The Department of History has selected Professor Helmut Puff to serve as director of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies beginning July 1, 2017. Puff, a professor in the Departments of History and Germanic Languages and Literatures, is the Eisenberg Institute’s fifth director.

“I am overjoyed to have been asked to steer the Eisenberg Institute of Historical Studies these coming years—one of the greatest tasks for a historian one can imagine,” said Puff.

“The institute’s activities offer a vibrant forum to debate what it means to do history and to model how historical knowledge matters in today’s world. It connects students, faculty, and the general public—exchanges that exceed periods, approaches, and specialties. In this and other ways, it is an utterly unique institution as well as an exemplary showcase for historical work.”

Puff replaces Howard Brick, who is concluding his two-and-a-half-year term.

“I’ve been delighted to serve as director over the last few years. It has been an honor to follow my esteemed predecessors in this role and to now welcome so distinguished and creative a historian as Helmut Puff to lead the institute in the coming years.” said Brick, the Louis Evans Professor of History.

“Past directors have made EIHS into what it is now. Keeping these traditions alive while constantly regenerating the institute’s relevance in an ever changing intellectual environment is the goal for my tenure as director,” said Puff.