Ronald Van Cleef, Ph.D.

Office: Medical Arts 411

Phone: 718-281-5084

Email: [email protected]

Ron Van Cleef is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History. He earned his B.A. from Syracuse University and M.A. in History from the City College of New York/CUNY. Dr. Van Cleef completed his Ph.D. in History at Stony Brook University in 2014. He has taught courses on the Holocaust, Modern Europe, Modern Germany, Sexuality, U.S. History, and World Civilizations. Prior to arriving at Queensborough,  Dr. Van Cleef worked at Stony Brook University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Pratt Institute. He is currently teaching courses on medieval, early modern, and modern Western Civilizations at Queensborough.

Dr. Van Cleef has several research interests, including human rights, national identity, sexuality, social class, transnational political movements, and youth activism. His first book, A Tale of Two Movements? Gay Radicalism in West Germany, 1969-1989, published by Metropol Verlag in 2022, examines the social-scientific, political, and gender-based theories that shaped the modern gay liberation movement (Schwulenbewegung) in the Federal Republic of Germany.  Dr. Van Cleef is also working on an article entitled, “When the Russians Invaded Riverdale: Community Organizing, Racial Discord, and Cold War Politics in New York City.”

Dr. Van Cleef teaches the following courses: HIST 110 (Introduction to Ancient Civilizations); HIST 111 (Introduction to Medieval and Early Modern Civilizations); HIST 112 (Introduction to Modern Western Civilization): HIST 127 (Growth of American Civilization I: Colonial Era through Reconstruction); and HIST 236 (History of Germany).

Books:

A Tale of Two Movements? Gay Radicalism in West Germany, 1969-1989.  Berlin: Metropol, 2022.