The German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI), in cooperation with the Heidelberg University Association, will host a transatlantic discussion on forces of internationalization, power shifts in an increasingly multi-polar world, and the structural differences of social policy between Germany and the United States. The event will take place at the German House New York (871 United Nations Plaza, btw. 48th & 49th Streets). It is the first event in the United States to introduce the 625th anniversary of the Universität Heidelberg, which was founded in 1386.
A historian and transatlantic institution builder, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Detlef Junker has been the founding director of the Heidelberg Center for American Studies since 2004. Between 1999 and 2004, Prof. Junker was the Curt Engelhorn Chair in American History at Universität Heidelberg and served as the director for the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC, from 1994 to 1999. Before accepting the position in Washington, DC, he was a professor of modern history at Universität Heidelberg for 20 years. His publications focus primarily on United States history, specifically U.S. foreign policy and transatlantic relations, as well as German history and historical theory.
Mary Nolan is a professor of history at New York University. Her research focuses on Europe and America in the Twentieth Century, Cold War, modern German history and European women's history. She is the author of Social Democracy and Society: Working-class Radicalism in Düsseldorf, 1890-1920 and Visions of Modernity: American Business and the Modernization of Germany. She is co-editor of Crimes of War: Guilt and Denial in the Twentieth Century and The University Against Itself: The NYU Strike and the Future of the Academic Workplace. Recent articles include “Americanization and Anti-Americanism in Germany,” “Air Wars and Memory Wars,” “Anti-Americanism and Anti-Europeanism,” and “Varieties of Capitalism and Versionen der Amerikanisierung.” She is currently completing a book on Europe and America in the Twentieth Century.
The German Center for Research and Innovation, which opened in February 2010, provides information and support for the realization of cooperative and collaborative projects between North America and Germany in the humanities, science, and technology. With the goal of enhancing communication on the critical challenges of the 21st century, GCRI hosts a wide range of events from lectures and exhibitions to workshops and science dinners. Launched as a cornerstone of the German government’s initiative to internationalize science and research, it is one of five centers worldwide.
The GCRI website, www.germaninnovation.org, will be launched soon.
