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.