Jennifer L. Stevens

Background                                                                                                                

Jennifer Stevens is an Associate Professor of History and American Studies specializing in American cultural studies and 20th century United States History.  She received her Ph.D. in American Studies from Michigan State University in 2005.  She also holds degrees from Bowling Green State University (M.A. in Popular Culture), National-Louis University (M.A.T. Early Childhood Education) and Carleton College (B.A. History).

Teaching                                                                                                                        

Courses taught by Prof. Stevens cover a wide range of American cultural studies topics as well as some United States history.  She also teaches in the University Core Curriculum program.  A full course list is included below.  Her classes are generally discussion based and include project based assignments geared toward getting students involved with the material at hand.  Whenever possible, Prof. Stevens likes in include students in her own research and work with students on research projects that they themselves have developed.

Courses Taught                                                                                                                  

American Studies:                                                                                                     

Introduction to the American Experience                                                                        
Popular Culture                                                                                                                     
Television in American Culture                                                                                          
Movies and Moviegoing in American Culture                                                                 
Ethnic Cultures in America                                                                                  
Education in American Culture                                                                          
American Leisure Culture                                                                                       
American Eats                                                                                                              
Disney in America                                                                                                     
History by Hollywood                                                                                             
America on Screen                                                                                               
American Studies Senior Seminar

History:                                                                                                                               

United States History I: From Colonial Times to Reconstruction                               
United States History II: Reconstruction to the Present                                               
American Immigration History                                                                                         
Canadian History                                                                                                                   
The 1960s                                                                                                                                 
History in the Public Sphere                                                                                                
History Senior Seminar

Core Curriculum:

History in the Modern World                                                                                     
Core Interdisciplinary Senior Seminar: Popular Culture and Globalization

Research                                                                                                                         

Prof. Stevens conducts research in several different areas, but her primary focus most recently has been the exploration of how history is represented and interpreted within the public sphere.  Her research in this area seeks to illuminate how popular presentations of history affect the Popular American Historical Consciousness.  Her dissertation and first book project looks at the impact of television on conveying historical material to the audience.  Other projects she is working on in this area look at popular movies, museums and the practice of local history and genealogy as other lenses through which to consider the relationship between Americans and their history.

Another long term project in Prof. Stevens other primary scholarly, ethnicity and ethnic identity in Americans of primarily European descent, explores the Gaelic diaspora in the United States and Canada.  She is also engaging in exploring and documenting the ethnic culture of the local Bristol area with other members of the Department of History and American Studies.  These projects include recorded interviews with members of these ethnic communities that will eventually populate an archive of oral histories that will be available to other scholars in the future.

Professor Stevens can be contacted via

Email: jstevens@rwu.edu                   
Phone: 401-254-5698                              
Office: Global Heritage Hall 217                                                                           
Mailing Address: Department of History and American Studies                      
Roger Williams University                                                                                                   
One Old Ferry Road                                                                                                               
Bristol, Rhode Island  02809