Michael Kozakowski

As Director of the Yehuda Elkana Center for Teaching, Learning, and Higher Education Research, Michael Kozakowski collaborates with faculty, doctoral students, and international partners to promote excellence in teaching and learning at CEU, support higher education teachers in their professional development (especially doctoral students and others early in their careers), conduct educational research, and enhance partners’ capacities in the field of higher education, particularly as it relates to teaching and learning.

He was educated at Georgetown University, St. Peter’s College (Oxford), and the University of Chicago, where he received his PhD. He began his academic career in the field of contemporary history, writing on diverse topics including the education of migrants and colonial educational systems. Over time, he became increasingly engaged in scholarship and leadership in the fields of education and teaching.

His work draws in no small part on his experience teaching students from a wide diversity of backgrounds and at all levels of study, from BA to PhD, across a range of institutions. These have included appointments at the University of Chicago, Sciences Po in Paris, the European University Institute in Florence, the University of Colorado Denver, and Humboldt University in Berlin. Before joining CEU, he served as a member of the education faculty at Keele University, where his work included the academic study of racial and class inequalities in educational systems, as well as the pedagogical training of future educators. He joined CEU in autumn 2020 and served as Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning before it merged with the Yehuda Elkana Center for Higher Education.

His research spans the fields of history and education, with a particular focus on the intersection of democracy, citizenship, inclusion, and education. His research topics have included education and migrants, democratic teaching, racial and class inequalities, internationalization, technology and education, experiential education, and the social aspects of education.

Among his international project collaborations, he serves as project lead for the third-party funded Developing Teaching Professionals program and as institutional principal investigator for a Horizon project on sustainable development. He is currently, or has recently been, active in working groups in Austria (including for the Hochschulkonferenz of the Federal Ministry) and at the European level (including the European University Association’s Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Groups).

He regularly facilitates workshops in Austria and internationally on enhancing teaching and learning, particularly at the university level. He also brings experience from both academia and the private sector in facilitating strategic planning and quality improvement.