1970 - 71

Dean, Philosophische Fakultät, RWTH Aachen


1973

Visiting Professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, USA (July-Sept.)


1979 - 88

Chairman, Sektion für Soziologie, Görres-Gesellschaft


1981 - 82

Visiting Professor at the University of California Santa Barbara


1981

Nov. 25.: Interview with Herbert Blumer in Berkley, California


1982

Chairman, Symposium 8: Revisions and Relations among Modern Microsociological Paradigms, 10th World Congress of Sociology, Mexico City


1984

Sept.-Dec.: Visiting Professor (Killam Scholar) The University of Calgary, Alberta


1984 - 86

Department Head, Institut für Soziologie Universität München


1985

March: Visiting Professor, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium


1986 - 87

Nov.-Feb.: Visiting Professor, Universität Zürich, Switzerland


1986 - 88

Elected member of university senate, Universität München


1988

August: Organizer and director: OASIS Summer-School (Organization for Advanced Studies in Interpretative Sociology), an English language summer institute at the Universität München, co-taught with Tamotsu Shibutani, Friedrich Tenbruck and others


1988 - 89

Nov.-Feb.: Visiting Professor, Universität Zürich, Switzerland


1989

April: Visiting Professor, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas


1989 - 90

Nov.-Feb.: Visiting Professor, Universität Zürich, Switzerland



1990
Aug.-Dec.: Visiting Professor, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N.M.

1991
Jan.: Visiting Professor at Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

March-May: Exchange Professor, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Jul.-Aug.: Fulbright Professor during summer school, University of Colorado, Boulder

1991 - 92
Nov.-Feb.: Visiting Professor, Universität Zürich, Switzerland

1991 - 93
Department Chair, Institut für Soziologie, Universität München

1993
March: Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

1995
Research: University of Hawaii at Manoa (April-May), University of California at Santa Barbara (June-July). Teaching: University of Colorado at Boulder (August)

1995
Sept.-Oct.: Guest lectures in Tokyo, Nagasaki, and Seoul

1996
March: Guest lectures in Seoul and Beijing, first visit to China

April: Co-Chair, International Conference on George Simmel's Actual and Potential Impact on Contemporary Sociology: University of Colorado at Boulder (USA)

1997
March: Guest lectures and research contacts in Seoul and Beijing

Aug.-Sept.: Presenter at International Conference of Interuniversity Cooperation and Exchange, 3rd visit to Peking University, research contacts in Seoul, Kyoto, and Tokyo

1998
March-Apr.: Research contacts in Seoul (Shamanism) and Beijing Oct.: Prof. Jing Tiankui, Beijing, visits Universität München

1999
March-Apr.: Research visit to Beijing, Guiyang, Quanzhou, and Fuzhou, financed by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

1999
Sept.-Dec.: Visiting Professor: University of Maine at Farmington, Maine, U.S.A.





2000
Jan.-Apr.: Visiting Professor: Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, U.S.A.

August: Visit to Professor Phillip E. Hammond (1921-2009), Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara.


2001
June (1-10): China: Lecture and research contacts at Tongji University in Shanghai with field trips to the Shanghai temple district Chenghuang, and to Zhouzhuang, Hangzhou, and Suzhou.

June (10-13): Korea: Lecture at the German-Korean Conference in Seoul: Korea and Germany at the Threshold of the 21st Century.


2002
Jan.: Visit to Shanghai. August: Visit to Boston, New York, the University of Maine at Farmington, and the University of California at Santa Barbara.


2003
Aug.-Oct.: Two months in China with professional contacts at Peking University and guest lectures at Fudan University and Tongji University in Shanghai, and at Huaqiao University in Quanzhou.


2004
May: Visit to Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A. - Sept. 15-18: Presenter at the XII Congress of the Polish Sociological Association in Poznan, Poland.


2005
Febr.: Research contacts at Fudan University, Shanghai, and at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
May-June: Visiting scholar and lecturer at Fudan University, Shanghai, China.


2006
Jan.-May: Guest professor at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, U.S.A.


2007
Sept.-Oct.: Guest teaching: Peking University and Dalian Technical University, China. Visit at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.


2008
March: Guest lectures at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, at Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou Campus, at Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai Campus, at Huaqiao University, Quanzhou, at Peking University, Beijing, and at the German-Japanese Work Workshop “Family and Work” in Tokyo.


2010
Aug.-Dec.: Guest professorship at Sanya College in Sanya, Hainan, China, partially financed by Stiftungsinitiative Johann Gottfried Herder, sponsored by Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). Oct.: Guest lectures at Huaqiao University in Xiamen, Fujian, China.


2011
Sept.-Nov.: Guest professorship at Huaqiao University in Xiamen, China, partially financed by Stiftungsinitiative JohannGottfried Herder, sponsored by Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD).


2012
March-June and Aug.-Nov.: March-June and Aug.-Nov.: Guest teaching at Huaqiao University in Xiamen, Fujian. Nov.-Dec.: Teaching assignment at Sanya College (renamed Sanya University).


2013
Feb.-June and Sept.-Dec.: Teaching and research assignments at Sanya University.

2014 - 15

March-July: Teaching and research assignments at Sanya University.
Oct.-Feb.: Teaching assignment at Munich University.


2015
Publication project on China. Travels to Paris and Rome.

2016 - 17
Oct.- Feb.: Teaching assignment at Munich University.

2017
December: Guest Lecture in Rome at La Scuola di Alta Formazione delle Religione: Simmel as Sociologist of Religion.


2018

October: Guest Lecture in China at the University of Zhejiang in Hangzhou to commemorate the death of Simmel in 1918.



Membership in Learned Societies

  • Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie
  • Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (Fellow)
  • Görres-Gesellschaft


Areas of Teaching Interest

  • Sociology of Verstehen (Georg Simmel, Max Weber)
  • Symbolic Interaction Theory
  • Sociology of the Family
  • Sociology of Religion
  • Culture and History of China
  • History of Social Thought