Undergraduate
Historian of 20th Century Britain named assistant professor of history at Saint Michael's College
Dr. Jennifer Purcell founded the student-led club, SMCVoice, dedicated to researching and documenting campus life and opinion
Contact Information:
Buff Lindau, Public Relations
802.654.2536
blindau@smcvt.edu
Dr. Jennifer J. Purcell, visiting assistant professor of history at Saint Michael's College, was named a tenure-track assistant professor of history at the college.
Dr. Purcell's book, The Domestic Soldier: Housewives on the Home Front, is under contract for publication by the London publisher, Constable and Robinson, in December 2010. Professor Purcell has been an instructor and then visiting assistant professor at Saint Michael's and at the University of Vermont since 2006.
"I've always wanted to work at a small liberal arts college; I especially enjoy working closely with students," she said. "I like to be able to understand their interests, help them explore them, and guide them in directions they need to develop," she added. "Saint Michael's makes this possible." She added, "I honestly think that of all the places I've lived, this one is truly home. I look forward to working with other faculty, all of whom have been very warm and generous."
Degrees:
Dr. Purcell earned her bachelor's degree in psychology in 1994 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She completed coursework for a master's in marriage and family counseling at the University of Colorado, Denver, 1996-99. She earned a master's degree in history from the University of Colorado, Denver, in 2004, with a thesis titled "The Domestic Soldier: Domesticity, Identity, and Change in Second World War and Postwar Britain, A Case Study of Nella Last." And she earned a D.Phil in history from the University of Sussex in Falmer, United Kingdom, in 2008, with a dissertation titled "Beyond Home: Housewives and the Nation, Private and Public Identities, 1939-1949."
"I'm definitely a British historian at heart," she said. "I connect with the sensibility, with the depth of human history there, with their mature outlook," which may be a result of the mistakes made by the British Empire. Her particular focus is World War II Britain, and all of 19th and 20th Century British and European history. Her interests include gender history, and she plans to develop a course on masculinity in World War I, and an Empire course with the added perspective of the natives or colonial peoples.
At Saint Michael's, Dr. Purcell has been a residence hall floor visitor, and a member of the gender studies curriculum committee. She also founded the student-led club, SMCVoice, which is dedicated to researching and documenting campus life and opinion.
Jen Purcell and her husband Robert Purcell live in Georgia, Vt., and enjoy kayaking, hiking and travel (especially in England).
Saint Michael's College is a distinctive Catholic liberal arts college that provides an education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools they need to lead a successful, purposeful life that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 371 Colleges, ranking as 9th among institutions in Quality of Life and 2nd in Town-Gown Relations. It is one of only 270 institutions nationwide, and one of only 20 Catholic colleges, with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and its professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last nine years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings. Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns.
Buff Lindau, Public Relations
802.654.2536
blindau@smcvt.edu
Dr. Jennifer J. Purcell, visiting assistant professor of history at Saint Michael's College, was named a tenure-track assistant professor of history at the college. Dr. Purcell's book, The Domestic Soldier: Housewives on the Home Front, is under contract for publication by the London publisher, Constable and Robinson, in December 2010. Professor Purcell has been an instructor and then visiting assistant professor at Saint Michael's and at the University of Vermont since 2006.
"I've always wanted to work at a small liberal arts college; I especially enjoy working closely with students," she said. "I like to be able to understand their interests, help them explore them, and guide them in directions they need to develop," she added. "Saint Michael's makes this possible." She added, "I honestly think that of all the places I've lived, this one is truly home. I look forward to working with other faculty, all of whom have been very warm and generous."
Degrees:
Dr. Purcell earned her bachelor's degree in psychology in 1994 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She completed coursework for a master's in marriage and family counseling at the University of Colorado, Denver, 1996-99. She earned a master's degree in history from the University of Colorado, Denver, in 2004, with a thesis titled "The Domestic Soldier: Domesticity, Identity, and Change in Second World War and Postwar Britain, A Case Study of Nella Last." And she earned a D.Phil in history from the University of Sussex in Falmer, United Kingdom, in 2008, with a dissertation titled "Beyond Home: Housewives and the Nation, Private and Public Identities, 1939-1949."
"I'm definitely a British historian at heart," she said. "I connect with the sensibility, with the depth of human history there, with their mature outlook," which may be a result of the mistakes made by the British Empire. Her particular focus is World War II Britain, and all of 19th and 20th Century British and European history. Her interests include gender history, and she plans to develop a course on masculinity in World War I, and an Empire course with the added perspective of the natives or colonial peoples.
At Saint Michael's, Dr. Purcell has been a residence hall floor visitor, and a member of the gender studies curriculum committee. She also founded the student-led club, SMCVoice, which is dedicated to researching and documenting campus life and opinion.
Jen Purcell and her husband Robert Purcell live in Georgia, Vt., and enjoy kayaking, hiking and travel (especially in England).
Saint Michael's College is a distinctive Catholic liberal arts college that provides an education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools they need to lead a successful, purposeful life that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 371 Colleges, ranking as 9th among institutions in Quality of Life and 2nd in Town-Gown Relations. It is one of only 270 institutions nationwide, and one of only 20 Catholic colleges, with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and its professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last nine years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings. Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns.
