History Emeriti Faculty
Oberlin College recognizes its faculty members with emeritus status who have provided distinguished service to their academic department during their tenure.
The following professors from the Department of History have retired from Oberlin College, although some continue to do research, write, and remain connected to the department.
Michael H. Fisher
Emeritus Robert S. Danforth Professor of History, Michael H. Fisher , has periodically studied, researched, and lectured in India, Britain, Ireland, and Bangladesh since 1971, including as a visiting faculty member at Delhi University and the University of Hyderabad. He was awarded the Oberlin College Teaching Excellence Award for 2006-2007. He currently serves regularly as an expert reviewer of U.S. Department of Education international research and study grants at the faculty, doctoral dissertation, and institutional levels. He frequently reviews book and article manuscripts for leading publishers and academic journals. He also advances environmental protection in Massachusetts as an appointed Conservation Commissioner and an elected Trustee of the Wellfleet Conservation Trust. Among his published books are: The First Indian Author in English: Dean Mahomed (1759-1851) in India, Ireland, and England (1996, 2000), Counterflows to Colonialism: Indian Travelers and Settlers in Britain, 1600-1857 (2004), Migration: A World History (2013), A Short History of the Mughal Empire (2015, with multiple English and Turkish-language editions and a forthcoming Korean-language edition), and An Environmental History of India (2018).
Steven Volk
Emeritus Professor of History Steven S. Volk taught Latin American history and museum studies, along with courses on human rights and higher education, from 1986 to 2016. He specialized in 20th century Chilean history, with a focus on the government of Salvador Allende and the 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, which followed. He also researched and published on the U.S.-Mexican border and U.S.-Latin American relations. Besides numerous articles on these and other topics, he co-authored The Post-Panedemic Liberal Arts College: A Manifesto for Reinvention in 2020. He was the founding director of the Center for Teaching Innovation and Excellence (now the Gertrude Lemle Teaching Center) from 2007-2018, and has published and spoken widely on issues of pedagogy in higher education. In 2011 he was named the Outstanding Baccalaureate Colleges Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. In 2002 he was given the Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award by the American Historical Association, and in 2001 he was recognized by the Chilean government for his work in helping to restore democracy in Chile. He currently serves as a legally accredited immigration advocate, working with attorneys on immigration cases, serving as an expert witness on Central American asylum cases, and assisting immigrant families in Lorain County. He continues to publish in a number of fields related to Latin America, higher education pedagogy, and immigration.