Walter Kamphoefner

Research Interests

Walter D. Kamphoefner earned his Ph.D. at University of Missouri-Columbia in 1978 and arrived in 1988 at TAMU, where he is now Professor of History. He teaches in the field of immigration history and the U.S. Civil War. He spent three yearlong guest professorships at German universities, two on Fulbright lectureships. He served as President of the Society for German-American Studies from 2015-2017, and received the Society’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 2024.

Kamphoefner has published widely in the field of immigration and ethnicity, with articles in four languages and three books out in both German and English versions. His latest work, Germans in America: A Concise History (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), surveys the sweep of the German American experience over more than 300 years. It is now out in paperback, and a German edition will appear in fall 2025. Kamphoefner also pens the occasional op-ed on historical and contemporary issues for the local Eagle and other papers such as the Houston Chronicle, the Austin American-Statesman, the Columbia Missourian, and the Washington Post.

Areas of Speciality

• 19^th Century U.S.

• U.S. Immigration and Ethnicity

• American Civil War