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 received teaching excellence awards 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 reguarly received rwards 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 2015 College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Teaching Award and the 2025 College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Professional Service Award. 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 aspects of Russian empire-building in the Caucasus and laws concerning Russian subjecthood, and his current research focuses on the history of Russian empire in the Caucasus in the reign of Catherine II (1762-96) and the memory of Russia's 1812 campaign against Napoleonic France. He recently served as Special Assistant to the Provost for Wright State Online and directed the MA in History program 2023-25. In the summer of 2025, he was awarded a Cluster of Excellence: Eurasian Transformations Vistiing Fellowship at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Curriculum Vitae
Pollock_CV_2025.pdf 231.27 KB Education History
Graduate Certificate, Instructional Design for Digital Learning, Wright State University, 2017
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harriman Institute: Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies, 2007-8
- Mentor: Mark Mazower, Ph.D.
- Project: Russia and Islam: Religion, the State and Modernity during and after the Age of Empire
- Organizer: "Russia and Islam in the Archives of Eurasia: An International Workshop," Central Eurasian Studies Review 7, 1 (2008): 20-23
- Author: "Historians and Their Sources: Discourses of Russian Empire and Islam in Eurasian Archives," Ab Imperio 4 (2008): 234-52
Ph.D., History, Harvard University, 2006
- Mentor: Edward L. Keenan, Ph.D.
- Dissertation: "Empire by Invitation? Russian Empire-Building in the Caucasus in the Reign of Catherine II"
A.M., Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, 1996
- Mentor: Edwatd L. Keenan, Ph.D.
- Thesis: "Soviet Timur: Historiography, Ethnogenesis, and the Scholarly Origins of Uzbekistan's National Hero"
B.A., International Studies: Russia and Eastern Europe, University of Washington, 1994
- Mentor: Daniel C. Waugh, Ph.D.
Honors Thesis: "The Idea of Progress in Russia and the West"
Teaching
- Western Civilizations to 1500 (HST 1100; F2F and asynchronous online)
- The West and the World since 1500 (HST 1200; F2F, asynchronous & synchronous online, and service-learning intensive)
- Introduction to Historical Analysis (HST 3000)
- Themes in Modern European History (HST 3100)
- Russia's People of Empire (HST 3120)
- Russian War Films (HST 3120 / MP 3990 / ML 3990)
- Muscovite Russia (HST4220/6220)
- Imperial Russia (HST4220/6220)
- Soviet Union (HST4220/6220)
- Russian and Islam (HST 4220/6220 /ENG 4460/6460)
- Russia against Napoleon (HST 4220/6220 / ENG 4460/6460)
- Comparative Empires (HST 7400)
- Introduction to Public History (HST 7500)
- War and Society in Ukraine (Collaborative Online International University, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine)
Recent Student Evaluation of Teaching: "The Kind of Educator I aspire to be."
"The instructor is very knowledgeable, responds thoroughly to questions, and is always available to help students." (HST 1100: Western Civilizations to 1550, Summer 2025)
"Very interactive, considering it's an online course. Easy to access for meetings." (HST 1100, Summer 2025)
"The professor gives all the materials and help needed to succeed. It has been my best online class experience to date." (HST 1100, Summer 2025)
"Very welcoming and encourages students to ask questions." (HST 1100, Spring 2025)
"His interactive videos and lectures were awesome. His communication style with the class and how he has Special Instruction sessions to help with those that are struggling in his class [are strengths]. I am truly glad I took this class and learned so much, studying skills for my future classes as well." (HST 1100, Spring 2025)
"His preparation for an effective online course was excellent. He provided a logical and complete framework with no guessing involved as to what he wanted us to accomplish. His syllabus was clear and concise and his reminders were timely. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and felt that, even though it was an online class, he was involved with us as students every step of the way. I would recommend him as a professor to anyone." (HST 1100, Spring 2025)
“Great instructor, I've had him for a couple of classes now at WSU. Keeps the class open to discussion which forces the students to take responsibility and action for their learning. I felt like I've learned SO much over the past year because of him.” (HST 3000: Intro to Hist.Analysis, Fall 2020)
Pollock's course was incredibly engaging and was honestly kind of an island of normalcy in the midst of all this [COVID-related] nonsense. One of the things that I enjoyed specifically is that while he challenged us as students to be better/improve/do what needed to do, I felt like he genuinely cared not only for our academic health but our mental health as well. Especially in these times, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and overworked and it seemed like Pollock was very in tune with this. There were several weekends where I was scheduling all-nighters just to meet deadlines for all of my classes and then he would reschedule one of his to accommodate me. Very appreciative.” (HST 4220/6220: Imperial Russia)
“Dr. Pollock seems to be what most would consider at surface level a hard ass of a teacher, with such demanding standards, but it has become clear that he is anything but, he is a teacher that cares immensely about what he’s teaching and even more so about WHOM he's teaching and wants nothing but his students’ success. He is the kind of educator we need more of, the kind ofeducator I aspire to be.” (HST 1100, Summer 2019)
Recent Publications
Sean Pollock, “Pretending to Command: Representations of Prince Bagration and the Unheroic in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace” (Academica Press, forthcoming).
