Sean M. Pollock, Ph.D.
Dr. Pollock earned his Ph.D in History from Harvard University (2006), where he received multiple teaching awards, including the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for senior thesis advising and the Stephen Botein Prize for teaching in History and Literature. He has also taught at Yale University and the University of New Haven, and was Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies at Columbia University (2007). Since joining the Department of History in 2008, he has received recognition for teaching excellence in General Education (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014) and Writing across the Curriculum (2009, 2010, 2013) until the awards were discontinued in 2015. He was the 2013 Phi Alpha Theta Outstanding Faculty Member (Department of History) and the recipient of the College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Teaching Award for 2015. In addition to teaching in traditional classroom settings, he has designed and taught asynchronous and synchronous online courses at every level, and has advanced the university's mission to engage in meaningful community service by teaching service‐learning courses in partnership with Dayton's Thurgood Marshall High School. He chaired the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and the Faculty Senate Taskforce on Distance Education, served as the inaugural Faculty Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning (2014-18), and represented the College of Liberal Arts on Faculty Senate (2012-2018). Pollock has published on various dimensions of Russian empire-building in the Caucasus and laws concerning Russian subjecthood, and his current research focuses on the history and memory of Russia's 1812 campaign against Napoleonic France. He recently served as Special Assistant to the Provost for Wright State Online and currently directs the MA in History program.
Curriculum Vitae
Pollock_CV_2024.pdf 318.14 KB Education History
Graduate Certificate: Instructional Design for Digital Learning, Wright State University, 2017
Ph.D. - Harvard University, 2006
A.M. - Harvard University, 1996
B.A. - University of Washington, 1994
Teaching
Specializations:
Imperial Russia
Comparative Empires
Courses Taught:
War and Society in Ukraine
Introduction to Historical Analysis
Historical Methods
Imperial Russia
Soviet Union
Russia against Napoleon
Russia's People of Empire
Western Civilizations to 1500
The West and the World since 1500
Themes in Modern European History (online synchronous)
Comparative Empires
Teaching Awards:
Phi Alpha Theta Outstanding Faculty Member, Department of History, WSU (2013)
Writing across the Curriculum Faculty Recognition Award, WSU (2013, 2010, 2009)
Excellence in Teaching General Education: Western Civilization, WSU (2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2009)
Stephen Botein Teaching Prize in History and Literature, Harvard University (2007)
Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for Senior Thesis Advising, Harvard University (2006)
Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University (4 times, 1999-2001)
Research Statement
Select Contributed and Invited Talks
"Negotiating Subjecthood in Russia's Borderlands" and "Early Modern Sultanic 'Correspondence' with Christian Interlocutors." Summer School: The Archives of Islam in the Russian Empire (16th-early 20th Centuries. Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, June 30-July 7, 2024.
"Prince Potemkin's Caucasus Project." International Symposium: What is Russian Colonialism? Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, June 5-6, 2024.
Roundtable organizer and presenter, "Teaching Tolstoy in Times of War and Peace." ASEEES National Convention, Philadelphia, PA, Dec. 3, 2024.
Panel Organizer, From the Caucasus to Russia's National Pantheon: The Life and Afterlives of Prince Petr Ivanovich Bagration." Paper: "On Heroes, Hero-Worshp, and the Unheroic in Tolstoy's War and Peace: The Strange Case of Prince Bagration." Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) National Convention, Philadelphia, PA, Dec. 1, 2024.
"'The Caspian Will Sink Both Me and Russia': Alexander Suvorov's Strange Sitting in Astrakhan, 1780-82." International Symposium: Muddying the Waters: Towards a History of the Caspian Sea. Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna. September 13-14, 2023.
Recent Publications
Featured Review: “‘A True Russian Solider’: Fabius Larionovich’s Less-Is-More Art of War,” The Russian Review (2024): 1-5, https://doi.org/10.1111/russ.12599. Review of Alexander Mikaberidze, Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace.
“‘The Duty of Perfect Obedience’: The Laws of Subjecthood in Tsarist Russia,” Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 24, 4 (2023): 753-90, https://doi.org/10.1353/kri.2023.a910978.
Invited Lecture: “‘The Caspian Sea Will Sink Both Me and Russia’: Aleksandr Suvorov and the Failure of Potemkin’s Persian Project,” International Symposium, “Muddying the Waters: Towards a History of the Caspian Sea,” Austrian Academy of Sciences, September 13-14, 2023.
