History Department

The HOUR Program

Overview

The HOUR Program offers students a chance to collaborate with department faculty on their scholarly work. Each semester, students may apply to assist those members of the History faculty who would like help on their research projects. Students may receive compensation in the form of either:

  • an HOURly rate of $10, up to $300 (30 HOURS) a semester or summer (with reapplication possible) payable at the conclusion of the project

    OR

  • credit for HIS 391 (Independent Study), providing you complete a substantial writing assignment based on their research. If you choose this option, you must register for the course and devise a syllabus with the professor.
Please fill out an application and submit it on-line or you may print it and submit it to the History Department office in 364 Rush Rhees Library. If you want to work with a professor from whom you have not taken a course, you must also submit a letter of recommendation from a faculty member who has taught you. Letters of recommendations can be sent to the History Department office or submitted electronically to Jacquilyn Rizzo, ilyn@mail.rochester.edu.


HOUR projects currently offered:
Prof. Theodore Brown
"The History of International and Global Health"
I'm working on two book projects, one a history of the World Health Organization and the other an edited collection of essays on "U.S. Health Internationalists, Abroad and At Home." The student will assist with various research and editing responsibilities. No prior knowledge of medical history is required.

Prof. Richard Kaeuper
The Holy Warrior and Social Ideals and Social Dissonance in Post-Conquest England
Two current book projects -- bibliographic searching; computer searching of texts on disks, explorations of particular topics. General assistance; 1 HOUR a week or more; flexible schedule. Some reading knowledge of French a plus, but is not necessary.

Prof. Joan Rubin
"The Politics of Reading in the United States since 1945, or From My Mother's Bookshelves"
I am at the early stages of gathering materials on such topics as: the changing relationship between readers and literary critics in the postwar period; publishers' conceptions of their audiences; transatlantic trends like the popularization of existentialism; ideological conflict over literacy instruction; reading in the civil rights, anti-war, and women's movements; reader response theory and the canon debates; anti-intellectualism and adolescence; and the impact of digitization. I welcome assistance in building bibliographies, finding elusive published sources, and planning future archival research.

Professor Robert Westbrook
America 1939: Lost in a Haunted Wood"
I'm working on a book idea, and could use some help cementing it in my mind. This book would be a "biography" of a single year in American history, 1939. I envision my research assistant helping me to gather material from a range of sources, including books, newspapers, magazines, and movies. Everything from the end of the Spanish Civil War to the beginning of World War II, from Freud's death to Batman's birth, from "God Bless America" to "Strange Fruit," from Day of the Locust to The Grapes of Wrath. He or she might also help me put together a related new seminar I am teaching on American culture during the Great Depression and World War II.


Application for the HOUR Program

Instructions: Please fill out the form completely. You may also print out this page and submit it in person.

Name:

Class:

E-mail address:

Campus Phone:

Are you a:
History concentrator Minor Undeclared Other

Professor with whom you want to work:

Project title:

Course(s) taken with above-named professor (Please submit letter of recommendation from another faculty member if you have done no course work with the person you want to assist.):

Form of compensation: (choose one): $10/HOUR Credit HIS 391 (includes substantial writing assignment)

Maximum number of HOURs per week you would like to work (negotiable with professor):