Matt Reichert is a Preceptor on Social Studies at Harvard, where he teaches Social Studies 50: Foundations of Social Science Research, as well as junior tutorials. He received his PhD from Harvard’s Department of Government in 2022.

His research asks about the origins of our beliefs about nationality and national identity. His book manuscript, Who Built Nations in the Soviet Union?, explores the role of authors, artists, and professors in shaping how everyday people thought about national identity in the late Soviet period, especially in places like Armenia, Belarus, and Lithuania. His work draws on elite interviews, oral history, primary sources from in and out of the archive, and digitized historical data.  

He also works with partners at Boston Medical Center and University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School to study social determinants of health, especially around racial disparities, preconception care, and chronic illness. Matt’s research has been published in Politics and Society, The Lancet Digital Health, and The Annals of Family Medicine, amongst other journals.

Before coming to Harvard, Matt worked in model-based simulation and forecasting at a small defense contracting firm. He holds an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in History and International Relations from Boston University. He is an avid woodworker, and in his spare time he builds shaker-style and mid-century modern furniture.

2023-24 Courses
Social Studies 50: Foundations of Social Science Research (Fall)
Social Studies 50: Foundations of Social Science Research (Spring)
Social Studies 98wd: The Politics of Health and Medicine in the United States (Fall)