Kathleen Kete is the Borden W. Painter, Jr., '58/H'95 Professor of European History. In her teaching and in her research she has sought to broaden the field of history by including within its purview previously neglected but rich subjects of study. Her first book, The Beast in the Boudoir: Petkeeping in Nineteenth Century Paris (1994) helped create the thriving field of the cultural history of animals. This was followed by an edited volume, A Cultural History of Animals in the Age of Empire, 1800-1920 (2007), volume five of a series which received an Outstanding Academic Title award from Choice Reviews.  A second major project addressed the complicated history of attitudes towards ambition in French culture. Her book on this subject, Making Way for Genius: The Aspiring Self in France from the Old Regime to the New, was published in 2012.  Since then, her teaching and research has centered on the human experience of nature in its historical context. She collaborates with colleagues Sean Cocco, Tom Wickman, and Clark Alejandrino in teaching courses such as HIST 219: Planet Earth and HIST 220: Possible Earths and regularly offers a seminar on the history of the Alps. Her new book- The Alpine Enlightenment: Horace-Benedict de Saussure and Nature's Sensorium-- is to be published in 2024 by the University of Chicago Press.

• Kete, Kathleen. Making Way for Genius: The Aspiring Self in France from the Old Regime to the New. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012.
• Kete, Kathleen, ed. "A Cultural History of Animals in the Age of Empire (1800-1920). Volume 5 of A Cultural History of Animals. General Editors, Linda Kalof and Brigitte Resl. Oxford: Berg, 2007,2011. 
• Kete, Kathleen. The Beast in the Boudoir: Petkeeping in Nineteenth-Century Paris. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994, 1995.
• Kete, Kathleen. “Stendhal and the Trials of Ambition in Postrevolutionary France.” French Historical Studies, Special Issue on “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on French Literature and History” 28, 3(Summer 2005).  
• Kete, Kathleen. “Children and Their Pets.” In Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood: In History and Society, edited by Paula S. Fass.  New York: Macmillan Reference, 2004.
• Kete, Kathleen. “Animals and Ideology: The Politics of Animal Protection in Europe.” In Representing Animals, edited by Nigel Rothfels. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. 2002.
• Kete, Kathleen. “Animals and Pets.” In Encyclopedia of European Social History: From 1350-2000, edited by Peter N. Stearns. Vol. 5, 507-520. New York: Scribners, 2001.
• Kete, Kathleen. “Animal Rights.” For The Palgrave Dictionary of Transnational History, edited by Akira Iriye and Pierre-Yves Saunier, forthcoming, 2007.
• “Beastly Agendas: An Interview with Kathleen Kete.” With Sina Najafi. Cabinet: A Quarterly Magazine of Art and Culture No.4. Summer 2001.

• Trinity College, President's Grant, Spring Break Paris Course with Jean-Marc Kehres, 2005
• Trinity College. Three-Year Research Expense Grant for travel to Paris, 2001-2003
• Trinity College Faculty Research Expense Grant for travel to Paris, Summer, 1996