Jeff Rice

Office: 1908 Sheridan
Phone: 847-491-8914
E-mail: j-rice2northwestern.edu

Jeff Rice is a Weinberg College Adviser and Lecturer in History. He began his career at Northwestern in 1968 as an entering freshman and has been associated with the University in one way or another since then. After graduation he went on to begin graduate work at the University of Edinburgh; receiving a Masters Degree in African Studies after completing a dissertation entitled "Wealth Power and Corruption: A Study of Asante Political Culture". From there he returned to the History Department at Northwestern specializing in West African History. After a few years pursuing African History he left academia and became a full time bookseller at Great Expectations Bookstore (in Evanston) where he remained until its closure in 2001; eventually becoming its owner. During this time he continued to teach occasional courses at Northwestern in American History as well as on the culture of publishing and bookselling.

He returned to Northwestern full time in 2001 teaching in the History Department and later becoming a Weinberg Adviser. His courses have included West African History, History of the 60's in the U.S., a lecture course on Marx & Weber, and popular freshman seminars including: "Anarchists, Punks, Dada, & Beats"; "Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible: The History of the U.S. in the 60s" and "From Nationalism to Ethnic Cleansing". His current research project is a comparative study of the Port Huron Statement and Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle". In addition to his teaching and advising he is the Master of the Humanities/Chapin Residential College.

He lives with his wife Denise who is an artist and his sons (Tim, 17 & Luke, 15) and his two dogs: Quincy (8) an Australian Shepherd and Guinness (2), a Basset Hound. Whenever free times appear he enjoys live music, films, and reading detective novels.