I have had several visiting appointments and fellowships over the course of my career, which have given me the chance to learn how different academia cultures function in terms of teaching, research activities, and in interactions with colleagues and staff. Perhaps the most rewarding fellowship for me was the eight months I spent in Berlin as a Senior Research Fellow at Cinepoetics, an advanced research organization in film studies — a “think tank” for scholarship that I believe is unique in the film studies world. Each semester, two senior research fellows and a number of junior research fellows from around the world are invited to take part in an intensive scholarly investigation of a particular critical topic in film studies. I was fortunate to work with Thomas Elsaesser and Warren Buckland in the two semesters I was resident there, along with the principals in charge of Cinepoetics, Hermann Kappelhoff and Michael Wedel. Housed within the institutional structure of the Freie Universitat of Berlin, Cinepoetics featured intensive seminars in which twenty or more scholars would discuss specific texts, major public lectures at the Arsenal Cinema in Berlin, and colloquia in which we analyzed particular films in a group setting. These were among the finest intellectual exchanges I have yet enjoyed. My time there was enhanced by the close friendships I developed, in particular, my friendship and working relationship with Dr Eileen Rositzka, who passed away a couple of years ago at a young age.
The following is a partial list of the visiting appointments I have held.
January — June 2020: Visiting Professor, Michigan State University.
September 2017 — September 2020: Honorary Professor, Department of Film Studies, University of St Andrews.
October 2017 – January 2018: Senior Research Fellow, Cinepoetics: Center for the Advanced Study of Film. Freie Universitat, Berlin.
September – October 2017: Senior Research Fellow, Department of Film, Media, Art History, and Drama, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
September 2016 – January 2017: Senior Research Fellow, Cinepoetics: Center for the Advanced Study of Film. Freie Universitat, Berlin.
February 2016: Visiting Scholar of Global Cinema, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA.
May – July 2014: Visiting Professor, Department of English, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil.
October 2008: Visiting Scholar, Department of Film Studies, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK.
Spring, 2008: Fulbright Senior Scholar, Department of Literature and Culture, University of Southern Denmark.
Summer, 2005: Visiting Professor, Department of English, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil
Spring, 1983: Visiting Assistant Professor, New York University.