Famous predecessors and new research perspectives

For psychologist Gerald Echterhoff, it is a return to a place which left its mark on him. 30 years ago, he began studying psychology at the New School for Social Research (NSSR) in New York and then wrote his doctoral dissertation there too. His post as a postdoc fellow was also in New York. So it was undoubtedly a special moment for the Professor of Social Psychology when he learned in December 2024 that he would be taking over the Theodor Heuss professorship at the NSSR for two semesters from September 2025. Gerald Echterhoff is the first academic from the University of Münster to hold this prestigious visiting professorship.

Established in 1919, today’s NSSR became especially important from the 1930s onwards as a “university in exile” for academics from the social sciences and the humanities fleeing from the Nazi regime. Notable intellectuals such as Hannah Arendt and Erich Fromm taught there. In 1962, the Theodor Heuss professorship – named after the first postwar President of Germany – was set up with the support of the German Government. Philosopher Jürgen Habermas, sociologist Niklas Luhmann, historian Hans Mommsen and other well-known intellectuals taught and researched at the New School.

Gerald Echterhoff is grateful for the honour and immediately thinks back to his time in the city. “My stay there was decisive for my academic career and today it still influences my understanding of what science should be,” he says. “The academic atmosphere here is marked by a lively openness and by inspiring creativity.” Dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration have ever since been the hallmarks of his personal philosophy of research and teaching. He sees the transfer of knowledge to society as an important aim of his work. 

After positions in Cologne, Bielefeld and Bremen, Echterhoff has been at Münster since 2020, and the main emphases of his work include social and motivational influences on cognition and memory, as well as communication and relationships between groups. He also examines the consequences of forced migration and the integration of refugees. Research into these two topics is what he would especially like to move forward with during his time in New York. “Migration is seen differently in the USA and Europe,” says Echterhoff. Whereas countries of origin such as Syria and Afghanistan dominate in Europe, in America it is rather migration from Central and South America. “These experiences and backgrounds open up new perspectives for me.” Refugee and migrant activity have always, he says, been embedded in respective history, culture and politics.

Compared to the 1990s, the situation around his return to New York could not be more different: Echterhoff’s family also live in the apartment made available to him on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. He was accompanied by his partner, Birgit Neumann, an Anglicist, who likewise has a visiting professorship at the New School which was organised through her chair at the University of Düsseldorf. The two sons, 11 and 15, are also there and they attend a state school. Gerald Echterhoff gave his first seminars as a lecturer, to a highly motivated group of students, just four days after his arrival in America. Parallel to this, he organises a research colloquium at the University of Münster and continues to supervise undergraduates and doctoral students. “The training in Münster is more structured,” he explains. “On the other hand, the number of participants in seminars at the New School is smaller, which makes it possible to have more intensive discussions.” At the same time, he adds, he has to provide extra tuition – especially in the theoretical and methodological basics of psychological thought – as the students there all have different educational biographies.

While everyday life in New York has changed rapidly over the past 30 years, coffee in the morning is something that hasn’t changed for Gerald Echterhoff. For this, he uses the espresso machine left there by his predecessor, historian Christina Morina from the University of Bielefeld. It is just one of many objects left behind in the apartment on Union Square – such as literature, cups and crockery, which are all mementoes of the history of the Theodor Heuss professorship.

Author: Kathrin Nolte

This article is from the brochure "Twelve months, twelve people", published in March 2026.

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