Emre Sencer
Chair & Professor of History
Meet Professor Sencer
Years at Knox: 2008 to present
As a specialist in modern European history, I’m fascinated with the connection between politics and culture, especially under authoritarian regimes. My work focuses on the transnational impact of the transformation of military culture in the interwar era and compares these developments in Germany and Turkey in the ’30s. In my teaching, I try to alert the students to the importance of comparative analysis in history without losing touch with specific regional historical experiences.
Education
Ph.D., History, 2008, Ohio State University.
M.A., History, 2000, Ohio State University.
B.A., English, 1996, The City College of New York.
Teaching Interests
Late 19th- and 20th c. German/European history; the two world wars; Cold War politics and society.
Selected Professional Accomplishments
Honors/Grants
Exceptional Achievement Award, Knox College, Fall 2020.
Fulbright Fellowship, Odessa Law Academy, Ukraine, 2018-2019.
Knox College Faculty Development Grant (Language Study), Summer 2017.
Knox College Faculty Development Grant (Language Study), Summer and Fall 2016.
Knox College Faculty Development Grant, Research & Creative Work (Mellon Funds, with Todd Heidt), 2015-2016.
Knox College Faculty Development Grant (Language Study), Summer and Fall 2015.
Publications
Emre Sencer, Todd Heidt, and Claudia Kost, Ekstase und Elend. Deutsche Kulturgeschichte 1900 bis heute [Ecstasy and Misery: German Cultural History from 1900 to Today]. Focus, 2020.
Emre Sencer, John Deak, and Heather R. Perry, eds. The Central Powers in Russia's Great War and Revolution: Enemy Visions and Encounters, 1914-1922, Volume 7 of Russia’s Great War and Revolution. Slavica, 2020.
Emre Sencer and Alan Beyerchen, eds. Expeditionary Forces in the First World War. Palgrave, 2019.
Emre Sencer, “From Galicia to Galilee: The Ottoman and German Expeditionary Experiences in the First World War in Comparison,” in Sencer and Beyerchecn, eds. Expeditionary Forces in the First World War. Palgrave, 2019
Emre Sencer, Order and Insecurity in Germany and Turkey: Military Cultures of the 1930s. Routledge, 2017
- Turkish translation: Ordu ve Millet: 1930’larda Almanya ve Türkiye’de Askeri Kültür, trans. Özlem Albayrak [İletişim, 2018])
Presentations
“Lessons from the history of European integration,” Faculty of International Legal Relations, National University, Odessa Law Academy, 23 April 2021. (virtual)
Lecture series on the history of rightwing populism and fascism from 1900 to the present, ELSA Odessa, October 2020. (virtual)
Lecture on the historical origins of present-day rightwing populism, Odessa Law Academy, International Studies Office, 26 October 2020. (virtual)
Lecture on the history of European integration, Odessa Maritime Academy, 9 December 2019.
Presentation and discussion on Order and Insecurity in Germany and Turkey and its Turkish translation, Window on America Center, Odessa, Ukraine, 7 February 2019.
“Self-image, Legality, and History in AKP Turkey,” International Congress of European Law, National University-Odessa Law Academy, Ukraine, 2017.
Lecture on Ottoman Empire and Early Republican Turkey, Eureka College, 2016.
“The Policy and Fantasy of Creating Germanness Abroad,” Moderator, German Studies Association Conference, San Diego, 2016.
“Russia’s Great War and Revolution, 1914-22: Central Powers’ Perspective,” Roundtable, American Historical Association Meeting, Atlanta, 2016.
Campus & Community Involvement
- Chair, Journalism Program, Knox College, 2025-2026.
- Chair, History Department, 2023-
- Faculty Personnel Committee, 2016-2018, 2019-2023
- Chair, 2022-2023
- Chair, International Studies Program, 2015-2018
- Curriculum Committee, Policy Subcommittee, 2015-2016
- Interim Chair, Spring 2016
- Faculty Advisor, Mortar Board, 2015-2018