Robert Surbrug, PhD

Robert Surbrug is a professor of history in the School of Undergraduate Studies and the director of the Honors Program. His area of specialization is 20th-century United States history, especially the Cold War era. His scholarly focus is on the movements of the 1960s and their impact on subsequent decades, a theme he explores in his book “Beyond Vietnam: The Politics of Protest in Massachusetts, 1974-1990,” (University of Massachusetts Press).

Surbrug is an active member of the Bay Path community. He is the director of Bay Path’s innovative Honors Program, faculty advisor to the Black Student Association and a faculty advisor to the Currier and Ives Committee of the Springfield Public Museums.

Surbrug received his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University. He earned his master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he completed his dissertation “‘Thinking Globally’: Political Movements on the Left in Massachusetts, 1974-1990” under the direction of 2004 National Book Award recipient Kevin Boyle.

Surbrug has developed and teaches special topics courses such as “Women and War,” “China and Japan through Film,” “African American History Since 1865,” and “’When Johnny Comes Marching Home: A History of American Veterans Since 1865.”

He continues to divide his time between his adopted home of western Massachusetts and his childhood home on the Jersey Shore.