Uta G. Poiger

Biography

In her role as special advisor to the provost on humanics, Uta G. Poiger works with colleagues, students, and partners across Northeastern’s global campus system to foster signature educational initiatives in the context of the university’s new academic plan, Experience Unleashed. From November 2012 to June 2023, she served as dean of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern University. Alongside the college’s faculty, staff, and students, she worked to enhance leadership in the experiential liberal arts. Under her leadership, the college developed three areas of strategic focus: the intersections of resilience and sustainability; cultural transformations, governance, and globalization; and network science, digital humanities, and information ethics.  
 

Poiger’s research examines 20th-century German culture and society from a transnational perspective, with a focus on race and gender. Her books and articles have addressed questions of Americanization, globalization, imperialism, and the promises and challenges of comparative history. Her graduate and undergraduate teaching has included courses on modern European and German history, the Holocaust and comparative genocide, gender and sexuality, and historiography. Before coming to Northeastern as chair of the history department in 2011, Poiger taught for 16 years at the University of Washington, Seattle, where she was the Giovanni and Amne Costigan Endowed Professor of History, and Adjunct Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She holds a PhD in history from Brown University and a Master of Arts in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

Contact

Uta G. Poiger
u.poiger@northeastern.edu

Jennifer Grieve
Project Manager, Humanics Initiatives
j.grieve@northeastern.edu