Contact

Professor Hermann Kurthen
2163 AuSable Hall
[email protected]
(616) 331-8720

Education

Free University in West Berlin, Germany
Ph.D. Sociology
M.A. Economics
M.A. Sociology

Fields

Comparative and Global Studies, Immigration and Minority Relations, Transatlantic Relations and Foreign Policy, Linguistic Assimilation, On-Line Pedagogy, Research Methods 

Courses

• Introduction to Sociology
• Quantitative Methods in Sociology

Selected Publications

Books
Kurthen, Hermann, Antonio V. Menendez-Alarcon, and Stefan Immerfall, eds. 2006. Safeguarding German-American Relations in the New Century: Understanding and Accepting Mutual Differences. Lanham. Maryland: Lexington Books - Rowman & Littlefield. 271 p.

Kurthen, Hermann; Jürgen Fijalkowski; and Gert G. Wagner, eds. 1998. Immigration, Citizenship, and the Welfare State in Germany and the United States: Immigrant Incorporation. Greenwich, CT: JAI
Press (Series: Industrial Development and the Social Fabric, Vol. 14, Part A), 232 p.

Kurthen, Hermann; Jürgen Fijalkowski; and Gert G. Wagner, eds. 1998. Immigration, Citizenship, and the Welfare State in Germany and the United States: Welfare Policies and Immigrants' Citizenship.
Greenwich, CT: JAI Press (Series: Industrial Development and the Social Fabric, Vol. 14, Part B), 199 p.

Kurthen, Hermann; Werner Bergmann; and Rainer Erb, eds. 1997. Antisemitism and Xenophobia in Germany after Unification. New York: Oxford University Press, 318 p.

Gillmeister, Helmut; Hermann Kurthen; and Jürgen Fijalkowski. 1989. Ausländerbeschäftigung in der Krise? Die Beschäftigungschancen und -risiken ausländischer Arbeitnehmer am Beispiel der West Berliner Industrie [A Crisis of Foreigner Employment? The Employment Chances and Risks of Migrant Labor in the Manufacturing Industry of West Berlin]. Berlin: Edition Sigma Bohn, 342 p.

Refereed Journal Articles in English
Kurthen Hermann. 2021. "Max Weber’s Living Legacy." Contemporary Sociology 50(2):118-123.

Kurthen, Hermann Kurthen. 2021. "Present at the Destruction? Grand Strategy Imperatives of US Foreign Policy Experts During the Trump Presidency." European Journal of International Security 6 (1, February): 1-24.

Kurthen Hermann. 2020. "German Foreign Policy Rules for Action during the 2011 Libya Crisis." German Politics and Society 38(4): 1-27.

Kurthen, Hermann and Glenn G. Smith. 2014. "Hybrid Online Face-to-Face Teaching: When is it an efficient Learning Tool?” (Reprint, originally published 2006). In: Engaging Hybrid and Blended Learning in Higher Education, edited by Jonathan H. Westover and Jacque P. Westover. University of Illinois, Champaign, IL: Common Ground E-Learning and Innovative Pedagogies, pp. 36-48.

Kurthen, H. 2014. “What Influences College Classroom Interaction?” The International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation, Vol. 20(4): 13-34.

Boehm, Diane, Hermann Kurthen & Lilianna Aniola-Jedrzejek. 2010. “Do International Online Collaborative Learning Projects Impact Ethnocentrism?” E-Learning and Digital Media 7(2): 133-146.

Kurthen, Hermann and Barbara Heisler. 2009. "Immigrant Integration: Comparative Evidence from the United States and Germany." Ethnic and Racial Studies 32(1): 139-170.

Smith, Glenn Gordon and Hermann Kurthen. 2007. "Front-Stage and Back-Stage in Hybrid E-Learning Face-to-Face Courses.” International Journal On E-Learning, Vol. 6(3): 455-474.

Kurthen, Hermann and Kay M. Losey. 2004. "Dispelling Myths: Facts for Developing an Appropriate Education Policy in Immigrant Nations." International Journal of Learning, Vol. 10, pp. 917-931.

Kurthen, Hermann. 1998. "Gone with the Wind? German Language Retention in North Carolina and the U.S. in Comparative Perspective." Yearbook of German-American Studies, Vol. 33, pp. 55-83.

Kurthen, Hermann. 1997. "Conference Report: Immigration and the Welfare State in Comparison: Differences in the Incorporation of Immigrant Minorities in Germany and the U.S." International Migration Review 31 (3): 721-731.

Kurthen, Hermann. 1997. "The Canadian Experience with Multiculturalism and Employment Equity: Lessons for Europe." New Community: The Journal of the European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations 23 (2): 249-270.

Kurthen H. 1995. "Germany at the Crossroads: National Identity and the Challenges of Immigration." International Migration Review 29 (4): 914-938.

