Edward Balleisen

Edward Balleisen serves as Professor of History and Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Appointed Senior Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Programs and Initiatives in 2025, he previously held the position of Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies since 2015. In these roles, he advances university-wide collaborative efforts in research, teaching, and engagement, managing initiatives like Bass Connections, which supports dozens of interdisciplinary, problem-centered teams each year comprising faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates. Balleisen spearheaded Duke’s Versatile Humanists project, funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities Next Generation Implementation grant from 2016 to 2020, aimed at reconfiguring doctoral training for intellectual versatility and career diversity. He received his B.A. from Princeton University in 1987, M.Phil. from Yale University in 1992, and Ph.D. from Yale University in 1995. Throughout his career, Balleisen has been honored for teaching and mentoring excellence, including the Duke Alumni Association’s Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2015, the Duke Graduate School Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring in 2015, and the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Howard D. Johnson Teaching Award in 2005.

Balleisen’s research probes the historical intersections of law, business, politics, and policy in the modern United States, with emphasis on evolving fault lines in American capitalism—such as bankruptcy and business fraud—and the development of the modern regulatory state. He pursues collaborative endeavors with historians and social scientists studying regulatory governance across industrialized societies. Notable publications include his award-winning book Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff (Princeton University Press, 2017), recipient of the Business History Conference’s 2018 Ralph Gomory Prize; Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America (University of North Carolina Press, 2001); Government and Markets: Toward a New Theory of Regulation, edited with David Moss (Cambridge University Press, 2010); and Policy Shock: Recalibrating Risk and Regulation after Oil Spills, Nuclear Accidents, and Financial Crises, co-edited with Jonathan Wiener, Lori Bennear, and Kim Krawiec (Cambridge University Press, 2017). He has garnered grants from the Mellon, Teagle, and Smith Richardson Foundations, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities and American Council of Learned Societies. Balleisen served as President of the Business History Conference in 2019-20, received its Harold Williamson Award in 2018 for mid-career scholarly excellence, the Henrietta Larson Award in 2009, and a McCraw Fellowship in U.S. Business History in 2013 from Harvard Business School, along with fellowships from the National Humanities Center and American Council of Learned Societies in 2009.

Professional Email: eballeis@duke.edu