Who, exactly, are the History Professors?

Perhaps the strongest current research area in the department is Women’s and Gender History, but we have strong emphases in histories of medicine, health, disabilities, religion, social history, and the history of race and ethnicity. These are closely followed by more traditional fields such as political/cultural history, legal history, and history of rural and peasant societies.

The Department's faculty members have been trained at the best American and European universities, and the department is currently ranked 35th among hundreds in the United States. You will find that every professor has an area of specialized, ongoing research, and the results of his or her research often show up first in the classroom. We rank fifth in the frequency with which our research is cited.

Professors are divided by academic rank: instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor. We all have the degree of Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) which entitles us to be addressed as Doctor in very formal circumstances and to wear doctoral robes and hoods on special occasions (such as the placing of Ph.D. hoods on our graduate students at their graduation). In fact, however, long-standing traditions in the department have tended to ignore distinctions of rank and degree, and everyone’s title on their door is simply Professor.

From time to time professors take research leaves (a.k.a. sabbaticals) that allow them to spend a semester or more on full-time research. Research leaves are a normal part of academic life and are necessary to sustain the research function of universities. They also enrich undergraduate education by allowing faculty the opportunity to bring current research to bear on the courses they teach. Funds for such purposes are provided by the University as well as by private foundations, federal agencies and even by foreign governments. Usual practice is that faculty members apply for and are granted developmental leaves once every five years.

Members of the History Department are notable for their success in winning grants that allow them to extend their research leaves and to take more frequent research trips.

In 2004-05, three of our faculty members had prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships, and one faculty member had a Guggenheim Fellowship. Several of our faculty members held distinguished university-wide Faculty Scholar or Global Scholar Awards.

Research leaves are not terribly disruptive because the department is usually able to appoint visiting professors. Majors are advised to take advantage of visitors, whose specialties often differ from those of regular faculty. But this also means that if you see a course listed in which you have a specific interest, take it now. If you wait for next year, it may not reappear. This goes for second-grade options, too. There is no guarantee of a 100-level course being repeated soon.

Visitors to the Department provide valuable continuity in course offerings when regular faculty go on leave. They are often young faculty just starting out. They bringing an infusion of fresh faces and otherwise unavailable course offerings to a department whose regular faculty cannot possibly know everything. Visitors to the department are encouraged to take an active part in its intellectual life, to celebrate accomplishments with us, and to interact with both graduate and undergraduate students. Like all of us they have regular office hours and help with undergraduate advising. They often become lifetime friends of members of the regular faculty. Most are here for a year or less, are actively applying for permanent jobs elsewhere, and hope to be disappearing occasionally for interviews.

Graduate Instructors (aka Teaching Assistants) are professors-in-the-making; they are selected from among the best students in a very selective Ph.D. program. They are paid stipends to teach undergraduates in the General Education program of the College. Being students themselves, graduate instructors are supervised by professors. Beginning graduate instructors work closely with professors to lead and grade undergraduates in the discussion sections of large lecture courses like "Western Civilization" and "Asian Civilizations." More experienced graduate instructors are given significant responsibility for organizing and leading the numerous sections of "Issues in Human History." A few work as graders—in this case working very closely with Professors in 100-level undergraduate courses.