Mehlman Petrzela, Natalia
Natalia Mehlman PetrzelaPhD, 2009, History, Stanford University
MA, 2004, History, Stanford University
BA, 2000, History, Columbia College
Assistant Professor of Education Studies and History, Co-chair of Education Studies
Profile:My passion for historical study is shaped by my conviction that today’s social and political struggles are not only rooted in the past, but that understanding their origins can illuminate fresh perspectives on current problems. I am deeply committed to teaching, and am fascinated as a scholar and practitioner at how schools continue to be important sites at which larger social, cultural, and political questions are negotiated. My work defines education broadly. I am currently working on a book about the battles over bilingualism and sexuality in American classrooms, and also beginning new work on the history of self-help traditions in the United States. A former public school teacher, I remain committed to working directly with schools, and am piloting a project called
Healthclass2.0, which endeavors to redefine learning about food and fitness.
- Pursuits Of Happiness:
American Journeys
- History Of American Education
- Senior Research Seminar In Education Studies
- Culture Wars In American Education
- American Youth Cultures, Past And Present
- Education at Work
- Body, Mind and School: Wellness and American Education
- Introduction to Education Theory
- In process: Classroom Wars: Sex, Language, and the Creation of American Political Culture (under contract, Oxford University Press)
- In process: Co-author with Sarah Manekin, "The Accountability Partnership: Writing and Surviving in the Digital Age," in Jack Dougherty and Kristen Nawrotzki, eds., Writing History in the Digital Age (forthcoming, University of Michigan Press)
- In process: “Revisiting the Rightward Turn: Max Rafferty, Education, and the Roots of Modern Conservatism,” currently under revision/resubmission.
- Book Review, Dirty Words: The Rhetoric of Public Sex Education, 1870-1924, Journal of the History of Sexuality (2012)
- “Multiculturalism,” in Immanuel Ness, ed., The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, Wiley-Blackwell (2013)
- “The Federal Bilingual Education Act: Legislation and Lived Experience,” Immigration and Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations (Vol. 85, No. 4, 2010).
- Co-author with Sarah Manekin, “Rendering the Solitary Social and Turning Mountains into Molehills: The "Accountability Partnership" as a Strategy for Historical Writing,” in “Writing History” online project at http://writinghistory.wp.trincoll.edu/ (October 2010)
- “Sex Education,” in Carper, James C., Hunt et al, eds., Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent, Sage Publications, 2010.
- “Sex Ed and… The Reds?” Reconsidering the Anaheim Battle over Sex Education, 1962-1969,” History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 47, no. 2, May 2007.
- “My Brief Teaching Career,” New York Times, Opinions and Editorials, June 24, 2002.
80 5th Avenue
Office 521
New York
NY 10011
Office Hours:Phone Number/Extension:212.229.5100 x2794
Email:mehlmann@newschool.eduResearch Interests:20th-Century U.S. history, especially of politics, society, and culture, with a focus on gender, sexuality, race, and identity. My current book project focuses on the emergence of and battles over the teaching of Spanish-bilingual and sex education during the 1960s and 1970s as a lens through which to understand the emergence of contemporary conservatism and the brand of liberalism against which it defined itself. My newer work takes up a different facet of American social politics, exploring the enduring but evolving presence of self-help cultures in U.S. history.
Professional Affiliations:- History of Education Society
- Organization of American Historians
- American Historical Association
- History of Education Quarterly (external reviewer)
- “Fear of a ‘one-world child:’” Bilingualism and Conservatism in Cold War California, History of Education Society, Chicago, IL, November 2011.
- “A Self-Serving Exercise in How to Waste Taxpayer Dollars:' Education, Economic Citizenship, and the Making of California’s Proposition 13," Conference on Power and the History of Capitalism, The New School, New York, April 2011
- “Public Education, "Family Values," and the Roots of the Culture Wars, 1968-1980,” Organization of American Historians, Houston, TX, March 2011
- “Constructing Family Values: Parents, Teachers, Taxes, and Sex Education in Contemporary America,” and Panelist, “How Historians Research, Write, And Publish: The Art Of Crafting Dissertations And Books In Educational History,” History of Education Society, Boston, MA, November 2010
- “The Secret History of Bilingual Education,” History of Education Society, Philadelphia, PA, October 2009
- “Sex Wars in the Schools: Sex Education and the Creation of Family Values,” Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Summer Seminar, Cambridge, MA, June 2008
- “Seedbeds of the Culture Wars: Bilingual and Sexuality Education in California, 1968-1970,” University of Pennsylvania History of Education Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 2008
- “School and the Seventies: Toward a Historical Narrative,” History of Education Society, Ottawa, Canada, October 2006
- “One District and Diversity: The San Francisco Unified School District and Multiculturalism in the Post-Civil Rights Era,” American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April 2006
- “Sex Ed… And the Reds? Reconsidering the Anaheim Battle over Sex Education, 1962-1969,” History of Education Society, Kansas City, KS, October 2004
- Invited Panelist, Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellows Conference (2010)
- Dean’s Lecture, Eugene Lang College Freshman Orientation (2010)
- Commencement Speaker, Stanford University Department of History (2009)
- Mrs. Giles M. Whiting Foundation Dissertation Fellow, Stanford University (2008-09)
- Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellow (2007-08)
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Dissertation Fellow (2007-08, relinquished)
- History Departmental Fellowship, Stanford University (2002-07)
- Centennial Award for Excellence in Teaching, Stanford University (2004)
