Kurt Borchard

Professor

Office: COPH 120D   |    Phone: (308) 865-8761   |    Email: borchardk@unk.edu

Kurt Borchard

Education Background

PhD., University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 1998
MA, University of Colorado, 1993
BA, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 1990

Teaching Philosophy

“I love helping students see the world differently. In my classes I try to present information clearly and directly, and I’m always looking for examples so students can connect the more abstract material to their own lives. Our social world is increasingly complex and diverse. Sociology is all about going beyond our own individual perspectives. I think sociology is crucial for helping anyone make sense of present life.”

Publications (since 2010):

Book:
Borchard, K.  2011.  Homeless in Las Vegas: Stories from the Street.  Reno: U. of Nevada Press.

Refereed Journal Articles:
Borchard, K.  2018.  “An Experiment in Second Person Writing.”  Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies. 18(3)181-189.

Borchard, K.  2017.  “A Present Absence: A Day in Warsaw and Treblinka.” Reflections 2017 Auschwitz Jewish Center Annual Alumni Journal.  3:27-30.

Borchard, K.  2015.  “Super Columbine Massacre RPG! and Grand Theft Autoethnography.” Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies 15(4):446-454.

Borchard, K.  2010.  “Between Poverty and a Lifestyle: The Leisure Activities of Homeless People in Las Vegas.”  Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 39(4):441-466. 

Awards:

Borchard has been a fellow of the:

  • Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies Curt C. and Else Silberman Summer Seminar, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. (in 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2018)
  • Auschwitz Jewish Center A Bridge to History Holocaust Study Tour, Auschwitz Jewish Center, Oswiecim, Poland. (in 2017)
  • Memorial Library Olga Lengyel Institute Summer Seminar, New York, NY. (in 2016)
  • Schusterman Center for Israel Studies Summer Seminar, Brandeis University (in 2010)
  • Annual Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization, Holocaust Educational Foundation, Northwestern University (in 2003)

He has twice won the UNK Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (in 2009 and 2010)

Courses taught:

SOC 100, Introduction to Sociology
SOC 275, Social Psychology
SOC 300, Sociological Theory
SOC 340, The Holocaust
SOC 360, Criminology