Biography
Dr. Emil Nagengast came to Juniata in 1996 as an assistant professor of political science. He graduated cum laude with his B.A. in German and political science from Middlebury College. He went on to receive his M.A. in political science from the University of Kansas and his Ph.D. in the same field from the University of Pittsburgh. During his studies Dr. Nagengast also attended Karl Marx Universitat in Leipzig, East Germany; Middlebury College Summer Russian Language Institute; Krasnodar Russian Language Institute in the USSR; and Johannes Gutenberg Universitat in Mainz, West Germany.
He has received numerous honors and scholarships including a four month internship at the West Berlin Senate, a ten month research scholarship in Leipzig, a combined grant from the University of Pittsburgh and Treuhandanstalt (Berlin) for field research on German privatization in Berlin and Dresden, and a Postrednik Research Grant for research on German-East European Relations in Bonn. He was also selected as a participant in a summer seminar of the German Fulbright Commission. He was awarded a Rotary Grant for University Professors to teach at the University of the Gambia in West Africa.
His professional experience includes teaching fellowships, assistantships, and undergraduate advising at the University of Pittsburgh. He was also a teaching fellow at the University of Kansas and an instructor at the Pennsylvania Governor's School for International Studies for many years. Dr. Nagengast has participated in various conferences and a number of his works have been published. He was the 1999/2000 recipient of the Beachley Junior Faculty Award at Juniata.
His teaching interests include East and West European politics, the European Union, international organizations and human rights. Since 2004 he has added African politics to his research and teaching interests. He conducted field research in Ethiopia at the headquarters of the African Union and in the Gambia at the headquarters of the African Commission for Peoples and Human Rights. He has visited five African countries and he takes Juniata students every year on a summer program in West Africa. He has published on the topic of human rights in Africa and he teaches a course every year on African Politics.