Nicholas Herrud

Biography

Nicholas is a Ph.D. candidate in History at Notre Dame with research centered on 20th-century Eastern Europe and borderlands. His dissertation compares Polish and Soviet policies towards their ethnic minorities during the interwar period. He also studies state-building through communism and nationalism. Nicholas completed his B.A. (with a German minor) and M.A. in history from Austin Peay State University in 2020 and 2023.

The best advice he received for studying history was to learn languages. During his undergraduate and M.A. years, Nicholas studied French and German. He started learning Polish through a language scholarship to Krakow in 2020-2021 and continued with Russian, Ukrainian, and now, Lithuanian. Nicholas presented papers at both local conferences and the national ASEEES conference in 2024. In spring 2025, Nicholas received a Fulbright research award for Vilnius, Lithuania, for 2025-2026. While on his Fulbright, Nicholas was selected a participant in the US-EU Young Leaders Seminar in Brussels in 2026. Nicholas participated in the 3MT competitions twice. Nicholas is also a recipient of the Dean's fellowship at Notre Dame. Aside from his research, Nicholas enjoys hiking, drinking too much coffee, and volunteering. He also aspires to publish a piece of fiction at some point in the future.