Career
Degree in 1973 with the thesis Personalhistoriske sagn. En studie i kildeverdi. He worked as a lecturer at the University of Oslo from 1975 to 1976, docent from 1976 to 1984 and professor from 1985.
He was the dean of the Historical-Philosophical Faculty (now: the Faculty of Humanities) from 1991 to 1997.
In 2007 he became leader of the trade union Norwegian Association of Researchers.