The German Academic Exchange Service has selected Laurence Hare, associate professor of history and director of the European Studies Program and J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences International Studies Program, to serve as a Research Ambassador for the 2017-18 academic year.

"It is a real honor to represent the many wonderful programs of the German Academic Exchange Service," Hare said. "Germany is a fantastic country for study abroad and faculty research, and I look forward to connecting the members of our faculty community to those opportunities."

Hare was one of only 21 academics in the world selected for the honor. The Research Ambassador program recognizes individuals who have conducted a long-term research project in Germany at the doctoral level or above. Earlier this year, Hare and the other ambassadors participated in a two-day seminar addressing the latest developments in German higher education and research. As an ambassador, Hare will work to promote research opportunities in Germany.

Hare specializes in the intellectual and cultural history of modern Germany and Scandinavia and is the author of Excavating Nations: Archaeology, Museums, and the German-Danish Borderlands (University of Toronto Press, 2015), which explores the uses of the distant past in the creation of modern nation-states. The project was supported by a German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation and recognized with the Aurora Borealis Prize from the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study.