A version of this story first appeared in the 2025 issue of Method Magazine, a publication of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga College of Arts and Sciences.
UTC Professor Irven Resnick was selected as a senior fellow for 2024-25 at the University Alliance Ruhr/Research Alliance in Essen, Germany.
The opportunity to walk where students study in textbooks or see historical figures’ impact firsthand doesn’t come around often, but one University of Tennessee at Chattanooga professor is witnessing history in the flesh.
Dr. Irven Resnick, a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion and Chair of Excellence in Judaic Studies, is spending most of the 2024-25 academic year in Essen, Germany, after being selected as a senior fellow at the College for Social Sciences and Humanities at the University Alliance Ruhr/Research Alliance.
As one of the eight selected fellows, Resnick was tasked with creating an event to enlighten attendees about their specific subject.
“We’re all in different fields,” Resnick said. “Each one of us has prepared—if not a conference, some kind of symposium—some sort of public event that people from the local area can attend, but also they could participate like we’re doing now by Zoom.”
Working with Ruhr University Bochum colleague Dr. Alexandra Cuffel, Resnick is working on a research project focusing on Albert the Great, a philosopher and theologian from the Middle Ages.
“I’ve been working on Albert the Great for most of my career,” Resnick explained. “He is a distinguished medieval naturalist. In other words—apart from theology—he was principally interested in zoology, botany, the natural world and conducted experiments. He was a really fascinating figure for someone from the 13th century.”
Resnick and Cuffel planned conferences in Germany and Italy to discuss a different aspect of Albert the Great’s life. Together, they realized that the philosopher’s understanding of health and disease during the time had not yet been explored.
“He had an important influence on medical education in the early modern period, the later middle ages and the early modern period,” Resnick said. “Medical students were reading it—and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to focus on this topic. It hadn’t really been explored.
“I’m interested in what influence he had on the medical training and the medical education of students in the 16th and 17th centuries. Do we still feel that influence today? Are there things that perhaps he contributed that are still part of medical education or the medical curriculum?”
These conferences, Resnick said, aim to dive deeper into Albert the Great and learn something novel from a new generation of eyes. The majority of the people attending these conferences are professors and researchers from around the world.
“I’m hoping that the other presenters in the conference open my eyes to some aspects of Albert’s work and philosophy that I was not aware of,” Resnick said. “I’m also looking forward to having the opportunity to sit down and have a meal with people that I have actually corresponded with via email for years.
“Particularly, I’m interested in some of the younger colleagues. Some of the younger researchers … I’ve been reading their work. I’m reading their material as they’re developing their interest in Albert, and I’m looking forward to meeting them. They bring new insights. The opportunity for all of us to get together and sit down over a meal and share our research is a great experience.”
Resnick hopes that universities from around the globe will be able to create study-abroad experiences for students at UTC.
“One of the great advantages that one has studying—say intellectual history—in Germany or in Europe … generally there’s evidence of that history wherever you turn,” he said. “When I was in Trier touring the Roman ruins and medieval sites, I would very much have loved to have the opportunity to have students with me so that we could do a walking tour of a medieval city.
“Trier is the oldest city in Germany. It was founded under the Caesars in the first century. There’s evidence of that history literally wherever you turn. That’s a great advantage if you’re teaching history to be able to walk out the door and see it right in front of you.”
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Dr. Irven Resnick stands in front of the sarcophagus of St. Albertus Magnus in the crypt of the 11th century Sankt Andreas Kirche in Cologne. Photo courtesy of Dr. Irven Resnick.
