Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Sprechzeiten: nach Absprache; vor und nach dem Seminar

Dr. Martina Kohl has been teaching regularly in the American Studies program at Humboldt Universität Berlin for 25 years. She has also taught in the Journalism program at HMKW Berlin, at the Obama Institute at Johannes-Gutenberg Universität Mainz and at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Dr. Kohl is a lecturer, writer and Public Diplomacy specialist. She is the author of the fictional memoir "FAMILY MATTERS - Of Life in Two Worlds" published in English and German with PalmArtPress Berlin in Germany and the U.S. in 2023. For three decades, she worked in the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy, first in Bonn, then Berlin. She coordinated the Embassy’s Germany-wide expert speaker program and was responsible for teacher outreach and curriculum development. Dr. Kohl curated the U.S. Embassy Literature Series in Berlin for 15 years, featuring prominent as well as up-and-coming literary talent from the U.S.

From 2007 to Nov. 2021, she served as Deputy and General Editor of the American Studies Journal, a peer-reviewed open-access journal that focused on the intellectual debate about all aspects of social, cultural, and political life in the United States of America. See scholarly publications here. She holds an M.A. and a Dr. Phil. in American Studies, English Studies and History from Johannes-Gutenberg Universität Mainz. Dr. Kohl studied at Florida Southern College (1980-81) and taught and conducted research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (1985-90). She received the Hans Eberhard Piepho Prize for the U.S. Embassy School Election Project (2013) and the “Ausgezeichnete Orte – Land der Ideen” Award for the Going Green – Education for Sustainability Project (2015). In 2023, she received the U.S. State Department's "Secretary's Career Achievement Award" and "The Ambassador's Retirement Recognition Award." She serves on the advisory board of the Salzburg Global Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA).