Rate My Professor Carolyn Shapiro-Shapin

Carolyn Shapiro-Shapin is Professor and Assistant Chair of History at Grand Valley State University. Her academic expertise encompasses the history of medicine and health, history of science, and American history. She holds a Ph.D. in History of Medicine and Science from Yale University (1993), an M.A. in History from Yale University (1989), and a B.A. in History from Adelphi University (1987).

In her research, Shapiro-Shapin investigates key episodes in the history of public health and scientific practice. Her current project examines the development and standardization of water analysis techniques in Europe and the Americas during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles, including "In the Course of Routine Analysis: Re-envisioning Research in State Departments of Health, 1920-1940" (Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 2015), "Pearl Kendrick, Grace Eldering, and the Pertussis Vaccine" (Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2010), "A Whole Community Working Together: Pearl Kendrick, Grace Eldering and the Grand Rapids Pertussis Trials, 1932-1939" (Michigan Historical Review, 2007), "Filtering the City's Image: Progressivism, Local Control, and the St. Louis Water Supply, 1890-1906" (Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 1999), "A Really Excellent Scientific Contribution: Scientific Creativity, Scientific Professionalism, and the Chicago Drainage Case, 1900-1906" (Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 1997), "Building Cognitive Assemblies: An Exercise in Course Design" (The National Teaching and Learning Forum, 2008), and "Napoleon and the Nineteenth-Century Concept of Force" (Journal of Strategic Studies, 1988). Her scholarship has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine. Shapiro-Shapin has earned the 2014 Outstanding Faculty Award from the Oliver Wilson Freshman Academy Program, the 2009 Inspirational Historian of the Year Award, and the 2007 Best Practices recognition for her U.S. History course from the College Board Advanced Placement study. She mentors students on public history projects with the Grand Rapids Public Museum and serves on university committees including the Academic Policies and Standards Committee.