College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Elizabeth Heineman

Lisa Heineman has been at the UI since 1999 and teaches courses in Germany and Europe, gender and sexuality, and human rights. Her classes are sites of hands-on work, creative thinking, and collaborative discovery.
The running thread in Prof. Heineman’s research has been the interplay of intimate human relationships and History writ large. Her books and articles have explored state regulation of gender and sexuality in fascism, liberal democracy, and communism; historical memory; the social upheavals of war; the intersections of gender and national identity; sexuality, business, and consumption; and sexual violence. Her interest in public history has led her to found and host a podcast, collaborate in the creation of a museum exhibit, and co-curate a digital crowdsourcing project. She is currently working on a family history that explores unaccompanied child refugees from Nazi Germany – and the difficult situation awaiting families who were lucky enough to be reunited.
Professor Heineman earned a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1993. She is the 2010 recipient of the AICGS/DAAD Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in German and European Studies and the 2011 winner of the New Millennium Prize in Literary Non-Fiction.
Teaching
Professor Heineman teaches classes on Germany and Europe in the twentieth century, the history of gender and sexuality in modern Europe, and Western Civilization. She also regularly teaches graduate seminars in modern European History. Courses recently taught include:
- HIST:1403 The West and the World III
- HIST:2151 Introduction to the History Major: Nazi Germany
- HIST:2465 Europe Since 1945
- HIST:3157 Gender, Sexuality, and Human Rights
- HIST:4475 Germany's Twentieth Century
- HIST:4478 The Holocaust in History and Memory
- HIST:6410 Teaching Proseminar
- HIST:7122 Readings: History of Gender and Sexuality
- HIST:7126 Readings: History of Human Rights
- HIST:7455 Seminar Modern Europe
- SJUS: 2050 Jews, Judaism, and Social Justice
Awards & Service
Awards
- Senior Fellow, Freiburg Institute for Advanced Study (2012-13)
- Collegiate Scholar (2013-15)
- New Millennium Prize in Literary Non-Fiction (2011)
- AICGS/DAAD Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in German and European Studies (2010)
- Faculty Scholar Award, University of Iowa (August 2004-July 2007)
- Howard Foundation Fellowship (August 2003-July 2004)
- National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2003)
- Dean's Scholar, University of Iowa (2002-2003)
- DAAD Faculty Fellowship (2000)
- American Philosophical Society Research Grant (1998)
- German Marshall Fund Fellowship (1997-1998)
- James Bryant Conant Fellowship, Center for European Studies, Harvard University (1995-1996)
Service
- Chair, Department of History, University of Iowa (2014-18, 2021-22)
- Academic Coordinator, Sexuality Studies Program (2007-2010)
- Executive Board, University of Iowa Center for Human Rights (2007-2012)
Public History
- Founding Co-Curator, The New Fascism Syllabus (2016-19)
- Co-Principle Investigator, German Iowa and the Global Midwest (2016-17)
- Host, New Books in Gender and Sexuality (New Books Network) (2011-12)