Assistant Professor of History

456 Decio Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556

Phone: (574) 631-7191
Email: rpierce@nd.edu

Richard B. Pierce, the Carl E. Koch, Jr. Assistant Professor of History, specializes in African American, urban, and Civil Rights history. A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1996, Dr. Pierce examines social and political protest in urban environments. In July, 2002, Dr. Pierce accepted an appointment as the Associate Director of African and African American Studies. Dr. Pierce worked as a volunteer advisory board member to this program for four years before his appointment as Associate Director. He was the primary architect in the development of the Erskine A. Peters Dissertation Fellowship Program. Additionally, he convened and organized the African and African American Study Program's first symposium on "African American Women's Labor" in March 2000. In recent years, Dr. Pierce received multiple fellowship and academic appointments. These include Joan D. Kroc Institute for Institute for Peace Fellow (2002); Carl E. Koch, Jr., Chair (2000), a Ford funded Fellowship at the Center for Africanamerican Urban Studies and the Economy (CAUSE); Indiana's Delegate to Capital Hill (1998); and the Indiana Historical Society Dissertation Award (1995).

Professor Pierce earned his bachelor's degree at Valparaiso University, his master's from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and took his doctorate at Indiana University. He has acted as moderator for on-line discussions of African American Culture for Central Regions Humanities Center (NEH Project), and has been consultant for "Faith and Community Initiative" of the Project on Religion and Urban Culture" at POLIS Research Center, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. As a member of the Urban Research and Development Initiative at Notre Dame, he is the lead researcher on a project that documents the impact of de-industrialization on minority communities. Dr. Pierce has published articles and essays that have appeared in the Journal of Urban History, Chicago Tribune, and National Public Radio. Currently, he is completing a manuscript on African American protest in Indianapolis.

 

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