Program Profile: Mississippi State University
The Program in History of Science at Mississippi State University was created a few short years ago. Its lack of a legacy or even a history has proven one of its great strengths. As part of the more general generational change experienced in American universities this decade, Mississippi State seized upon the ironic opportunity provided by wholesale retirements to fashion something new. These departures wiped away traditions, established practices, and long-standing interests here; we were spared the unpleasant task of permitting archaic structures to restrict new efforts or the inevitable tumult of tearing them down. What we have done is build a program from scratch, where the counsel and benefit of young, energetic scholars trained in a myriad of ways at many programs could fashion what they anticipate would be an optimum history of science program for the 21st century.
To that end, we chose to situate the program both intellectually and physically within the department of history. Such a decision was apt; the history of science depends on the same sort of historiography and methodologies as “standard” history. The primary thing that separates history and history of science ought to be focus: The history of science concentrates on science in its myriad facets and ramifications. But that distinct focus in no way divorces history of science from history.
The issues that galvanized the old history of science – creativity, individual invention/discovery – are no less valid for artists, writers, or machine designers, each of whom have been successfully studied and analyzed within the framework of history. The more recent issues of the contextural history of science – class, gender, race, education and the like – stand as critical determinants for many forms of history. The most current concerns of the history-of-science field – the act of seeing, how various types of models and conventions encourage thought in particular directions – are the staples of cultural historians everywhere.
When we established the MSU program, we first confronted the reality that we could not be all things to all people. Rather than be broad and shallow – to cover all bases superficially – we marshaled our resources to become excellent in what we do. We chose to focus on America and Europe and then for only about the last three centuries. By concentrating eight faculty on that geographical and chronological period, we can take our place among the largest history of science programs. We have eight specialists investigating the modern past.
Those interested in ancient science will not find what they seek at MSU. But those looking for an extensive concentration in the life and physical sciences in 19th- and 20th-century America or Europe as well as the history of technology and medicine could find few places of greater depth.
What are the comprehensive exam fields?
We offer a full palette of history-of-science courses and seminars covering the past three centuries. Graduate students can select from a variety of seminars or lecture courses in the life and physical sciences, medicine and/or technology. There are three-hour written comprehensive exams for Ph.D. students in at least two history-of-science fields as well as a three-hour oral exam. A dissertation proposal is also required as part of the program.
But being located squarely in a history department colors how we train graduate students and how we identify ourselves. Each member of the history of science faculty teaches at least one ‘regular’ history course; when it comes to placing history of science within history, we practice what we preach. Graduate students here are not simply trained to teach an American history or western civilization survey. A full complement of either European or American seminars is required for the degree – either Europe or America must be a comprehensive exam field – as we guarantee that graduates are well rooted in history as well as the history of science.
What are the faculty, program, and resource strengths?
The MSU history department has long been known for its work in environmental, agricultural, gender, African American, military, and Southern history and that opens almost unprecedented opportunities. Collaboration and interaction among faculty members and graduate students are commonplace.
A quick check of the current research projects of the history-of-science faculty demonstrates just how vibrant connections between standard history and the history of science are at MSU. Dennis Doyle writes on the racial psychiatry of 1920s and 1930s Harlem. Amy Gangloff examines automobile safety in the 1950s and 1960s with particular emphasis on the gendered implications of various decisions. Stephen Brain investigates Soviet silviculture under Stalin. Susan Rensing explores the late 19th-and early 20th-century relationships among women’s rights advocates and eugenic thought. Alan Marcus focuses on cancer research in the western world in the century after 1870. Matthew Lavine interrogates radiation and the geological and physical sciences in the 19th and early 20th-century American West. Alexandra Hui analyzes connections among music, mathematics, and the nationalist science of mid-19th-century Germany. Mark Hersey delves into the environmental ethic found in George Washington Carver’s botanical training at Iowa State and how it manifested itself in Carver’s Tuskegee work.
Although the history-of-science program is new to MSU, the active collection of resources for the history of science has been longstanding. As a land-grant institution, the university has actively accessioned books and collections covering all facets of science and technology since the university’s inception in 1878. It has also avidly worked to gather material from Mississippi legislators involved in the national planning of science and technology. Indeed, one of the offshoots of having long-standing federal legislators is that they gain seniority on important congressional committees (that is the reason that Mississippi led the nation in congressional earmarks this past session). John Stennis, Trent Lott, and Thad Cochran are but three examples of the kind of rich collections useful to history-of-science study at MSU. Stennis long served on the committee that created and then oversaw NASA and was among the foremost proponents of the space program. Cochran was (and is) especially adept at securing earmarks for energy-related activities and for agricultural science initiatives. Lott served on the Commerce, Science, & Transportation committee and the committee for the Environment and Public Works. As such, he had direct influence on almost all federal programs in these areas for decades.
Mississippi and the South generally provide an exciting context for historians. Here history is alive. It is central to identity. It is in the blood and the spirit. There is palpable excitement as the awfulness and richness of Mississippi’s past gives way to a dynamic, vital present and future. The intimate mingling of the diverse peoples unheard of in the North, is second nature in the South and presages a certain openness within society. In the South, the rich tapestry of America’s past is woven in every endeavor as genteel traditions are wrought alive. Even the cooking speaks of the past. MSU is at the crossroads of at least three distinctive cuisines. Southern Homestyle cooking predominates – the virtues of batter dipped French fries remain a mystery – but barbecue is fundamental. Flavors run the gamut from Texas to Memphis Dry Rub, with some North Carolina vinegar based thrown in. New Orleans and its Cajun and Creole spices are well represented, as is Mississippi Delta food. There the legacy of bringing in Chinese, Italian, and Mexican workers in the 1920s to build the levees results in a unique Italian-Chinese cooking as well as tamales. Mississippi is the home of the Blues. You can still find authentic juke joints, some operating for nearly a half century, just a few miles from MSU.
For further information, contact Alan Marcus at aimarcus@history.msstate.edu.