CV - Prof. Dr. phil. em. Gerd Hurm
Founding Director - Trier Center for American Studies
University of Trier
Universitaetsring 15
54286 Trier, Germany
Phone +49658249865
hurm@uni-trier.de
POSITIONS / AFFILIATIONS
- Center for American Studies, U of Trier, Director (2003 - 2024)
- Department of English Studies, U of Trier, Professor emeritus, (2001 - 2023)
- U of Luxembourg, Belval, Luxembourg, Visiting Professor (2009 -)
- Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies, U of Mainz, Advisory Board (2017 -)
- Fulbright Commission Berlin, Liaison Professor, U of Trier (2001 - 2024)
RESEARCH
American Studies (focus: post-war American culture and literature)
Literary Studies (focus: modernism, literacy and orality studies)
Urban Studies (focus: 20th century American cities)
Political rhetoric (focus: American Presidential rhetoric)
Visual Studies (focus: American photography, Edward Steichen)
Nineteenth-Century American Literature (focus: Mark Twain, naturalism)
Media Studies
Gender Studies
African-American literature
PUBLIC HUMANITIES INITIATIVES
- Annual Literary Symposium on Contemporary American fiction, 2009 -
(for a full list, see https://www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=35178)
- Public Lecture Series "American Studies" at Trier City Library, 2010-
(for a full list, see https://www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=42602)
- Author Readings at Trier City Library, 2004 -
(with Annette Pehnt, Ernest Callenbach, John Wray, Felicitas Hoppe, etc.,
for the full program, see https://www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=14499)
- "Motorcycle: Speed and Rebellion",
Installation Art Project, European Art Institute, Trier, 2009
(see http://www.motorcycle-trier.de/)
- Lecture Series in cooperation with Centre national de l'audiovisuel (CNA), Dudelange, Luxembourg, 2008 –
(for the full program, see http://steichencollections-cna.lu/eng/evenements)
- "Beat meets Bop," Poetry and Jazz Performance Project, Tufa Trier, 2004
PREVIOUS POSITIONS, EDUCATION, ACADEMIC SERVICE
March 2017 Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies, U of Mainz, Advisory Board (2017 -)
April 2012 – March 2014 Acting chair of Department of English Studies, University of Trier
June – August 2012 IVP Visiting Scholar, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA
2009 - Visiting Professor, University of Luxembourg, Belval and Walferdange, Luxembourg
2008 – 2010 Visiting Professor, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
2006 - 2007 Fulbright Senior Scholar, Portland State University, Portland, OR
June 2006 Erasmus Scholar, Cambridge, UK
April 2005 - Center for Postcolonial and Gender Studies (CePoG), Universität Trier, Advisory Board
2004-2006 Ministry of Education, Mainz, Member of Commission, Curricular Reform
October 2004 – July 2005 Director, Bologna Office, University of Trier
2004 - Supporting Foundation - Trier Center for American Studies, President
October 2003 - : Founding Director, Trier Center for American Studies, University of Trier
April 2003 - March 2005: Acting chair of Department of English Studies, University of Trier
September 2002: Visiting Professor at Clark University, Worcester MA
August 2001: Fulbright liaison professor, University of Trier
April 2001: Tenured full professor for American literature and American studies in the department of English Studies at the University of Trier
October 1999 - March 2001: Associate professor for American literature and cultural studies in the department of English at the University of Freiburg
April 1993 – September 1999: Assistant professor for American literature and cultural studies in the department of English at the University of Freiburg
August 1994 - June 1995: Exchange professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Fulbright grantee
October 1990 - March 1993: lecturer and research assistant at the University of Freiburg
December 1989: Ph.D. in American and English Literature (“summa cum laude,”
thesis: “Fragmented Urban Images: The American City in Modern Fiction from Stephen Crane to Thomas Pynchon”)
July 1986 - October 1990: Graduate student and research assistant in the department of English at the University of Freiburg
April 1988 - June 1988: Visiting scholar (DAAD grantee) at MIT, Harvard, and Columbia University
June 1986: Master of Arts from the University of Freiburg in English, German, and geography (“with distinction”)
August 1984 - June 1985: DAAD scholarship student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1982 - June 1983: Exchange student at King’s College, London
October 1980 - June 1986: Student of geography, German, English literature at the University of Freiburg
July 1977 – June 1979: Military Service (Koblenz, Wetzlar)
June 1965 - May 1977: Schools in Weildorf, Haigerloch, and Balingen (Baden Wuerttemberg)
ORGANIZED CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIA (SELECTION)
"Karl Marx and the American Dream," International Symposium (in cooperation with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Karl-Marx-Haus, Trier), June 2018
"The Family of Man in the 21st Century: Reassessing an Epochal Exhibition." International Conference, Clervaux Castle, Clervaux, Luxembourg (in cooperation with NYU AD and CNA, Luxembourg), June 2015
"New Perspectives on Edward Steichen's The Bitter Years," International Symposium, U of Trier, (in cooperation with CNA, Luxembourg), June 2014
"60 Years - J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye," Literary Symposium
(in cooperation with High Schools in Trier), May 2011
"Speed, Mass Mobility, and McCarthyist Stasis: Negotiations of Karl Marx in Post-War American Culture." International Symposium
(in cooperation with the Karl-Marx-Haus, Trier) June 2009
"US Elections 2008: Results, First Analyses," Symposium (Universität Trier) November 2008
“Appropriations of Karl Marx in American Culture and Literature,” International Symposium, Karl-Marx-Haus der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Trier, July 2006
“The New Curricula: Soft Skills,” Conference, U of Trier, February 2006
“Rebels without a Cause? Renegotiating the American Fifties,” International Conference (with Prof. A. Fallon, Portland State University), June 2005
“Die Vermittlung von Werten und Wissen (in Literatur),” Symposium, Trier, June 2004
“Change Again: Die Wahlen in den USA,” Symposium, Carl-Schurz-Haus, Freiburg, October, 1996