Rate My Professor Richard Weiner

Richard Weiner is Chair and Professor of History at Purdue University Fort Wayne. He earned a BA in History from the University of Massachusetts, followed by an MA and PhD in History from the University of California, Irvine. Weiner has built his academic career at Purdue University Fort Wayne, formerly Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, advancing to full professor and assuming the role of department chair.

His research specializes in Mexican and Latin American cultural and economic history, with a focus on Mexican intellectual history over the national era, particularly economic discourse, as well as the history of world travelers, global exploration, and empire. Key publications include his book Race, Nation, and Market: Economic Culture in Porfirian Mexico (University of Arizona Press, 2004), which received the Hubert Herring Award from the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association. He edited Explorations on Subjectivity, Borders, and Demarcation: A Festschrift for Allan Pred (University Press of America, 2006). Other significant works are 'Battle for Survival: Porfirian Views of the International Marketplace' (2000), 'Trinidad Sánchez Santos: Voice of the Catholic Opposition in Porfirian Mexico' (2001), 'El Declive Económico de México en el Siglo XIX: una Perspectiva Cultural' (2004), 'Political economy, Alexander Von Humboldt, and Mexico's 1810 and 1910 revolutions' (2010), 'Antecedents to Daniel Cosío Villegas's Post-Revolutionary Ideology: Justo Sierra's Critique of Mexico's Legendary Wealth and Trinidad Sánchez Santos's Assault on Porfirian Progress' (2014), and 'Revising Narratives in Exploration History' (2019). Weiner currently is writing Alexander von Humboldt and Mexico's Legendary Wealth. He serves as editor of Terrae Incognitae, the journal of the Society for the History of Discoveries, and was book review editor for Enterprise & Society from 2013 to 2016. In 2025, he received the Purdue Fort Wayne Featured Faculty Award.