Sean Pollock, “Anglophone Historiography of Russia's Empires before the Imperial Turn,” Slavic Review, forthcoming.
Sean Pollock, “‘The Caspian Sea Will Sink Both Me and Russia’: Alexander Suvorov’s Strange Sitting in Astrakhan, 1780-82” (Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, forthcoming).
Sean Pollock, "Extractivist, Exclusionary, and Exploitative? Toward a History of International Scholarly Cooperation in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies before the Annus Horribilis," Study of Islam in Central Eurasia, Austrian Academy of Sciences, June 12, 2025, https://www.oeaw.ac.at/sice/sice-blog/extractivist-exclusionary-and-exploitative.
Susan Smith-Peter and Sean Pollock, “How the Field Was Colonized: Russian History’s Ukrainian Blind Spot,” Russian History 50 (2023): 145-156. Published in 2024.
Susan Smith-Peter, Sean Pollock, et al., “Periodization as Decolonization,” Russian History 50 (2023): 157-183. Published in 2024.
Sean Pollock, review article, “‘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.
Sean Pollock, “‘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.a910976.
Sean Pollock, review of From Conquest to Deportation: The North Caucasus under Russian Rule, by Jeronim Perovic, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 70, 2 (2022): 201-203.
Sean Pollock, review of The Dragoman Renaissance: Diplomatic Interpreters and the Routes of Orientalism, by E. Natalie Rothman, Slavic Review 81, 2 (2022): 755-757.
Sean Pollock, “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.
Sean Pollock, “‘Supreme Fictions’? Early Modern Russian Accounts of the Ottoman Empire.” Commissioned article concerning Victor Taki, Tsar and Sultan: Russian Encounters with the Ottoman Empire, in H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (October 2019), https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=53879.
Invited Talks and Recent Presentations
"The Archival Impulse: Knolwedge Production, Record Keeping, and Imperial Governance (15th-19th Centuries)," International Conference, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria, March 19-20, 2026.
"Hostageship in Russia's Nothern Caucasus Empire," "Imperial Hostages (Amanaty): Exploring Imperial Governance and Subordination in the Eurasian Space," International Workshop, University of Münster, Germany, Nov. 27-28, 2025.
"Prince Petr Bagration's Afterlives in Putin's Russia," Panel Organizer: Remembering 1812: Russian Empire-, Nation-, and State-Building across the Centuries,"Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) National Convention, Washington, DC, Nov.20-23, 2025.
Chair, "Autocracy, Ideology, and Ritual in the Reign of Alexander I," ASEEES National Convention, Washington, DC, Nov. 20-23, 2025.
"Negotiating Subjecthood in the Caucasus: Russian Sources" and "Negotiating Subjecthood in the Caucasus: Turkic Sources," Summer School: The Archives of Islam in the Russian Empire (16th-early 20th Centuries), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, June 30-July 7, 2024.
"A Century of Anglophone Historiography of Russian Imperialism," International Symposium: What is Russian Colonialism?, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, June 5-6, 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. Sept. 13-14, 2024.
