Agricultural History, Transnational History, History of South Africa
Ben Hurwitz is a doctoral candidate who specializes in agricultural history and rural economies. Since 2014, He has served as a teaching assistant, leading recitations of HIST 125 Introduction to World History. He received his BA from the College of William and Mary in 2008 and his MA from the College of William and Mary in 2009.
Outside of the University, Ben has worked with the National Park Service program, Teaching with Historic Places, an online resource for K-12 teachers in the humanities. He has also worked with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to document the role of the Civilian Conservation Corps in creating the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Ben is currently working on his dissertation, which compares the introduction of Merino sheep into South Africa and the United States during the early nineteenth century.
Summer Research Fellowship, Office of the Provost, George Mason University, 2016
International Travel Grant, GAPSA, George Mason University, 2016
Provost’s Award for Dissertation Research Travel, George Mason University, 2016
Provost’s Award for Dissertation Research Travel, George Mason University, 2015
Provost’s Award for Dissertation Research Travel, George Mason University, 2014
Digital History Fellowship, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, 2012
HIST 125 Introduction to World History
PhD, History, George Mason University, Advanced to Candidacy 2015.
MA, Comparative History, The College of William and Mary, 2009.
BA, Comparative History, The College of William and Mary, 2008.
World History Association Annual Conference, "Merino Sheep at the Cape of Good Hope," Ghent, July 2016.
Agricultural History Society Annual Meeting, "Merino Mania: Promoting a Rare Breed in the Early American Republic," New York, June 2016.
Forum on European Expansion and Global Interaction "Colonial Animals: Sheep and the Colonization of South Africa," Irvine, February 2016.
World History Association Annual Conference, "From Farmers to Straw Men: George Grey and the Mfengu Crisis of 1854," Savannah, July 2015.