About Our Faculty

Russell A. Berman, Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities
Russell Berman has been at Stanford since 1979. He is a member of the departments of Comparative Literature and German Studies. He has written widely on modern German and European literature and politics, as well as on issues in contemporary cultural theory. He has been awarded fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. His publications have twice been awarded the distinguished book award of the German Studies Association.

Marc Bertrand, Professor of French, Emeritus
Professor Marc Bertrand was raised in France and obtained his Ph.D. in Romance Languages at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of L'Oeuvre de Jean Prevost and editor, contributor, and co-author of a number of other publications concerning French and cultural history. He is working on Le Roman du bâtard, a book on the contemporary French novel. A recent essay in French Cultural Studies, "L'Ecrit et l'image populaires dans les études d'histoire culturelle," advocated the inclusion of new material from popular culture in the teaching of French cultural history. Professor Bertrand loves Paris past and present, and he has participated in the Stanford in Paris program, lecturing on contemporary French society and culture.

Chris Bobonich, Associate Professor of Philosophy and, by courtesy, Classics
Chris Bobonich has a Ph.D. from Berkeley and taught at the University of Chicago before coming to Stanford in 1996. He is the author of Plato's Utopia Recast (Oxford University Press, 2002). He received the Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching and in 2005 was named a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education (this fellowship, recognizes exceptional commitment to teaching and mentoring undergraduate students.) His main area of research is in Greek philosophy and the history of ethics.

Gordon Chang, Professor of American History
Professor of American History, Gordon Chang’s research focuses on Asian American history and U.S.-East Asia relations.  He is the author of Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to the Present (2006), Asian Americans and Politics: An Exploration (2001), Morning Glory, Evening Shadow: Yamato Ichihashi and His Wartime Writing, 1942-1945 (1997), and Friends and Enemies: The United States, China, and the Soviet Union, 1948-1972 (1990). 

Gerald Dorfman, Hoover Senior Fellow and Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science
Gerald Dorfman is an authority and does research on British and European politics including the European Union. He is also interested in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Dorfman served in the Agency for International Development, Department of State. He was a professor of political science at Iowa State University, a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley, and a distinguished visiting professor at San Jose State University.

Larry Friedlander, Professor of English Literature and Theater
Larry Friedlander has been at Stanford since 1965, where his specialty has been Shakespeare and performance. In addition to his academic and critical activities, Friedlander worked in the professional theater as an actor and director for many years. He has participated in major research laboratories on a wide variety of projects connected to the arts, technology, and education, including work at the Apple Multimedia Lab developing innovative designs for the Globe Theater Museum in London.

"What a joy to work with students who bring such a rich variety of experiences and life wisdom into the classroom!" - Larry Friedlander

Charles Junkerman, Associate Provost and Dean, Continuing Studies
Charles Junkerman received his PhD in comparative literature from UC Berkeley, and has been at Stanford since 1983. He has taught in the departments of English, History, and Anthropology on subjects ranging from John Cage and Gary Snyder to Native American photography, English and American literature, and cultural theory.

Joseph Manning, Associate Professor of Classics
Joe Manning received his PhD from the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. He is a specialist in Greek and demotic papyrology and economic history, and taught at Princeton University before coming to Stanford. He is a former fellow at the Institute for Research in the Humanities, University of Wisconsin, and was also a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He has lived and traveled extensively in Egypt.

David Palumbo-Liu, Professor of Comparative Literature
David Palumbo-Liu's research interests include race and ethnicity, culture and society, social theory, and globalization. He has published four books on Asian literature, ethnic literature, the movement of culture across borders, and the importance of Asia Pacific to American studies. He has taught at Stanford for sixteen years, and has taught many times for the Continuing Studies and MLA programs.

Paul Robinson, Richard W. Lyman Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus
Paul Robinson has written extensively on the history of European and American thought in the 19th and 20th centuries.  His books include, Opera, Sex, and Other Vital Matters, Gay Lives: Homosexual Autobiography from John Addington Symonds to Paul Monette, Freud and His Critics, Opera and Ideas: From Mozart to Strauss, The Modernization of Sex: Havelock Ellis, Alfred Kinsey, William Masters, and Virginia Johnson, and The Freudian Left: Wilhelm Reich, Geza Roheim, and Herbert Marcuse.  Professor Robinson describes his writing as primarily focused on three topics.  The first is the history of psychoanalysis.  The second is the history of ideas about human sexuality, especially the experience of gays and lesbians.  The third is the connection between intellectual history and the history of opera.

Edward Steidle, Lecturer in English
Edward Steidle joined the Stanford English facutly in 1984. His area of specialization is medieval art and literature. he is currently working on conparative approaches to the study of ancient European, Asian, and Central American cultures. He also leads travel groups to historical sites in Italy and the Aegean.

"MLA students have impressed me most by their hunger to learn. Nothing is more rewarding for a teacher than students who are so turned on by the educational experience."
- Ernlé Young, Professor, Department of Medicine (Ethics)