Andrei S. Markovits

Andrei S. Markovits was born in the West Romanian town of Timisoara (Temesvar) in October 1948. The only son of Hungarian-speaking Holocaust-ravaged middle-class Jews, he lived there until the age of 9 when, after his mother's death in 1958, he and his father emigrated first to Vienna, Austria and later, in 1960, to New York City. Spending his school years in Vienna and his summers in New York, Markovits moved to New York for good in the fall of 1967 when he attended Columbia University from which he received five degrees. Upon the completion of his doctorate in political science, Markovits joined the Center for European Studies at Harvard University where he chaired the German Study Group and the Jews in Modern Europe Study Group for many years and founded and edited the scholarly publication "German Politics and Society". He taught at many American universities (Wesleyan University, Boston University, Harvard University, Columbia University, New York University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and American University) and joined the University of Michigan in the fall of 1999 where he continues to teach as the Karl W. Deutsch Collegiate Professor of Comparative Politics and German Studies as well as an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. Markovits has written widely on an array of topics ranging from German and Austrian social democracy, to labor unions; from social movements, to the politics of scandal; from European anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, to many aspects of sports in a comparative context. His latest work has focused on the changing nature of the human-animal relationship with a special emphasis on breed specific dog rescues in the United States. Markovits's work comprising many books, scholarly articles, journalistic pieces and book reviews has appeared in 15 languages. Markovits was a visiting professor at universities in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Israel. He has been the recipient of many prestigious fellowships and scholarships and was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Institute for Advanced Study Berlin) and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. A dedicated teacher, Markovits has won a number of teaching awards throughout his 40-plus year academic career. In 2012, the Federal Republic of Germany bestowed upon him the Order of Merit First Class, one of the greatest distinctions and honors given to Germans or foreigners.