Kurthen H. & K. M. Losey. 1995. "How to Cope with Cultural Diversity: What is the U.S. Debate on Political Correctness Really About?"International Politics and Society-Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft 2 (1): 46-58.

Losey, K. M. & H. Kurthen. 1995. "The Rhetoric of 'Political Correctness' in the U.S. Media." Amerikastudien/American Studies 40 (2): 227-245.

Kurthen H. & M. Minkenberg. 1995. "Germany in Transition: Immigration, Racism and the Extreme Right." Nations and Nationalism 1 (2): 175-96.

Kurthen, Hermann. 1991. "Ethnic and Gender Inequality in the Labor Market: The Case of West Berlin and Germany." Studi Emigrazione-Etudes Migrations 28 (101): 82-110.

Refereed Journal Articles in German
Kurthen, Hermann and Helmar Schoene. 2018. „Aussenpolitische Handlungsregeln in Deutschland. Ergebnisse aus Experteninterviews waehrend der Libyenkrise 2011 [German Foreign Policy Rules of Action during the 2011 Libya Crisis. Findings from Expert Interviews].“ Zeitschrift fuer Aussen- und Sicherheitspolitik 11 (1): 39-64.

Immerfall, Stefan & H. Kurthen. 2008. "Die transatlantische Wertegemeinschaft im 21. Jahrhundert." [The Transatlantic Community of Values in the 21st Century], Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 5-6: 3-8.

Kurthen, Hermann. 1997. "Das Überleben der Deutschen Sprache in North Carolina und in den Vereinigten Staaten: Ein Vergleich." [The Survival of the German Language in North Carolina and in the United States: A Comparison], Germanistische Mitteilungen 45-46: 101-126.

Kurthen, Hermann and Kay M. Losey. 1996. "'Political Correctness' in amerikanischen Printmedien: Über den Missbrauch eines ideologischen Schlagworts" ['Political Correctness' in the American Print Media: The Abuse of an Ideological Cliché], Vorgänge-Zeitschrift für Bürgerrechte und Gesellschaftspolitik 136 (4): 48-61.

Kurthen, Hermann and Kay M. Losey. 1995. "Schlagwort oder Kampfbegriff? Zur 'Political Correctness'-Debatte in den USA" [Cliché or Call to Arms? The Debate about 'Political Correctness' in the United States]. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 21-22: 3-13.

Book Chapters in English
Kurthen, Hermann and Glenn G. Smith. 2014. Hybrid Online Face-to-Face Teaching: When is it an efficient Learning Tool? (Reprint, originally published 2006). In: Engaging Hybrid and Blended Learning in Higher Education, edited by Jonathan H. Westover and Jacque P. Westover. University of Illinois, Champaign, IL: Common Ground E-Learning and Innovative Pedagogies, pp. 36-48.

Kurthen, H. 2009. "The Effects of Transnational Student On-Line Collaboration on Ethnocentrism and Individualism vs. Collectivism" In:Teaching Psychology around the World, Vol. 2, edited by Sherri McCarthy et al. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 574-599.

Kurthen, H. 2008. "Transnational Online Student Collaboration: Does it Work?" In Bernadette E. Dietz and Lynn Harper Ritchey (Eds.),Scaffold for Student Success in Learning: Effective Practices in Using Instructional Strategies (pp. 202-210). Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.

Kurthen, H. 2006. "Germany's Coming Out: Citizenship and Immigration Reform since Unification." In: Transformations of the New Germany, edited by Ruth A. Starkman. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 181-198.

Kurthen, H. & G. G. Smith. 2005. "Threshold Effects in Hybrid and Blended Online Classes." In Lynn Harper Ritchey (Ed.), Teaching Introduction to Sociology As a Hybrid Course: A Resource Manual (pp. 33-47). Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.

Kurthen, H. 1998. "Fiscal Impacts of Immigration on the American and German Welfare States." IN: Immigration, Citizenship, and the Welfare State in Germany and the United States (Part A) edited by Hermann Kurthen, Jurgen Fijalkowski, and Gert Wagner. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, pp. 175-212.

Kurthen, H. 1997. "Equity in Employment as a Means of Minority Incorporation: Some Results from a 1990 Toronto Survey." In:Multiculturalism in North America and Europe. Comparative Perspectives on Interethnic Relations and Social Incorporation, edited by Wsevolod W. Isajiw. Toronto: Canadian Scholar's Press and the Robert F. Harney Professionship and Program in Ethnic, Immigration and Pluralism Studies, University of Toronto, pp. 273-302.

Kurthen, Hermann. 1997. "Defining the Fatherland: Immigration and Nationhood in Pre-and Post-Unification Germany." In: Rewriting the German Past: History and Identity in the New Germany, edited by Reinhard Alter and Peter Monteath. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International, pp. 65-102.

