Alan Brinkley specialized in the history of twentieth-century America. From 2003 to 2009, he was University Provost, and before that chair of the Department of History. In 1998-99, he was the Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University, and in 2011-2012, he was the Pitt Professor of American History at the University of Cambridge. He had been a member of the Columbia faculty since 1991 as Professor of American History.