• Rudolph M. Bell
  • Rudolph M. Bell
  • Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History
  • Degree: Ph.D., City University of New York, 1969, B.A., Queens College, 1963
  • Rutgers : At Rutgers from 1968-2020
  • Specialty: Medieval and Early Modern Europe: History of Religion and Gender
  • Research Interests: Prof. Bell worked in all aspects of Italian history but with particular attention to religion, gender, popular culture, mysticism, and the history of the book.

 

Rudy Bell, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, died this past weekend.  He was 79 years old.  Rudy taught at Rutgers from 1968 until his retirement in 2020 and left an indelible mark on the department and on the university.  By training a scholar of the Early US Republic, Rudy became a leading historian of medieval, early modern, and modern Italy, who published pathbreaking works on sanctity and gender.  He was an inspiring and inventive teacher, who helped pioneer some of our first online courses.  He served as department chair and as a longtime leader of the AAUP.  He wasn't afraid of a political fight and always had a plan for how to work around the obstacles that deans and university presidents might throw in the way of departmental aspirations.  He helped build the department we know today; and he will be sorely missed.

Click HERE for an obituary.

 

COURSES REGULARLY TAUGHT

Undergraduate

  • 506:112 Patterns in Civilization: Love (with Prof. Roden)
  • 506:113 Patterns in Civilization: Death (with Prof. Roden)
  • 506:151 History and the News
  • 510:354 History of Italy's Peoples
  • Seminars and Honors Seminars on Death, on Early Modern English Advice Manuals, and currently on children

Graduate

  • 510:509 The Teaching of History
  • Occasional seminars and colloquia

PUBLICATIONS

  • The Voices of Gemma Galgani: The Life and Afterlife of a Modern Saint, with Cristina Mazzoni (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003)
  • How to Do It: Guides to Good Living for Renaissance Italians (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999)
  • Holy Anorexia (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985)

AWARDS

  • National Gallery, London, Guest Lecturer, 2002
  • Rutgers University Board of Trustees Award for Outstanding Research, 1987
  • Fulbright-Hays, 1971-72

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

  • Rutgers Junior Year Abroad Director in Italy, England, and Ireland
  • Director, Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank (website at RUL's SCC)
  • Former History Dept. Chair, 1988-1994
  • University Senator and Officer of New Brunswick Faculty Council
  • AHA member and former office-holder
  • Rutgers Council of American Association of University Professors, President