Contemporary History Institute
The Contemporary History Institute is an interdisciplinary academic research institute at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. It was founded in 1987 by the dean of Cold War historians, John Lewis Gaddis, who has since moved to Yale University. The Contemporary History Institute "analyzes the contemporary period in world affairs — the period from World War II to the present — from an interdisciplinary historical perspective." [1]
Though fundamentally interdisciplinary, the institute is anchored in Ohio University's Department of History. The institute is located in Brown House, 2 University Terrace.
The institute does not offer degrees itself. Rather, it offers the Certificate in Contemporary History as part of graduate degrees in Economics, History, Journalism, and Political Science. Graduate students complete a four-part sequence to receive the certificate as part of a master's or a doctoral degree. The institute also sponsors conferences and speakers and funds academic projects for its graduate students and affiliated faculty. The institute has eighteen faculty associates from its four participating disciplines. While the institute's mission is to accommodate and encourage the study of contemporary history in general, many of its faculty and graduate students study topics relating to World War II and the Cold War.
The institute is funded by both private and public sources. Its current director is Steven Merritt Miner. Past directors include Michael Grow, Chester Pach, Joan Hoff, and John Lewis Gaddis.