Adjunct Associate Professor

M.A. (ABD), Ph.D., University of Minnesota (1998)
World History and Modern Europe


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Office: 4412 Friedmann Hall
E-mail: E-mail: kenneth.steuer@wmich.edu
Phone: (269) 387-4642

Teaching

Building on my experience in developing the International Studies Program at Indiana University, I strive to expose students to the global dimensions of historical events in European and World History. This includes a strong emphasis on world geography and the relevance of historical events to contemporary issues. I teach a variety of European history courses covering the period from 1815 to 1945 as well as World History since 1500. I design my advanced History courses to help students produce research projects that can be used beyond the classroom, such as writing samples for Graduate School applications or for job interviews. I plan to develop a history internship that will address the digitization of World War I material through a new website supported by WMU. .

Scholarship

My research interests focus on the role and operations of social welfare agencies and international organizations during the First World War and the interwar years. My first project was an examination of the Young Men's Christian Association and relief services to prisoners of war during the Great War. This has expanded to include an analysis of the role of welfare agencies in providing morale work for Allied soldiers and the establishment of social welfare operations in the new countries of Eastern Europe after World War I. In conjunction with the United Nations Library in Geneva, I have done extensive research involving the League of Nations and Nobel Peace Prize laureates affiliated with the League and the UN. Much of my work has revolved around the digitization of historical primary sources, including the publication of my first book as an electronic monograph with the American Historical Association's Gutenberg-e Project. The goal of this program is to develop the "next generation" of digital book that includes primary documents, interactive maps, music, and extensive image collections that exceeds the information found in traditional historical studies. .

Recent Publications

The American YMCA and Prisoner of War Diplomacy with the Central Powers during the First World War . New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2008.

A Century of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates From Pre-World War I Peace Movements to the United Nations. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Press, March 20006.

A Century of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Website . Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Libaries, 2005. http://www.indiana.edu/~global/nobel

"Service for Soldiers: American Social Welfare Agencies in World War I." In Timothy C. Dowling, ed. Prespectives of World War I. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Cilo, 2004.

"League of Nations Digitization Project. "Leagur of Nations Photograph Collection Website. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Libaries, 2003. http://www.indiana.edu/~global/league

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