Review: Jeronim Perovic, From Conquest to Deportation: The North Caucasus under Russian Rule, in Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 70, 2 (2022): 201-203.
Review: E. Natalie Rothman, The Dragoman Renaissance: Diplomatic Interpreters and the Routes of Orientalism, in Slavic Review 81, 2 (2022): 755-757.
“Who Spoke for Russia’s Muslims? Turki Letters and Russian Empire in the North Caucasus between the 17th and 20th centuries,” Canadian-American Slavic Studies 53 (2019): 387-413.
Commissioned Review Essay: “‘Supreme Fictions’? Early Modern Russian Accounts of the Ottoman Empire.” Review of Victor Taki, Tsar and Sultan: Russian Encounters with the Ottoman Empire, in H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (October 2019): https://networks.h-net.org/node/5082889/pdf.
“Friend and Foe: Religious Toleration in Northern Caucasia in the Age of Catherine the Great” Princeton Papers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, XVII (2016): 25-61. [Reissued in Michael A. Reynolds, ed., Constellations of the Caucasus: Empires, Peoples, and Faiths (Princeton: Markus Wiener, 2016)]
"'Ty pokazal, kak russkomu dolzhno umirat' za Rus'': Kniaz' Petr Ivanovich Bagration i stanovlenie russkogo natsional'nogo geroiia," in Denis Sdvizhkov (in collaboration with Guido Hausmann), ed., Posle grozy: 1812 god v istoricheskoi pamiati Rossii i Evropy (Moscow: Kuchkovo pole, 2015), pp. 23-45.
(co-authored with Sheri Stover) "Building a Community of Inquiry and Analytical Skills in an Online History Course," International Jounral of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 26: 3 (2014): 393-403.
“‘Thus We Shall Have Their Loyalty and They Our Favor’: Diplomatic Hostage-Taking (amanatstvo) and Russian Empire in Caucasia,” in Brian J. Boeck, Russell Martin, and Daniel Rowland, eds., Dubitando: Studies in History and Culture in Honor of Donald Ostrowski (Bloomington: Slavic Publishers, 2012), pp. 139-163.
“Petr Ivanovich Bagration, 1765-1812,” in Stephen M. Norris and Willard Sunderland, eds., Russia’s People of Empire: Life Stories from Eurasia, 1500 to the Present (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012), pp. 93-103.
“‘As One Russian to Another’: Prince Petr Ivanovich Bagration’s Assimilation of Russian Ways,” Ab Imperio: Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post-Soviet Space, no. 4 (2010): 113-142.
“Historians and Their Sources: Discourses of Empire and Islam in Eurasian Archives,” Ab Imperio: Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post-Soviet Space, no. 4 (2008): 234-252.
Guest Editor: “Forum: Islam in the Imperial Archives,” Ab Imperio: Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post-Soviet Space, no. 4 (2008): 233-333.
Talks
Panel organizer, “From the Caucasus to Russia’s National Pantheon: The Life and Afterlives of Prince Petr Ivanovich Bagration,” and panelist, “On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Unheroic in Tolstoy’s War and Peace: The Strange Case of Prince Bagration,” Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) National Convention, Philadelphia, PA, Dec. 1, 2023.
Roundtable organizer and panelist, “Teaching Tolstoy in Times of War and Peace,” and panelist, ASEEES National Convention, Philadelphia, PA, Dec. 3, 2023.
Panelist, “How Is the War Changing Our Field,” Midwest Russian History Workshop, The Ohio State University, April 15, 2023.
Panelist, “Alexander Starritt (We Germans) Interview Panel,” College of Liberal Arts, Wright State University, November 14, 2022.
Panelist, “Russia-Ukraine Update: Prospects for Peace and War,” School of Social Sciences and International Studies, College of Liberal Arts, Wright State University, October 24, 2022.
Speaker, “‘How to Die for Rus’”: Prince Peter Bagration between Empire and Nation,” School of Humanities and Cultural Studies Discussion Group, Wright State University, September 2, 2022.
Interview with Molly Koweek, “Wright State History Professor Discusses Historical Implications of War in Ukraine," WHIO, March 10, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4a_d15n_-E&t=4s.
Panelist, “The Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Historical & Political Science Perspectives,” School of Social Sciences and International Studies, College of Liberal Arts, Wright State University, March 8, 2022.
"Commemorating Bagration: The Making of a National Hero in Imperial and Soviet Russia," History Colloquium, Wittenberg University, March 14, 2013.
