The College Record 2022

Credit: John Cairns
SENIOR TUTOR’S REPORT
Prof Seth Whidden
I closed my remarks last year by stating the College’s
commitment to as much in-person work as would be
permitted in 2021/2. Fortunately, we were largely able to
do just that; all aspects of the College’s teaching and
research met our demanding expectations of rigor and
quality, with the online experience of the previous year
leaving its mark on specific activities to varying degrees.
The below results speak for themselves: regardless the
format, the College continues to teach and pursue cuttingedge
scholarship at the highest levels possible.
Reports and College Activities
Just after last year’s College Record went to press, the selection panel completed
its work for the new Schwarz-Taylor Professorship in German. This post (previously
called the Taylor chair) is fully endowed, and it continues to be associated with a
fellowship at the College. The new Schwarz-Taylor Professor, Karen Leeder, is a
specialist in and prize-winning translator of contemporary German literature, film,
and culture. Among Professor Leeder’s numerous current projects is a study of
contemporary German poetry. She was on sabbatical leave during this academic
year and joined us in October.
The Harmsworth Visiting Professorship of American History resumed its rotation
after the pandemic, and we welcomed Patrick Griffin, Madden-Hennebry Family
Professor at Notre Dame University. Professor Griffin’s scholarship sits at the
intersection of colonial American and early modern Irish and British history.
His lecture in November on ‘The unexceptional roots of American exceptionalism:
America in the age of revolution’ was particularly timely, and his regular presence in
College was appreciated all year long. The new Harmsworth Professor for 2022/3 is
Bruce Schulman, the William E. Huntington Professor of History at Boston University.
Professor Schulman’s research on the history of the modern United States focuses in
particular on the relationships between politics and broader cultural change. Among
his current projects are vol. 8 (covering the period 1896–1929) of the Oxford History
of the United States, a distinguished series (1982–) that includes former Harmsworth
Professor Peter Mancall among its authors, and of which 3 volumes were awarded
the Pulitzer Prize for History. We look forward to celebrating the 100 years of the
Harmsworth professorship this coming June.
Five new fellows were elected during the 2021/2 academic year. Dennis Egger is
our new Tutorial Fellow in Economics. A specialist in development, labour, and trade
economics, Dr Egger uses large scale experiments and administrative data sets to
pursue empirical research on migration, networks, and spatial linkages between
economic agents in general equilibrium. His recent work has considered the effects
College Record 2022 | The Queen’s College 9