Daub Named Director of Clayman Institute for Gender Research

A new director has been announced for the Clayman Institute for Gender Research. Adrian Daub, a Stanford professor of comparative literature and German studies in the School of Humanities and Sciences, will begin his term as the Barbara D. Finberg Director on Sept. 1, 2019.

"Professor Adrian Daub has been the director of the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies since 2016, demonstrating his leadership and commitment to advancing gender studies,” says Dean Debra Satz, Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences and Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society. “Now he brings that expertise—including his extensive interdisciplinary research and teaching on marriage, sexuality and LGBTQ identity—to lead the Clayman Institute for Gender Research. Adrian will help inspire the next generation of faculty and students working to promote gender equality in our culture.”

“It’s an immense honor to be chosen as director of the Clayman Institute, and I look forward to building on the incredible track record in gender scholarship established by previous directors.” - Adrian Daub

Daub, the Marta Sutton Weeks Faculty Scholar in the Humanities, returns to the Clayman Institute in a leadership position after an appointment as a faculty research fellow in the 2018 academic year. Daub has served as director of undergraduate studies for the Division of Literatures, Cultures and Languages, director of German Studies, and is the current director of the Andrew W. Mellon Program for Postdoctoral Studies in the Humanities. He also recently received a Dean’s Award for Achievements in Teaching.

“It’s an immense honor to be chosen as director of the Clayman Institute, and I look forward to building on the incredible track record in gender scholarship established by previous directors,” Daub says. “I am thrilled that in this role I will have  the opportunity to collaborate with so many talented students, faculty, advisors and staff. I am committed to maintaining and expanding the vibrant intellectual life that thrives at the Clayman Institute.”

His research focuses on the intersection of literature, music and philosophy, particularly in the nineteenth century. Daub’s book “Uncivil Unions - The Metaphysics of Marriage in German Idealism and Romanticism” explores German philosophical theories of marriage from Kant to Nietzsche. His recent book, “Tristan's Shadow - Sexuality and the Total Work of Art,” deals with eroticism in German opera after Wagner. “Four-Handed Monsters” ties the practice of four-hand piano playing to ideologies about gender, labor and the family in nineteenth-century Europe. In addition, he has published articles on opera, film, poetry, as well as literature and scandal. He writes on popular culture, technology and politics for national and international publications. Together with Charles Kronengold he wrote “The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism.”

“Each director has brought a new perspective to the Clayman Institute. Adrian will be no exception,” says Michelle R. Clayman, who endowed the Institute in 2010 and serves as chair of the Institute Advisory Council. “He is a great scholar, a terrific teacher and was an Institute faculty research fellow, so he knows us well. He has worked collaboratively with many of our fellows and staff members via FGSS.  This is the beginning of another exciting chapter in the life of the organization.”

Daub began on the Stanford faculty in 2008, after earning a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. He also earned a master’s there in 2004, and a bachelor’s from Swarthmore College in 2003.

With this appointment, Daub becomes the 11th director and the first man to lead the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, which began in 1974 as the Center for Research on Women (CROW). After serving for nine years, current Director Shelley J. Correll continues at Stanford as director of the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, endowed in 2018. Correll is the inaugural Michelle Mercer and Bruce Golden Family Professor of Women’s Leadership, professor of sociology and professor (by courtesy) at the Graduate School of Business. Correll says of the new director’s appointment: “I’ve had the opportunity to work with Adrian through his leadership of FGSS, and I know he will excel in building the Institute’s partnerships, programs and research. With Adrian as director, the future of the Institute is most certainly bright.”