History Faculty
Dr. Robert C. Cottrell
U.S. Intellectual, 20th Century America, American Sports
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 1983
Professor
Office Phone: 530-898-5760
e-mail: bcottrell@csuchico.edu
Research Interests
Dr. Cottrell currently is completing work with his co-author on a book titled American Lives, a two-volume biographical reader that pairs key figures in American History to highlight several of the most significant themes and developments scanning the history, thought, and culture of the United States. His Lives in American Popular Culture, which contains biographical treatments of twenty people and thematic chapters, is now under consideration for publication. He also has begun conducting research and writing on two new monographs in Sports History—Liberating the American Spirit: The Saga of Hutchins Hapgood and Two Pioneers: Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson.
Publications
Professor Cottrell has written fifteen books. Most recently, he contributed six volumes to the series Arbitrary Borders in History. His notable earlier works are The Best Pitcher in Baseball: The Life of Rube Foster, Negro League Giant (New York University Press, 2001), Roger Nash Baldwin and the American Civil Liberties Union (Columbia University Press, 2000), and Izzy: A Biography of I. F. Stone (Rutgers University Press, 1992). His articles have appeared in the Historian, Reviews in American History, the South Atlantic Quarterly, Mid-America, Journalism History, and the History Teacher. In addition to dozens of encyclopedia entries, he has published hundreds of book reviews for such journals as Choice, Library Journal, the American Historical Review, the Journal of American History, Journalism Quarterly, the History Teacher, the Journal of Sport History, History, and Chronicles of Oklahoma.
Honors and Awards
In 2000, Dr. Cottrell received the California State University’s Stanley Wang Family Excellence Award for Social and Behavioral Sciences and Public Services. He was recipient in 1998-1999 of the Outstanding Professor Award at California State University, Chico. In addition to earning numerous grants to support his research, his monographs have been nominated for several prestigious awards.
Courses Taught
AMST 335: American Popular Culture
HIST 103: The Modern World
HIST 130: United States History
HIST 130H: United States History, Honors
HIST 290: Historians and Historical Methodology
HIST 342: Education in America
HIST 350: America's Vietnam Experience
HIST 351: Volatile Decade: America in the 1960s
HIST 436: From Hiroshima to Watergate
HIST 440: American Thought and Character
HIST 490: Senior Seminar: Historical Research and Writing
HIST 630: Graduate Seminar in U.S. History: America's Wars
If you have any questions about the Department of History and its academic programs, please do not hesitate to call at (530) 898-5366.