"Pretending to Command: Representations of Prince Petr Ivanoovich Bagration in Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace," 54th Annual Conference of the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era, 1750-1850, Baton Rouge, LA, Feb. 24, 2024.
"A Decolonial Turn? ASEEES Advocacy Policy and the Question of Historians' Complicity in Russian Imperialism," Midwest Russian History Workshop, University of Notre Dame, April 13, 2024.
Panel organizer, “From the Caucasus to Russia’s National Pantheon: The Life and Afterlives of Prince Petr Ivanovich Bagration,” and presenter, “On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Unheroic in Tolstoy’s War and Peace: The Strange Case of Prince Bagration,” 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 the War Is 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.
Service
University:
Member (elected), Faculty Senate (2025- )
Member-at-Large (elected), Executive Committee, AAUP-WSU (2025- )
Chair, University Core Oversight Committee (2025 - )
Member, University Policies Review Ad Hoc Committee (2024- )
Member, University Graduate Academic Policy Committee (2023- )
Member, University International Education Committee (2023-24)
Special Assistant to the Provost for Wright State Online (2021-22)
Member, COVID 19 Taskforce Research Subcommittee (2020)
Faculty Director, Center for Teaching and Learning, Chair, CTL Faculty Advisory Board (2014-18)
Chair, Teaching Innovation Grant Review Committee (2014-18)
Chair, Faculty Senate Distance Education Taskforce (2014-15)
Member, AVP for Continuing Education and Distance Education Search Committee (2015)
Chair, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (2013-15)
Member, Registrar Search Committee (2013-14)
Member (elected), Faculty Senate (2012-18)
Member, Undergraduate Curriculum and Academic Policy Committee (2012-13)
Member, Academic Integrity Hearing Panel, College of Liberal Arts (2009-10)
College of Liberal Arts:
Member, CoLA Scholarship Committee (2025- )
Member, CoLA Retention Committee (2023-24)
Member, Faculty Senate (2021-23)
Member, Petitions Committee (2020-22)
Member, Faculty Development (2020-22)
Member, Promotion and Tenure Committee (2014-17)
Member, Master of Humanities Committee (2014)
Member, Faculty Senate (2010-2011)
Member, Curriculum Committee (2010-2011)
Member, Ad Hoc Committee on Russian Studies Minor, Dept. of Modern Languages (2009-10)
School of Humanities and Cultural Studies / Department of History:
Director, Gradute Program in History (2023- )
Chair, Graduate Studies History Subcommittee (2023- )
Chair, Gradute Studies Committee (2023-24); member (2023- )
Chair, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (2020-22)
Chair, Program Review (2020)
Member, Promotion and Tenure Committee (2014-22)
Member, Annual Evaluations Committee (2014-17)
Member, Student Relations Committee (2012-14)
Member, Graduate Committee (2011-12)
Member, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (2008-2011)
Member, Ad Hoc Committee on Conversion to Semesters (2009-2010)
Community:
Member, Board of Directors, Cincinnati-Kharkiv Sister City Partnership, Cincinnati, OH (2024- )
Secretary, Harvard Club of Cincinnati (2022- )
President, Harvard Club of Cincinnati (2020-22); 1st VP (2019-20); 2nd VP (2018-19)
Member, Board of Directors, Havard Club of Cincinnati (2012- )
Member, Harvard Schools Committee, Cincinnati, OH (2012- )
Mentor, Higher Education Mentoring Initiative, University of Cincinnati (2011-15)
Co-Chair, Parent Committee, University of Cincinnati Early Learning Center (UCELC), (2011-14)
Board Member, University of Cincinnati Early Learning Center (UCELC) (2011-14)
Member, Parent and Steering Committee, UCELC (2009-2010)
Member, Clifton Heights, University Heights, Fairview Neighborhood Association (2010 - )
Professional:
Member, Advisory Board, Summer Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2018 - ).
Peer review/referee: Ab Imperio: Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post Soviet Space, Acta Slavica Iaponica, American Philosophical Society, Cambridge University Press, Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, Norton's The West, Proceedings of the Ohio Academy of History.
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).
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.
