying their expertise in order to contribute positively to the community around us. Our faculty also serve as role models for our students, many of whom are equally active in public history. Some recent examples of these activities and contributions include:

Richard Breitman has served the past year at the National Archives and Record Service as Director of Historical Research for the Nazi War Criminals Records and Imperial Japanese Records Interagency Working Group. Breitman also served as the editor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Kathy Franz is an experienced public historian, whose career includes extensive work in museums and other venues as a curator, consultant and researcher. She served as curator for the popular “On Track” exhibition at the National Building Museum, and as a consultant for a variety of museums, (including the South Street Seaport Museum and the National Museum of American History), for the University of North Carolina Archives, and for the Discovery Channel, among others. Before coming to American University she served as Coordinator of the of the Public History Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Ira Klein sits on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Indian History.

Alan Kraut is the President of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society and is a member of the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island History Committee. He is on the Executive Committee of the American Jewish Historical Society's Academic Council, the Society for the History of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, and the Washington Society for the History of Medicine. Kraut also serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of American Ethnic History, Journal of Immigrant Health, and Washington History.

Allan Lichtman served as a redistricting advisor for several states, making sure that legislative plans conformed to constitutional and legal requirements. He authored a study published by the Census Monitoring Board on the implications of the Census undercount on redistricting. He was the expert witness for the prevailing parties in the landmark New Jersey redistricting case--the first such case after the 2000 Census. Lichtman comments on history and politics for both CNN and the BBC. He also writes a biweekly column for the Montgomery Gazette (MD).

Peter Kuznick directs the Department's Nuclear Studies Institute and is a frequent commentator on issues surrounding the prevention of the use of nuclear weapons.

Pamela Nadell is the Chair of the Academic Council of the American Jewish Historical Society and sits on the Editorial Boards of American Jewish History, for which she is also Book Review Editor, and Conservative Judaism. She is on the Academic Advisory Boards of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, the Jewish Women's Archive, Florence G. Heller Jewish Community Association Research Center, the Hadassah International Research Institute on Jewish Women, and the Center for Jewish History. Nadell serves as a consultant and member of the planning committee for the exhibit, "Serving Two Worlds: Philip M. Klutznick and the American Experience."

PUBLIC HISTORY ALUMS: Many of our current and former PhD students hold full-time jobs in the area of public history as well. For example, Clayton Laurie is the Deputy Chief Historian at the National Reconnaissance Office. David Onkst has worked as an exhibit curator and freelance archival researcher, and is now collaborating on a project to commemorate the centennial of the Wright brothers' first flight. Elizabeth Stewart is a Research Historian for the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture at the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis. Bernard Unti has a commission to write an organization history of the Humane Society of the U.S. Bruce Craig serves as the Director of the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History, the main lobbying arm for the historical and archival professions. Sarah Larson founded the Reston Community Museum. And Ken Durr is the Director of the History Division of History Associates, Inc., a historical consulting firm. These are just some of the public history contributions of our active students and alumni.