Undergraduates Work Closely on Research Projects with Peter Stearns

For the past academic year, Professor Peter Stearns has been working with several undergraduates on research projects under the general heading of "Culture Change," with an eye to building a clear program in this area. A number of the projects have received generous support from the Undergraduate Research Office, or OSCAR. Several projects will be presented at upcoming CHSS and OSCAR gatherings, on changing attitudes toward bilingual education (by a history major), on the persistence of shame in dance training, and on Parents Magazine and changes in parental fears in the 1970s and 1980s. This last project, undertaken with Ruthann Clay, has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth. A summer project, involving four undergraduates, will be dealing with topics on changes in American character over the past century.