A Faculty Perspective: Joining the Journey The Nanovic Institute for European Studies has been my intellectual home since I arrived on campus as a newly-minted assistant professor in 2009. Eleven years in, I still find it to be the most welcoming and natural place to engage the wider world and the life of the mind—for me and my students.
John Deak, associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and Nanovic Institute faculty fellow, recounts the journey of taking students to Europe to see firsthand the battlefields, museums, and memorials of the First World War.
Students view the exhibits at the Imperial War Museum in London.
And even as I write now, in the midst of a general lockdown and worried about the future, I can look back on the past year and see that it has been filled with many blessings— many chances to teach students more effectively, to come into contact with scholars and scholarship, and to pursue my own research and study while watching my own students’ endeavors flourish. And once again, the Nanovic has been a central supporter in what I am and what I do. Every tour needs a journey and this one is no different. And every journey begins with an idea. In the winter of 2019, my colleague in German, Professor Robert Norton, and I had an outrageous idea: We would teach a new course on the First World War and its memorialization. Easy enough. But, in addition to exposing our students to the classic literature and texts, we wanted to take our students to Europe over fall break to see firsthand the battlefields, museums, and memorials. We filled out the applications to teach a new course together and then began crunching numbers. We estimated that it would take nearly $40,000 to take 18 students to the UK, Belgium, and France. Luckily, we won the College of Arts and Letters’ single big grant for “teaching outside the classroom.” But it wasn’t enough. We went to the Nanovic Institute to apply for their Faculty-led Student Trip Grant. They came through. We had enough money to take all our students, all-expenses paid, to Europe for eight days. Naturally we were delighted. Quite a few of our students are on financial aid and needed a fully-funded trip. Several also obtained their passport for the first time to go on the trip. Traveling together made them excited for what they would find. The Nanovic Institute for European Studies
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