Dean Carl Strikwerda

Carl Strikwerda became Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and professor of history at the College of William and Mary in July 2004. He is a specialist in modern European history and the history of globalization. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Calvin College and holds an M.A. in history from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan. He taught at the State University of New York at Purchase and the University of California at Riverside before becoming a member of the history faculty at the University of Kansas in 1987. In 1998, he was promoted to full professor and named associate dean of liberal arts and sciences at Kansas.

Dean Strikwerda has published three books and a number of articles on international history. The books include Consumers Against Capitalism? Consumer Cooperation in Europe, North America, and Japan, 1840-1990 (1999), a collection of essays co-edited with Ellen Furlough; A House Divided: Catholics, Socialists, and Flemish Nationalists in Nineteenth Century Belgium (1997); and The Politics of Immigrant Workers: Labor Activism and Migration in the World Economy, 1830 to the Present (1998), a volume co-edited with Camille Guerin-Gonzales. He is currently working on a book tentatively entitled The World at the Crossroads: The Great War and the Re-Making of Modern History. He has received post-doctoral grants and fellowships from the American Philosophical Society, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Dean Strikwerda has been active in promoting international studies, including active participation in Phi Beta Delta, the honors society for international studies, helping to organize new degrees in European Studies, International Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies, and leading study abroad programs to Austria, Belgium, France, and Hungary. He has been active in the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS), the professional association of Arts and Sciences Deans. He serves as CCAS Treasurer and as a member of its Board of Directors, oversees its national headquarters, which is located at William and Mary, and has offered numerous presentations for CCAS at workshops and conferences.

Dean Strikwerda has taught more than thirty different courses on such topics as World War One, Hitler and Nazi Germany, the History of War and Peace, the Holocaust, and Globalization in History. At William and Mary, he co-teaches a course each spring on “Global History: The World Since 1500,” advises freshmen and sophomore students, and serves as a major advisor for the International Relations Program. He served as the historical consultant to the National World War One Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, for Ralph Appelbaum Associates of New York City. Dean Strikwerda has given numerous talks to business groups, schools, and religious organizations on World War One, European history, and globalization.