Degrees

Ph.D., M.A., Harvard University
B.A., Columbia University

Research Interests

Scott Gelber specializes in the history of American higher education.  His first book, The University and the People: Envisioning American Higher Education in an Era of Populist Revolt (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011), examines the surprising extent of Populist support for academic freedom, the liberal arts, and state appropriations.  Ultimately, The University and the People argues that the core principles of public higher education evolved out of a taut relationship between grassroots activism and professorial expertise.  The book was supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation and the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History.  In 2012, it won the Linda Eisenmann Prize of the History of Education Society.  Gelber's current book project explores the legal history of college access.  This research is being supported by a 2013-14 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation postdoctoral fellowship.

Teaching Interests

A former New York City public school teacher, Professor Gelber coordinates Wheaton's secondary education program.  He advises high school licensure candidates and offers courses in secondary school instructional methods as well as the history, politics, and philosophy of education.

• Schooling in America (ED 250)
• Secondary School Curriculum (ED 391)
• American Higher Education (ED 398)
• Seminar in Teaching Methods (ED 495)
• Student Teaching Practicum (ED 496)
• First Year Seminar: American Cities/American Suburbs

Publications

"Child Support Litigation and the 'Necessity' of American Higher Education, 1926-71,” American Journal of Legal History (Forthcoming).

"The Populist Vision for Land-Grant Universities, 1880-1900," Perspectives on the History of Higher Education 30 (2013) (Special Issue: The Land-Grant Colleges and the Reshaping of American Higher Education), 165-94.

The University and the People: Envisioning American Higher Education in an Era of Populist Protest (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011).

"'City Blood is No Better Than Country Blood': The Populist Movement and Admissions Policies at Public Colleges and Universities," History of Education Quarterly 51 (August 2011), 273-95.

"The Crux and the Magic: The Political History of Boston Magnet Schools, 1968-1989," Equity and Excellence in Education 41 (November 2008), 453-66.

"Pathways in the Past: Historical Perspectives on Access to Higher Education," Teachers College Record 109 (October 2007), 2252-2286.

"The Social Contract of the Public University," Essay Review, History of Education Quarterly 47 (August 2007), 368-376.

"A Hard-Boiled Order: The Reeducation of Disabled World War I Veterans in New York City," Journal of Social History 39 (Fall 2005), 161-180.