Carnegie Mellon University

Steven Schlossman

Steven Schlossman

Professor of History and Public Policy
Director of Ethics, History, & Public Policy Program

Bio

Steven Schlossman is a social and policy historian and since 2014 has been the department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies (he also directs the Ethics, History, and Public Policy program). He specializes in a variety of topics in 19th and 20th century U.S. history, including education, childhood, and parenting; juvenile and criminal justice and corrections; the politics of military recruitment; and the history of sports. His current teaching centers on the capstone research seminar for undergraduates in Social & Political History, and various electives in the history of sports, education, juvenile justice, and classical music.


Schlossman’s current research centers in two areas: the history of golf, with a particular focus on major championships held at nearby Oakmont Country Club during the past century, and the evolution of juvenile justice institutions in the first half of the 20th century, with a focus on Southern California.


Steven Schlossman was the 2016-17 winner of Dietrich College's top teaching prize, the Elliott Dunlap Smith Award for Distinguished Teaching and Educational Service. He delivered the 2017 Honors Convocation address for Dietrich College during graduation weekend, and the departmental keynote address on May 21, 2017. He also delivered a keynote talk, “Joel Tarr: Applied Historian,” to mark Professor Tarr’s 50th anniversary at Carnegie Mellon University (November 9, 2017).


Before coming to Carnegie Mellon, Schlossman was on the research staffs of the RAND Corporation (Santa Monica), the California State Department of Justice, and the California State Assembly. He was also on faculty at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and UCLA, and has been a visiting fellow on educational policy at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

Education

Ph.D.: Columbia University, 1976

Publications

Books and Articles (selected)

Op-Ed Articles (selected)

  • What's Germane is a Soldier's Behavior,” Los Angeles Times, January 3, 2000, coauthored
  • “The Real Heroes of Desegregation,” Los Angeles Times, July 26, 1998, coauthored
  • .“The Problem That Won't Go Away,” Los Angeles Times, December 28, 1997
  • Interviews regarding Chasing Greatness, coauthored

Courses Taught

  • Juvenile Delinquency: Images, Realities, Public Policy, 1800-1967
  • The Rise of Modern Golf, 1860 to the Present
  • Delinquency, Crime and Juvenile Justice, 1967 to the Present
  • Education and Social Reform
  • Childhood, Education, and Social Reform in American History
  • Who Shall Play? Gender and Race in American Sport

Department Member Since: 1988