Dr. Stephen Rabe Awarded Bicentennial Chair In American Studies at the University of Helsinki

RICHARDSON, Texas (May 9, 2005) — Dr. Stephen G. Rabe, a professor of history at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), has been selected as the recipient of the 2005-06 Bicentennial Chair in American Studies at The University of Helsinki in Finland by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, popularly known as the Fulbright Scholars Program. Rabe will leave for Helsinki in August for the nine-month assignment.

Rabe’s award — from the Distinguished Chairs Program — is viewed as among the most prestigious of the Fulbright appointments since only about 30 professors from the United States are named to it each year. The designees teach in a variety of academic areas and are expected to have a prominent record of scholarly accomplishment.

Dr. Stephen Rabe

At the University of Helsinki, Rabe will be associated with the Renvall Institute, which offers degree programs in North American and Latin American studies. He will teach courses about the history of United States foreign relations, supervise graduate theses, assist in curriculum development, give occasional guest lectures at other universities and participate in the development of the North American Studies program at the host university.

Rabe has been at UTD since 1977 and h as taught courses about U.S. foreign relations, U.S. relations with Latin America, the American experience in Vietnam, U.S. history since 1945, and U.S. historiography. He also has taught about slavery. Rabe has won three awards for distinguished teaching.

The author of numerous books and articles on U.S. foreign relations, Rabe’s forthcoming work, titled The U.S. Intervention in British Guiana, 1953-1969: A Cold War Story, will be published by the University of North Carolina Press later this year.

Rabe has written numerous book chapters, book reviews and encyclopedia articles about U.S. and Latin American history. Foundations and research institutes have supported his research, and he has won grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Historical Association, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, the Rockefeller Archive Center and the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, among others.

Rabe previously held a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, serving in 1990-91 as the Mary Ball Washington Professor of American History at University College in Dublin, Ireland. He also has directed American Studies seminars in Brazil.

The Bicentennial Chair in American Studies was established in 1976 to institutionalize on a long-term basis the teaching of American history, culture and language at the University of Helsinki. The position is an important resource to Finnish universities and has played a crucial role in developing the interdisciplinary approach to American studies at the University of Helsinki as well as at four other universities in Finland.

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.