Kurthen H. 1997. "Antisemitism and Xenophobia in United Germany: How the Burden of the Past Affects the Present." In: Antisemitism and Xenophobia in Germany after Unification, edited by Hermann Kurthen, Werner Bergmann, and Rainer Erb. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 39-87.

Kurthen, Hermann. 1993. "Corporate Human Resource Policies Dealing with a Multicultural Workforce-West Berlin and Toronto in Comparison." In: Bridging States and Markets: International Migration in the Early 1990’s, edited by Hedwig Rudolph and Mirjana Morokvasic. Social Science Research Center/Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin & Edition Sigma, pp. 113-139.

Kurthen, Hermann. 1991. "Equality for Visible Minorities in a Multicultural Society: The Canadian Employment Equity Legislation as an Example." In: Dominant National Cultures and Ethnic Identities, edited by Jürgen Fijalkowski, Hans Merkens, and Folker Schmidt. Berlin: Freie Universität Press, Institut für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft, Nr. 11b (March), pp. 175-210.

Kurthen, Hermann. 1991. "Some Remarks on Ethnic Stratification in West Germany and West Berlin." In: Ethnicity, Structured Inequality, and the State in Canada and the Federal Republic of Germany, edited by Robin Ostow, Jürgen Fijalkowski, Y. Michael Bodemann, and Hans Merkens. Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang, pp. 77-94.

Book Chapters in German
Kurthen H. 2002. "Einwandererintegration im Spiegel der U.S. Amerikanischen Forschung" [Immigrant Integration in U.S. American Research] In: Wohlfahrtsstaat, Einwanderung und Ethnische Minderheiten, edited by Andreas Treichler. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, pp. 83-106.

Gillmeister, Helmut and Hermann Kurthen. 1990. "Diskriminierung oder Farbenblindheit: Über den Umgang von Unternehmern mit der Ausländerbeschäftigung" [Discrimination or Color-Blindness: How Companies Treat Migrant Labor]. In: Transnationale Migranten in der Arbeitswelt: Studien zur Ausländerbeschäftigung in der Bundesrepublik und zum Internationalen Vergleich, edited by Jürgen Fijalkowski. Berlin: Edition Sigma Bohn, pp. 59-76.

Gillmeister, Helmut and Hermann Kurthen. 1989. "Zur Lage der Ausländerbeschäftigung in Berlin/West" [The State of Migrant Employment in West Berlin]. In: Berlin 2000: Zukunftsorientierte Planung. Probleme—Chancen—Risiken, edited by Rolf Busch. Berlin: Freie Universität Press, Dept. of Education and Training, pp. 150-162.

Kurthen, Hermann. 1985. "Thesen zur ethnischen Stratifikation, Interessenkonkurrenz und sozialen Ungleichheit in kapitalistisch verfassten Industriegesellschaften" [Comments on Ethnic Stratification, Competition, and Social Inequality in Industrialized Capitalist Societies]. In: Soziologie und Gesellschaftliche Entwicklung—22nd Deutscher Soziologentag 1984, edited by Hans Werner Franz. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, pp. 510-513.

Selected Awards

2011 Fulbright Award in the Lecturer/Research category by the German-American Fulbright Commission for Research at Stiftung Wissenschaft & Politik in Berlin/Germany on the Political Cultural Orientations of German Legislators Concerning Security and International Conflict ($ 2,870 monthly stipend)

2010 GVSU CSCE travel award for a presentation at the German Studies Association Conference at Oakland, CA, October 6-10, 2010 ($ 1400)

2010 GVSU Department of Sociology travel award for a presentation at University of Education Schwaebisch Gmuend, Germany and Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin, Germany, May 3-4, 2010 ($ 680)

Current Research Interests

Comparative and global studies, immigration and minority relations, transatlantic relations, linguistic assimilation, on-line pedagogy

Curriculum Vitae

Click here for c.v.

Biography

Professor Kurthen teaches Research Methods and Introduction to Sociology at Grand Valley State University since 2004. He received his doctorate in Sociology from the Free University in West Berlin, Germany (1984), and also has a M.A. in Sociology, a M.A. in Economics, and a B.A. in Political Science. Previously he was employed at Stony Brook University (1997-2004), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1991-1996), and the Free University West Berlin (1978-1990). Dr. Kurthen was a Senior Fulbright Fellow in 2011 and a Fulbright Austria Scholar at Johannes Kepler University in Linz in 2023. He also conducted research at the University of Toronto and UNC Chapel Hill and obtained scholarships and research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., the German National Science Foundation (DFG), and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). At Stony Brook he was co-editor of 'International Sociology' (1998-2002) and also developed and directed the Federated Learning Community Minor Program on Globalization. His research and numerous publications range from comparative and global studies, immigration and minority relations, transatlantic relations, and linguistic assimilation to online teaching. He is also engaged in academic exchange and study abroad activities.