Robert Roeder Papers

Robert Earl Roeder was born on May 16, 1931. In 1951 he graduated from the College of William and Mary with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. He received his masters and doctorate degrees in history from Harvard University in 1953 and 1959, respectively. On August 29, 1953 he married Nancy Waggoner. While at Harvard, he held a teaching fellowship in history and literature from 1953 to 1954. He served in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps from 1954 until 1956. He then returned to teaching at Harvard, where he again held a teaching fellowship, and became an instructor in history in 1958. From 1959 to 1962 he held the position of Assistant Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He left Chicago in 1962 to take the position of Professor of History at the University of Denver, where he remained until his retirement in 1995.

During his time at the University of Denver, Roeder was instrumental in both curriculum development and research program coordination. He served as chair of the History Department during 1985-1986, when the Core Curriculum program was implemented, and coordinated the Civilizations Compared component of the Core. In 1986, he accepted the position of Venture Chairman for the faculty of the Arts and Humanities. In this position he primarily generated grant proposals and coordinated grant projects. He also co-directed a major National Endowment for the Humanities grant for the University. Roeder contributed to numerous publications, and held memberships in the American History Association, the Organization of American Historians and the Rocky Mountain Social Science Association.

In 1990, Roeder took on the additional duties of Special Assistant to the Provost for the strategic planning initiative, which began in 1990 as a precursor to a major capital campaign. Together with Catherine (Kitty) Sweeney, he established an office that provided research support to the Coordinating Committee for Strategic Planning. The office gathered statistics and reference materials for the Committee and its subcommittees, scheduled meetings, compiled minutes and handled other administrative functions.

In 1991 Roeder returned to teaching part-time, and in 1992 contracted with Harcourt Brace to write a major new world history textbook. He retired in 1995 to concentrate on his writing. Bob Roeder passed away on November 15, 1998.