Research associate Nicole Colaianni
Research associate (post doc) at the Curt Engelhorn Chair in American History
UNIFY confidential guide for the Faculty of Philosophy of the university of Heidelberg
Contact
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Grabengasse 3-5
D-69117 Heidelberg
Room: 044A
Tel: +49 (0) 62 21 / 54 - 3361
Email: nicole.colaianni@zegk.uni-heidelberg.de
Consultation hour: Tuesday, 11am-12pm or by appointment
About Nicole Colaianni
Nicole Colaianni has been working as a research associate at the Curt Engelhorn Chair in American History at the University of Heidelberg since October 2023. She successfully defended her PhD thesis „Obviously Bad for Business. The Role of the U.S. Private Sector in the Conceptualization of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, 1975–2017“ after being a PhD researcher at the Curt Engelhorn Chair from October 2020 until September 2023. During that time, she also worked as academic researcher in the DFG Research Training Group ,,Authority and Trust'' at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies. Before that, she finished her studies with the state exam in history and English studies at the University of Heidelberg in 2020.
Research interests
- Gender, Race and Civil Rights Studies
- Social movements in US American history
- Authority and Trust in political institutions in US American society
- Political ideological history of the USA
- History of the South West of the USA
- Mexican American relations
- History of healthcare and insurance in the USA
Publications
When Bureaucracy Fails Victims: EEOC, Political Will, and the Trump Administration, in: HCA graduate blog, 3.7.2025.
Breaking the Silence - #MeToo and the Reclaiming of the Feminist Framing of Sexual Harassment, in: HCA graduate blog, 15.12.2021.
Conferences and workshops (selection)
Poster Presentation “’Obviously Bad for Business.’ How the Private Sector Defined Sexual Harassment,” American Historical Association Annual Meeting 2025, January 2025.
"Who Gets to Decide? Discursive Authority on Sexual Harassment,“ GKAT Conference Practicing Authority and Trust, University of Heidelberg, May 2023.
"A New Adversary. Feminist Action Against Employers. Developing a Legal Strategy,“ presented at: Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, Ph.D. Seminar, December 2022.
"Beyond the Dichotomy: Framing Sexual Harassment,“ Research Colloquium North American History, John-F.-Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien, Freie Universität Berlin, May 2021.
Academic communication (selection)
Webinar about „Juneteenth. 1865-2021: The Long Journey of a Federal Holiday“, Amerikazentrum Hamburg, June 2025.
Science Slam „Kein Sex unter KollegInnen“, Queer and Gender Studies Science Slam, Queer Festival Heidelberg, Apr. 2025.
After election summary „Präsidentschaftswahlen in den USA,“ panel discussion with Dr. Martin Thunert, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, November 2024.
After election summary “Zwischenwahlen in den USA – Eine erste Bilanz,” panel discussion with Prof. Dr. Welf Werner and Dr. Martin Thunert, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, November 2022.
„Love Contracts“ und „Non Disclosure Agreements“ - Wie U.S. Firmen mit sexueller Belästigung umgehen, in: HCA Podcast "Quo Vadis USA?", April 2022.
Courses
Winter term 2025/26, proseminar: Caring for a Nation: American Health Care from Progressivism to the Great Society.
Summer term 2025, proseminar: Empire in the Making: A History of American Imperialism.
Winter term 2024/25, proseminar: Der Mexikanisch-Amerikanische Krieg, 1846-1848.
Winter term 2024/25, Theorie und Methode exercise: Europäische und U.S. amerikanische Geschlechtertheorien im 20. Und 21. Jahrhundert.
Summer term 2024, source exercise: Gangsters, Gin, and Government: The Temperance Movement and Prohibition in the USA.
Winter term 2023/24, proseminar: "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus:" Geschlechterrollen und -beziehungen in den USA, 1945-heute.
Summer term 2023, proseminar: „The Personal is the Political“ – Die zweite Welle des Feminismus in den USA, 1966-1991.
Awards and prizes
Ruprecht Karls Prize, Universität Heidelberg, 2025
Auszeichnung für eines der besten akademischen Erstlingswerke der Universität im Jahr 2024.
Rolf Kentner Prize, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, 2025
Deutschlandweite Auszeichnung für eine hervorragende Dissertation im Fachbereich der Amerikanistik.