Directors

Susan R. Schrepfer

Susan R. Schrepfer passed away on March 3, 2014. 

She was Professor of History at Rutgers, New Brunswick and had been Director of the Rutgers Institute for High School Teachers since its founding in 1988.  She was also a project director at the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis for the RCHA's 2001-2003 project on "Industrial Environments: Creativity and Consequences." Having earned her Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside, she came to Rutgers in 1974. She taught a wide variety of courses, specializing in History of the North American Environment, History of the West, and Women in the American West. She was the author of The Fight to Save the Redwoods: A History of Environmental Reform, 1917-1978 (University of Wisconsin Press, 1983, 2003) and Nature's Altars: Mountains, Gender, and American Environmentalism (University Press of Kansas, 2005) and co-editor with Philip Scranton of Industrializing Organisms: Introducing Evolutionary History (Routledge Press, 2003).

Susan worked tirelessly in the early days to establish the Rutgers Institute for High School Teachers, which continues to thrive today.  She believed very strongly in the importance of collaboration between Rutgers professors and other educators throughout the state for the purposes of intellectual stimulation, exchange of knowledge, instructional assistance, and collegiality.  In addition to directing the Institute, she also taught several seminars for the program on various topics. She loved working with teachers and really appreciated the participation of all those who joined the seminars. Susan will always be fondly remembered and greatly missed.  It is with tremendous gratitude for all of her dedication and hard work that we strive to continue her legacy of the Institute for High School Teachers. 

For information on the current director, click here.