, 11 September 1961) is a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 historian.

Education

She graduated in history at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is a Flemish university located in Brussels, Belgium. It has two campuses referred to as Etterbeek and Jette.The university's name is sometimes abbreviated by "VUB" or translated to "Free University of Brussels"...

 (Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

) and obtained a PhD with a dissertation on Elites for the Capital? Foreign Migration to mid-nineteenth-century Brussels at the Universiteit van Amsterdam

Universiteit van Amsterdam

The University of Amsterdam or the UvA is a public research university located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Founded in 1632 as the Athenaeum Illustre by the scholars Gerardus Vossius and Caspar Barlaeus, it is the third-oldest university in the Netherlands...

 (Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

).

Career

From 1986 until 1988, she was assistant professor at the Department of History of the Free University of Amsterdam. From 1988 until 1990, she worked as a dissertation fellow at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research. She worked from 1990 until 1991 as associate professor at the Department of History of Groningen University. From 1991 until 1995, she worked as associate professor at Leiden University

Leiden University

Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...

.

She left for the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1995, where from 1995 until 1996, she was a fellow at the National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center

The National Humanities Center is an independent institute for advanced study in the humanities. It is the only major independent institute for advanced study in all fields of the humanities in the United States. The NHC operates as a privately incorporated nonprofit and is not part of any...

, Research Triangle Park

Research Triangle Park

The Research Triangle Park is a research park in the United States. It is located near Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina...

, N.C. . From 1996 until 2001, she was a visiting associate professor at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

. From 1999 until 2000 she worked as a visiting fellow at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

. Since 2001, she is Associate Professor of Modern European History at the Pennsylvania State University

Pennsylvania State University

The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

.

In 2005-2006 she was a fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advances Study (NIAS) in Wassenaar

Wassenaar

Wassenaar is a town in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. A fairly affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies 10 km north of that city on the N44 highway near the North Sea coast. It is part of the Haaglanden region...

.

Awards

• 1990 - Maurits Naessens Award (Bank van Parijs en de Nederlanden) for her dissertation.
• 1999 - Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord
  Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord
  The Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord is a symbolic award which was created in 1951 by Herman Teirlinck and the editorial team of the Nieuw Vlaams Tijdschrift to counteract ideologically driven restrictions on the freedom of expression.He wanted to bring those persons into the spotlight who actively...
  
  

Source

• De Groote Oorlog (in Dutch)
• Sophie De Schaepdrijver