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Stephen Mihm

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Stephen Mihm is the author of A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States (Harvard University Press, 2007); and the co-author, with Nouriel Roubini, of Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance (Penguin Press, 2010), which was named as one of the "Top Ten Books of 2010" by the New York Times.  He is also the co-editor, with Katherine Ott and David Serlin, of Artificial Parts, Practical Lives: Modern Histories of Prosthetics (NYU, 2002); and the editor of The Life of P.T. Barnum (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017).   He is also the author of a number of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and academic essays.

During the 2017-2018 academic year, Mihm was the Arthur Molella Distinguished Fellow at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, Smithsonian Institution.  More recently, he was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Award.  In previous years, Mihm has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, awards, and grants, including the biennial Harold F. Williamson Prize, given to a mid-career scholar for contributions to the teaching and writing of business history; a two-year, $188,000 grant from the National Science Foundation; and the History Department's Parks Heggoy Graduate Teaching Award in both 2012 and 2014.  He has also received a number of major fellowships from, among other institutions, the American Council of Learned Societies; the Library Company of Philadelphia; the United States Department of Agriculture; and the Harvard Business School, where he served as the Newcomen Postdoctoral Fellowship in Business History in 2003-2004.

Mihm is presently writing a history of standards and standardization in the United States for Harvard University Press.  In addition to his academic duties, Mihm is a weekly columnist for Bloomberg Opinion as well as a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Boston Globe, and many other newspapers and magazines.  He also appears regularly in historical documentaries, radio and television programs, and other print and broadcast media in the United States and abroad.

Mihm lives on a historic farm outside Athens with his wife and colleague, Akela Reason, as well as their three boys, three cats, and Patch, the family dog.  In his spare time, Mihm enjoys tending his orchard of heirloom apple trees, part of a larger project aimed at reviving long-lost fruit cultivars.

Selected Publications:

Mihm, Stephen, and Nouriel Roubini. Crisis Economics: A Crash Course In The Future Of Finance. Penguin Press, 2010. Web.

Mihm, Stephen. A Nation Of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, And The Making Of The United States. Harvard, 2007. Web.

Mihm, Stephen. Artificial Parts, Practical Lives: Modern Histories Of Prosthetics. New York University Press, 2002. Print.

Education:

PhD, New York University, History 2004

Of note:

Harold F. Williamson Prize, Business History Conference (2014). Biennial award given by the BHC to a “mid-career” scholar “who has made significant contributions to the teaching and writing of business history.”

Research Grant, National Science Foundation (2014).  Two-year grant awarded via the NSF’s Social and Economic Sciences Division to underwrite research and writing of book on the history of standards and standardization.  Total funding: $188,018.

Research Fellowship, Willson Center for the Humanities and Arts, University of Georgia (2013).  University-wide competitive grant for release from teaching enabling work on book about the history of standards and standardization.

Parks-Heggoy Graduate Teaching Award, History Department, University of Georgia (2012, 2014).  Two-time winner of annual departmental award given by history graduate students in recognition of excellence in graduate instruction.

Provost’s Summer Research Grant, University of Georgia (2012).  Research funds awarded via university-wide competition for archival research on a history of standards and standardization in the United States.

“Top 10 Books of the Year,” list compiled by book review critic Michiko Kakutani, New York Times (2010).  In  recognition of Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance, book co-authored with economist Nouriel Roubini.

Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowship, American Council of Learned Societies, New York, New York (2009).  Given to advanced assistant and untenured associate professors for an academic year of research and leave from teaching responsibilities.

Teaching American History Grant, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. (2009).  Served as one of the lead historians in a three-year, $995,897 grant organized by project director Dr. Katherine Wright, Northeast Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency.

Elected Member, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts (2008).   Honor given “in recognition of scholarship, for support of cultural institutions, for manifest interest in bibliographical matters, or for distinction as community or national leaders in humanistic affairs.”

Events featuring Stephen Mihm
101 LeConte

This installment of the Department of History’s undergraduate lecture series features Dr. Stephen Mihm who presents the question, "Why didn't the U.S. ever go metric?

Can't make this event? @UGAResearch will Livestream this event Tuesday on Instagram!

Professor Mihm teaches courses on the United States in the…

This is a virtual event presented via Zoom

The History Department's undergraduate lecture series presents Dr. Stephen Mihm, Associate professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, History who discusses the question "Why are apples America's favorite fruit?".

Stephen Mihm is the author of A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States (Harvard…

Articles Featuring Stephen Mihm

The Heritage Apple Orchard is home to 140 heirloom varieties, grown from wood cuttings snipped from trees found in niche orchards, rural backyards, and other sources across the Southeast.

Cindy Hahamovitch, B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor of History, The University of Georgia was on the radio yesterday at WBUR.org commenting on companies that use foreign guest workers.

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