Leonard Rosenband Scholarship Endowment

Dr. Leonard N. (Len) Rosenband, a native of New York, received his bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and his doctoral degree in history from Princeton University. Dr. Rosenband began teaching at Utah State University in 1983 where he quite quickly gained a reputation for engaging teaching. For more than 30 years, he taught an undergraduate Survey of Western Civilization course along with an undergraduate class on the French Revolution that had a continual waiting list. He also mentored generations of seniors and graduate students in research seminars. For his work in undergraduate mentoring, he was awarded the prestigious Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award from the American Historical Association in January 2015.

In addition to his work as a teacher, Rosenband has also been recognized as a world-renowned French Revolution scholar. Rosenband’s book, Papermaking in Eighteenth-Century France: Management, Labor, and Revolution at the Montgolfier Mill, 1761-1805, published in 2000, looks at workers, employers, innovation and competition in pre-revolution France. The book was acclaimed not only for “fundamental challenge to many orthodox methods and conventional approaches in economic history and the history of technology”, but also for its “evocative imagery and lively narrative,” according to Andre Wakefield of Pitzer College who reviewed the book. Rosenband has presented work at venues around the world, and he continues to be an active scholar as he enters retirement in May 2015.