Matthew Sohm

As the Assistant Director of Civil Discourse and Classroom Culture, Matthew collaborates with colleagues across the FAS to cultivate civil discourse and intellectual vitality in teaching and learning. Matthew works with faculty members and teaching fellows on course design and classroom practices that foster curiosity, epistemic humility, and open-mindedness, and that enable students to take intellectual risks and embrace discomfort as an integral part of learning. 

Prior to joining the Bok Center, Matthew was the Assistant Director of Pedagogy, Intellectual Vitality Initiatives in Harvard College’s Office of Undergraduate Education. From 2023-24, he also served as a Pre-Concentration Academic Advisor to approximately 50 first-year students in the College’s Advising Programs Office.

Matthew also serves as a Lecturer in History & Literature, where he has taught since 2022. In his HL90 seminar, “Modern Europe and Migration,” students learn about how central issues of migration, race, religion, and ethnicity were in forging postwar Europe – and how the past continues to inform contemporary debates and policy issues. He co-taught a sophomore tutorial, “Globalization since the 1970s,” that introduced students to the history and culture of contemporary globalization, and has served as a junior tutor and senior thesis advisor. Matthew is currently designing a new Spring 2026 course on Europe Since the Cold War.

Matthew received his Ph.D. and A.M. in History from Harvard. Prior to embarking on doctoral study in History, Matthew worked in renewable energy policy at a Munich-based think tank and held a Bosch Foundation Transatlantic Fellowship in Berlin. Matthew also holds an M.A. in International Relations from Yale and a B.A. in History and Italian Literature from Columbia.