Full-Time Faculty: Donald L. Opitz

Donald L. Opitz, Assistant Professor 

Phone: 312-362-6426
E-mail: dopitz@depaul.edu

Dr. Opitz obtained his B.S. in physics and mathematics from DePaul University and Ph.D. in history of science and technology from the University of Minnesota. He researches the intersection between science and culture in late-nineteenth century Britain, with an emphasis on the roles of class, gender and sexuality in knowledge-making and institution-building. He is currently writing a book on the British scientific aristocracy and continuing a study of the British women’s agricultural education movement. His teaching emphasizes the relevance of historical inquiry for critical thinking and decision making in society today. He is a member of DePaul’s LGTBQ Studies Advisory Board. Born and raised in Chicago, he tends a community garden plot and occasionally plays French horn in community and semi-professional groups.

Courses

Recent Awards and Grants
 
DePaul Humanities Center Faculty Fellow, 2010-2011
Dibner Research Fellowship in the History of Science and Technology, 2009-2010
DePaul Institute for Nature & Culture Faculty Fellowship, 2009
 
Selected Publications:

Opitz, D. L. (2012). “‘Not merely wifely devotion’: Collaborating in the Construction of Science at Terling Place.” In For Better or For Worse? Collaborative Couples in the Sciences,ed. A. Lykknes, D. L. Opitz, and B. Van Tiggelen. Basel: Birkhäuser Springer.

Opitz, D. L. (2012). “Co-operative Comradeships versus Same-Sex Partnerships: Historicizing Collaboration among Homosexual Couples in the Sciences.” In  For Better or For Worse? Collaborative Couples in the Sciences, ed. A. Lykknes, D. L. Opitz, and B. Van Tiggelen. Basel: Birkhäuser Springer.

Opitz, D. L. (2011). “Cultivating Genetics in the Country: Whittingehame Lodge, Cambridge.” Pp. 73-98 in Geographies of Nineteenth-Century Science, ed. C. W. J. Withers and D. N. Livingstone. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Opitz, D. L. (2010).  Three Generations in the Life of the Minnesota Women's Center: A History: 1999-2000, 2nd edn., University of Minnesota.

Opitz, D. L. (2008). “Strutt, John William (Baron Rayleigh).” In The New Dictionary of Scientific Biography. VI: 547-550,  ed. N. Koertge. Detroit: Thomson Gale.
 
Opitz, D. L. (2006). "Attending to Spirituality in Issues of Science and Religion: Challenges and Triumphs". Journal of College and Character 8(1): 1-8.

Opitz, D. L. (2006). “‘This House is a Temple of Research’: Country-House Centres for Late-Victorian Science.” Pp. 235-259 in Repositioning Victorian Sciences: Shifting Centres in Nineteenth-Century Thinking. ed. D. Clifford, E. S. Wadge, A. Warwick and M. Willis. Cambridge: Anthem.
 
Opitz, D. L. & Hartley, D. A. (2005). “Collaborative Learning Beyond the Classroom: The Academic Resource Center.” Pp. 395-413 in The General College Vision: Integrating Intellectual Growth, Multicultural Perspectives, and Student Development. ed. J. L. Higbee, D. B. Lundell, and D. R. Arendale. Minneapolis: Center for Research on Developmental Education and Urban Literacy.

Opitz, D. L. (2004). “Introduction.” In Mary Roberts, The Conchologist's Companion. Science Writing by Women. ed. B. Lightman, III: v-x. Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum.
 
Opitz, D. L. (2004). "'Behind folding shutters in Whittingehame House:' Alice Blance Balfour (1850-1936) and Amateur Natural History," Archives of Natural History 31: 330-348. [Corrigenda in 32: 126.]
 
Kohlstedt, S. G. and Opitz, D. L. (2002). “Re-Imag(in)ing Women in Science: Crafting Identity and Negotiating Gender in Science.” Pp. 105-139 in The Changing Image of the Sciences. ed. I. H. Stamhuis, T. Koetsier, C. De Pater, and A. Van Helden. Amsterdam: Kluwer.