Ripon College Professor Henrik Schatzinger stands outside of Ripon Colleges East Hall after officially becoming a U.S. citizen. Hes taught at Ripon since 2009.

Ripon College congratulated Henrik Schatzinger last week Thursday on social media for officially becoming a U.S. citizen.

The associate professor of politics and government and co-director of the Center for Politics and the People joined the faculty at Ripon College in 2009.

Before gaining his U.S. citizenship, Schatzinger experienced a 20-year journey in which he filled out a lot of paperwork that included multiple visas.

In a Facebook post by Ripon College, he thanked the people who helped him at various stages in the process. Schatzinger now has U.S., German, and Finnish citizenship, but hes all about America right now.

The Commonwealth recently caught up with Schatzinger for a Q&A about his path toward citizenship.

Heres the conversation:

Q. According to Ripon College, you have U.S., German and Finnish citizenship. What country are you originally from?

A. I grew up right next to Kiel, Germany, on the southwestern shore of the Baltic Sea. Kiel is about an hour north of Hamburg. Kiel is known for high-tech shipbuilding, its maritime centers, its university, the largest sailing event in the world known as Kiel Week and the Kiel Canal, the busiest artificial waterway in the world. By the way, Wisconsins Kiel got its name from one of the settlers families who came from Kiel, Germany, and named it after their German hometown. I also have Finnish citizenship because my mother is from Finland and we applied for my Finnish citizenship when I was a child. I had to show my ties to Germany and Finland in order to keep these citizenships.

Q. What was it like in Germany?

A. I always loved living close to the water. There are wonderful walkways around the Kiel Fjord where people are allowed to rollerblade/inline skate, and that was one of my favorite activities as a college student. I often did that in the evening when the cruise ships from around the world arrived or left. The ships blew their horns and happy people were waving at us. I always enjoyed that and it never got old. I also loved the fact that we had great beaches nearby where I hung out with friends.

Q. What brought you to the United States and when did you come?

A. I already wanted to come to the United States as a high school student because I was fascinated by American music, sports, the countrys diversity and economic success, and the sheer size of the country and its tremendous geographic variety. It was too expensive for my family to make it possible for me to go at the time, but I was lucky enough that as a graduate student at the University of Kiel, I received a full scholarship for an exchange program at the University of Kansas (KU), along with a Fulbright grant. That allowed me to come here. After my first year at KU, I transferred into their masters program in political science and finished that degree.

Q. What brought you to Ripon?

A. After [graduating from] the University of Kansas, I worked as a legislative assistant in the German Parliament, the Bundestag, but I knew I wanted to come back to the United States as soon as possible. So I did my Ph.D. at the University of Georgia and worked then at the Campaign Finance Institute in Washington D.C., a small, nonpartisan think tank. But I always enjoyed teaching and applied for jobs around the country. I had my first interview at Ripon College for the position of assistant professor of politics and government and I was extremely lucky to receive an offer. Marty Farrell, back then the department chair of politics and government, and the whole community were incredibly welcoming.

Q. What do you like about the United States and, specifically, Ripon?

A. My enthusiasm for the United States is as great as it ever was. I generally appreciate Americans optimism, individualism and self-reliance, openness to ideas and entrepreneurial spirit. Also, I like the elbow room America offers because of its geographic size. Germany is roughly the size of New Mexico, with over 82 million people. Its a little cramped for me. Ripon is special because of its people: a lot of people care deeply about keeping the city vibrant, welcoming and charming, and I think they are succeeding in their efforts. Also, we have a lot of high-quality businesses for such a small city, ranging from downtown stores to bars and restaurants, to commercial powerhouses such as Alliance Laundry. Let me also note that having a high-quality newspaper in town that informs citizens about what is happening in town is really important for keeping the republic alive: ask cities that have lost their daily or weekly local papers and you will hear about the problems when they were suddenly confronted with a dearth of information.

Ripon College congratulated Henrik Schatzinger last week Thursday on social media for officially becoming a U.S. citizen.

Q. What ways could America and Ripon improve?

A. I teach American politics and government, so I am not telling you anything new when I say that political ideology has become a form of mega-identity through which people see the world. I believe the rise in political polarization over the last decades has deep-rooted causes: for example, economic and demographic changes that have come rather fast and that will continue to do so. Change is hard, and it has brought difficulties that are real and painful for many families, and those challenges have contributed to a rise in income and wealth inequalities. So the general challenge that I see for Ripon and the country as a whole is to resist finger pointing, but to work constructively together to meet those challenges and honor the founders motto: e pluribus unum, out of many, one.

Q. In your role as the co-director of the Center for Politics and the People, you help to bring discussions of current events and world issues to a rural community. Why is that important to you and what do you enjoy about it?

A. I like to look at all political issues from all angles without resorting to emotionally charged language, and thats what the Center for Politics and the People at Ripon College allows me to do. We invite people from all walks of life to have open discussions about issues that interest and affect people in our community. There is just too much tribal rhetoric out there that divides people. I think what we need is more analysis, cool-headedness and pragmatism. Not everything is automatically bad because it comes from the other side.

Q. What do you enjoy about being an associate professor of politics at Ripon College?

A. What I enjoy about working at Ripon College is closely working with students in the classroom, but also outside the classroom when it comes to trying to help with internships, career preparation, and guiding my own research internships. I also think Ripon Colleges work environment is very collegial and supportive. I have the opportunity to teach a lot of different classes from media and politics to interest group politics and that makes it a lot of fun. What I specifically enjoy about studying American politics is the fact that there is so much data that allows us to test hypotheses about political processes and political behavior, which in turn allows us to learn a lot about the state of American politics and government. I study human behavior in a political context. That also means that politicians are not all that different from the rest of us. They respond to incentives, and how they act is often a rational outcome given the environment in which they operate.

Q. How did you get into the world of academia and how is it rewarding?

A. I got into academia because I get to ... teach students and conduct original research. Last year, my colleague Steve Martin and I published a book titled Game Changers: How Dark Money and Super PACs are Transforming U.S. Campaigns, and I am now working on a new book that focuses on outside money in local elections. I love teaching because it allows me to share my passion for politics, and I enjoy research because it is intellectually challenging and stimulating, and forces me to stay on top of the developments in my field.

Q. You had a 20-year journey to citizenship and said that you had to fill out a lot of paperwork. Could you describe your journey?

A. I think the path to U.S. citizenship is more difficult and takes much longer than many realize. I went through three different visa categories, optional practical training, got a green card through my employer and visited various embassies to get to this point. The paperwork is not the biggest problem, it is the long wait times in between that can weigh on you psychologically. I also remember that in 2002, a year after I had been in the United States, I needed to suddenly demonstrate that I had access to $40,000 in liquid cash in case of an emergency. I was lucky that my godfather was willing to vouch for me at that point and that he was able to offer the necessary documentation. I dont know what I would have done otherwise. Broadly speaking, the last major congressional immigration reform bill passed in 1990, and a lot has changed in 31 years. I believe that the time for major immigration reform has come.

Q. What did it feel like to finally get U.S. citizenship?

A. I feel joy and pride, and have a new sense of belonging and responsibility. The legal ramifications do not go beyond voting and jury duty, but the bigger change for me is a new sense of emotional attachment to the United States.

Q. Do you have any final thoughts or anything else youd like to share?

A. A lot of people have helped along the way, both in Germany and here in the United States, and I am deeply grateful for all that support. It took a village to get to the point of citizenship and I will never forget all those who have assisted me on my journey.

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Getting to Know: A Q&A with Ripon College professor and now U.S. citizen Henrik Schatzinger - Ripon Commonwealth Press