Oscar Lansen

Oscar Lansen is a Teaching Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte), affiliated with the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences (CHESS). He serves as the teacher licensure content advisor for Secondary Comprehensive Social Studies programs and co-chairs the university’s commencement exercises. His roles include administrative leadership on committees such as the Honors Council and College Curriculum Committee.

His research focuses on the social history of war and conflict, particularly Jewish refugees from Nazism to the Netherlands and Dutch West Indies, and Holocaust pedagogy. He is completing a monograph on Jewish internees in the Netherlands Antilles and colonial-Sephardic power dynamics. Pedagogically, he explores teaching contested histories, history education’s role in nationhood, and Holocaust education methodologies to combat prejudice.

Lansen collaborates with UNESCO on antisemitism curricula and advises North Carolina’s Holocaust curriculum. He teaches courses on Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and conflict studies, emphasizing visual-spatial analysis and equitable learning in diverse settings. He co-founded the Charlotte Teacher Institute and History Freshmen Learning Community, and contributed to a need-based study abroad scholarship. His community engagement includes public school lectures, museum exhibit consultations, and public speaking on historical topics.