“Deep Learning and High Interaction in Online Learning – Is This Possible: Helping Faculty Feel Prepared to Teach Quality Online Classes” (with Dr. Sheri Stover), Lilly International Conference on College Teaching, Miami University, Nov. 17, 2012.
“Russian National Identity in Imperial Russia? The Case of Prince Bagration,” After the Storm: The Year 1812 in the Historical Memory of Russia and Europe, German Historical Institute, Moscow, Russia, May 28-30, 2012.
“Commemorating Bagration: Russia’s Myth of a National War Hero,” Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) National Convention, New Orleans, LA, Nov. 16, 2012.
“Fortress Life: Go-Betweens in 18th-Century Kizliar, ASEEES National Convention, Washington, D.C., Nov. 19, 2011.
"Imperial Identities: Russian and Non-Russian." University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Sept. 15, 2011.
"'Alone Together': Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age." First Weekend Institutes, Wright State University, September 4, 2011.
"Purpose, Passion, Payoff: the Real Deal about Going to College." First Weekend Institutes, Wright State University, September 3, 2011.
"Caucasia and the Eastern Question," Roundtable on "The Eastern Question: New Approaches," Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) National Convention, Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 20, 2010.
"The Policy and Practice of Religious Toleration in Northern Caucasia in the Age of Catherine the Great," ASEEES National convention, Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 19, 2010.
"Imperial Identities: Russian and Non-Russian." University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Sept. 16, 2010.
Presenter, "'The Dumbest Generation'? The Promise and Perils of Growing Up Online," First Weekend Institutes, Wright State University, September 4 and 5, 2010.
Participant: National Center for Academic Transformation, Fourth Annual Redesign Alliance Conference, Orlando, FL, March 28-30, 2010.
Invited participant: Western Civilization Symposium, McGraw-Hill, New York City, NY, March 25-26, 2010.
Service
University:
Member, University Graduate Academic Policy Committee (2023- )
Member, University International Education Committee (2023- )
CoLA Retention Committee (2023- )
Member, Faculty Senate, elected (2012-2018)
Chair, Faculty Senate Distance Education Taskforce (2014-2015)
Chair, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (2013-2015)
Member, Undergraduate Curriculum and Academic Policy Committee (2012-2013)
Member, Academic Integrity Hearing Panel, College of Liberal Arts, appointed (2009-10)
College of Liberal Arts:
Member, Faculty Senate (2010-2011)
Member, Curriculum Committee (2010-2011)
Member, Ad Hoc Committee on Russian Studies Minor, Dept. of Modern Languages (2009-10)
Department of History:
Member, Student Relations Committee (2012- )
Member, Graduate Committee (2011-12)
Member, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (2008-2011)
Member, Ad Hoc Committee on Conversion to Semesters (2009-2010)
Professional:
Reader, AP European History, College Board, Kansas City, MO, June, 2012
Panel chair, “Mongol and Rus’ian Authorities: Conflicting, Complementing, and Exemplary (13th-16th Centuries),” ASEEES National Conference, Washington, D.C., Nov. 20, 2011
Member, World History and Western Civilization Board of Advisors, McGraw-Hill (2010)
Peer Review/Referee, Proceedings of the Ohio Academy of History (2009-10)
Peer Review/Referee, Ab Imperio: Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post Soviet Space (2009-10)
Panel chair: “Gender and Empire in the Caucasus,” American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) National Convention, Nov. 2008
Conference organizer, “Russia and Islam in the Archives of Eurasia: An International Workshop,” The Harriman Institute, Columbia University, Dec. 1, 2007
Panel chair and discussant, “The Southern Borderlands: Studying the Caucasus.” Conference: “Research and Identity: Non-Russian Peoples in the Russian Empire, 1800-1855.” The Second A.J. Sjögren Memorial Conference, 14-17 June 2006, Kymenlaakso Summer University, Kouvola, Finland
Chair, “Power and Prestige in Representation,” Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) annual conference, 2003.
Community:
Member, Harvard Schools Committee, Harvard Club of Cincinnati (2012- )
Mentor, Higher Education Mentoring Initiative, University of Cincinnati (2011- )
Co-Chair, Parent Committee, University of Cincinnati Early Learning Center (UCELC), (2011- )
Board Member, UCELC (2011- )
Member, Parent and Steering Committee, UCELC (2009-2010)
Member, Clifton Heights, University Heights, Fairview Neighborhood Association (2010-)
