SPS Stories
Faculty Spotlight
Gerald Protheroe
Adjunct Associate Professor
Academy of Lifelong Learning
ALL Professor Brings Global Politics to the Classroom
Fast Facts
- Raised in Wales and earned his PhD at London University
- Authored a book on the diplomatic career of Sir George Russell Clerk
- Has served as an adjunct associate professor at NYU SPS for over two decades
A working-class upbringing in South Wales
<p>Born in Wales, Adjunct Assistant Professor Gerald Protheroe earned a BA in Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford. He furthered his studies with an MA in International History at the London School of Economics and was awarded a PhD from London University in 1999. Protheroe’s expertise lies in British, French, and German foreign policy in the 1930s, a focus that has informed his scholarship and teaching over the decades. He has published scholarship on the Kennedy administration and the Vietnam War, and his book Searching for Security in a New Europe: The Diplomatic Career of Sir George Russell Clerk was published in 2004.</p>
<p>Protheroe’s formative years in a working-class environment in South Wales fueled his determination to excel academically. “I realized how important education was for social improvement, social mobility and intellectual stimulation,” says Protheroe. “I have always enjoyed interacting with an audience.”</p>
ALL [The Academy of Lifelong Learning] has brought me into contact with a group of students and retired professionals who have a great hunger for knowledge. This has been most stimulating for me."
A Hunger for Knowledge and Diverse Perspectives
<p>Since returning to in-person teaching at NYU SPS following the COVID-19 pandemic, he has relished the renewed energy of classroom exchanges. In recent years, Protheroe has found teaching students at the NYU SPS Academy of Lifelong Learning (ALL) especially stimulating. ALL students—many of them retirees—bring a strong hunger for knowledge and a respectful curiosity toward diverse opinions.</p>
<p>In his ALL course Searching for Security: Global Politics from the End of the Cold War to the Present, Protheroe highlights parallels between 20th-century global politics and today’s geopolitical challenges. He notes historical echoes between President Vladimir Putin’s approach to Ukraine and Adolf Hitler’s strategy in Czechoslovakia in 1938. Similarly, he sees a parallel between the Axis alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan in the 1930s and today’s emerging coalition of autocratic states like China, Russia, and North Korea.</p>
<p>Through his lifelong dedication to history, Protheroe continues to guide students—whether traditional or lifelong learners—through the complexities of global events, helping them connect the past with the present to better understand the future.</p>
