Kevin Amidon

I was born in 1971 and grew up in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Kansas. Over the years, I came to love four things that have become central and related aspects of his life: education, music, travel, and cars.

I knew relatively early in my university studies that I would like to become a teacher and scholar at the university level, because I had been so fortunate to experience such fine teaching from others.

After exploring the possibility of pursuing graduate degrees in economics and history, I settled on German Studies (language, literature, and history) as a graduate field, and was fortunate to be able to complete my M.A. (1995) and Ph.D. (2001) degrees at Princeton University.

Throughout the development of my career as a teacher and scholar, I has also pursued a parallel career as a professional violinist and violist. In fact, I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not play the violin. My major professional affiliation since 2005 has been with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra. Since 2002 I have also served as concertmaster of the Central Iowa Symphony in Ames.