People

CEMS Faculty

K. E. Fleming holds a doctorate in history from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.A. (Chicago) and B.A. (Barnard/Columbia) in comparative religion. On the history faculty, Fleming has directed NYU's Center for European and Mediterranean Studies and the A.S. Onassis Program in Hellenic Studies, as well as serving as Associate Director of the Remarque Institute. A specialist on modern Greece, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean, Fleming's work ranges from the 15th century to the present and includes articles on such disparate interests as the fall of Constantinople (1453); 19th-century Balkan rabbinics; and post-Saidian approaches to the study of Europe. She is the author or editor of three books, most recently Greece: a Jewish History (2007, Princeton University Press).

Larry Wolff is professor of history at New York University.  He is the author of Venice and the Slavs: The Discovery of Dalmatia in the Age of Enlightenment (2001), Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment (1994), The Vatican and Poland in the Age of the Partitions: Diplomatic and Cultural Encounters at the Warsaw Nunciature (1988), and Postcards from the End of the World: Child Abuse in Freud's Vienna (1988).  Most recently, he published the edited volume The Anthropology of the Enlightenment (2007), and his current research concerns Galicia.  Wolff is an elected member of the Council of the American Historical Association and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Modern History.  He has received Fulbright, American Council of Learned Societies, and Guggenheim fellowships, and in 2003 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

Visiting Faculty

Elise Langan holds a Ph.D. in International Education from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education. She completed her M.S. at the University of Southern California and her B.S. from Northwestern University. Her dissertation, The European Union: ERASMUS in Paris, (Nova Science Publishers, 2001)considered French identity in relation to EU higher education policy. At present she is conducting survey research regarding French national identity among students at Sciences Po, L’Ecole Normale Supérieure and Paris 8. Elise has been a scholar at NYU’s Center for European and Mediterranean Studies since 2003. She has published articles for Higher Education Policy, The Brookings Institution, European Education and John Brown’s Public Diplomacy Press Review. In addition to teaching at the Center, she teaches in the government department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY).

Sylvia Maier joined the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies in September 2007 as Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow.  She earned her B.A. in Political Science at the University of Vienna, Austria, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Southern California.  Previously, she was an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Dr. Maier's research focuses on gender and multiculturalism, honor killings, the legal accommodation of Muslim minority rights in Western Europe, and the role of ICTs in women's empowerment in the Global South. She is the author of "Honor Killings and the Cultural Defense in Germany," "Shared Values: Democracy and Human Rights in the European Neighborhood Policy" (with Frank Schimmelfennig), "Women and Internet Use in Five South Indian Villages: Obstacles and Opportunities" (with Michael Best), and "Empowering Women Through ICT-Based Business Initiatives: An Overview of Best Practices in E-Commerce/E-Retail Projects" (with Usha Nair).  She has also authored several shorter pieces and reviews.  Dr. Maier is currently completing a book manuscript on Mainstreaming Muslims: Islam, Culture and the Law in France and Germany. 

Michael Minkenberg, the 2007-09 Max Weber Chair for German and European Studies, received his M.A. in American Government from Georgetown University and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Heidelberg.  He has taught at the universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg, at Cornell University and, most recently, at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).  Professor Minkenberg's research interests include the radical right in liberal democracies; immigration, nationalism and the politics of citizenship; and the relationship between religion and politics in Western societies.  Among his book publications are The American Impasse, edited with H. Dittgen (1996); Die neue radikale Rechte im Vergleich. USA, Frankreich, Deutschland (1998); and Politik und Religion. PVS Special Issue 33/2002, edited with U. Willems. His articles have appeared in journals such as Comparative Politics, West European Politics, Comparative Political Studies, European Journal of Political Research, and Comparative European Politics.

Lidia Santarelli joins the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies in January 2008 as Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow.  She earned her Laurea in Arts and Humanities from the Universitá degli Studi "La Sapienza" - Roma 1 and her Ph.D. in History and Civilization from the European University Institute.  She has held post-doctoral fellowships at Princeton University, Columbia University and the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Washington, D.C.  Dr. Santarelli's research interests focus on Italian fascism, nations and nationalism in the Balkans, and collective memory in post-1945 Europe.  Her forthcoming book, Spazio Vitale. Guerra e occupazione italiana in Grecia 1940-1943 (2007), explores fascist Italy's occupation of Greece.  She has published book chapters and articles in journals, such as the Journal of Modern Italian Studies.  Dr. Santarelli is co-author and historical consultant for Italian Brava Gente. A Film Documentary on Italian War Crimes in African and the Balkans.  She is currently conducting research on the Holocaust in Greece.

Adjunct Faculty

Desirae Randisi holds an M.A. in European and Mediterranean Studies from New York University and a B.A. in International Studies and History from Emory University.  She served as a research assistant at the Center on Law & Security at NYU’s Law School while completing her Master's thesis on counterterrorism cooperation between the United States and Europe.   Before coming to NYU, she taught U.S. and world history at Pittsfield High School in Massachusetts.  Prior to that she earned her TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate and taught Business English in the Czech Republic and Great Britain for several years.  In addition to teaching an undergraduate course on the European Union at the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, she currently serves as Assistant to the Dean for the Social Sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science.  Her research interests include international security, European security and defense policy, and transatlantic relations.