Eric C. Rust

Office Hours

M/W from 10:00-11:00 and 12:00-1:30 (Zoom only). 

Students, check your course Canvas page for the Zoom invitation. For all other meetings, email Dr. Rust to set up a Zoom appointment. 

Academic Interests and Research

Renaissance, Reformation, Early Modern Europe, European Expansion, World History since 1500, World Cultures.
Research: European and German maritime and naval history, with emphasis on the World Wars, submarines.
Additional Interests: Historical demography; historiography.

Education

• Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1987
• M.A., Lamar University, 1978
• B.A., Wilfrid Laurier University, 1974

Biography

Native of Lübeck, Germany. Permanent resident of the U.S. Service in the West German Navy, 1969-1970. Academic studies in Germany, Canada and the U.S., 1971-1987. Baylor faculty member since 1984.

Major Publications

• Author, Naval Officers under Hitler: The Story of Crew 34 (New York: Praeger, 1991). Revised second edition: Naval Officers Under Hitler: The Men of Crew 34 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2017).
• Translator into English and editor: Erich Topp, Fackeln über dem Atlantik: Lebensbericht eines U-Boot-Kommandanten (Bonn: Mittler, 1990); published as The Odyssey of a U-Boat Commander: Recollections of Erich Topp (New York: Praeger, 1992).
• Author/translator of 3 book chapters in Theodore P. Savas, ed., Silent Hunters: German U-Boat Commanders of WW II (Savas, 1997; Nav. Inst. Press, 2003). German: Lautlose Jäger (Berlin: Ullstein, 1999, repr. 2001). Polish: Dowodcy U-bootow w II Wojnie Swiatowej (Gdansk: Finna, 2003). Selection of Military Book Club.
• Author of book chapter in William M. McBride, ed., New Interpretations in Naval History (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998).
• Author of two book chapters in Theodore P. Savas, ed., Hunt and Kill: U-505 and the U-Boat War in the Atlantic (New York: Savas Beatie, 2004). German: Die Jagd auf U-505 und der U-Boot-Krieg im Atlantik (Berlin: Ullstein Maritim, 2008). Selection of Military Book Club.
• Author of 28 scholarly articles; 38 conference presentations; 60 book reviews in historical journals; TV appearances; consultant for BBC, PBS, History Channel, Naval Institute Press, Indiana University Press, University of Oklahoma Press, McGraw-Hill, Longman, Macmillan, National Geographic Society, Texas Education Agency, Educational Testing Service, Journal of Military History, International Journal of Naval History, International Journal of Maritime History, The Mariner's Mirror, etc.

Works in Progress

• U-Boat Commander Oskar Kusch: Anatomy of a Nazi-Era Betrayal and Judicial Murder (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2020).
• Research and manuscript in progress, with Dr. Michael Pavillard in Las Palmas, on role of Canary Islands in World War II.
• Book-length project on the disastrous storms and floods along the German North Sea coast in medieval and early modern times, tentatively entitled The Great Man-Drownings.

Recognitions

• Member, Graduate Faculty
• Semester-long sabbaticals: Spring/Summer 2000, Fall 2017.
• Several summer sabbaticals and University Research Council travel grants.
• Voted Centennial Professor, 2005.

Service

• Faculty Senate, 2000-2006; Senate Secretary and member of Senate Executive Committee: 2001-2006.
• Resident director, Baylor in Maastricht (semester-long study abroad program in the southern Netherlands), Fall 2005, Fall 2007, Summers 2009 to 2016.
• College of Arts and Sciences faculty representative on University Honor Council, 2006 to present. Chair: 2011-2015.
• Faculty sponsor of the Baylor Amateur Radio Club (BARC), 1985 to present.
• Honors Colloquia, 1980s to present.
• Reader and Table Leader, College Board, AP European History, 2000 to 2008.

Courses Taught at Baylor

• BIC 1324 World Cultures II
• FYS 1V99 (First Year Seminar on WW I)
• HIS 1322 Western Civilization I
• HIS 1323 Western Civilization II
• HIS 1307 World History since 1500 (Waco and Maastricht)
• HIS 1307H World History since 1500 (Honors)
• HIS 4329 Renaissance and Reformation
• HIS 4331 European Expansion, 1400-1800 (Waco and Maastricht)
• HIS 4332 Early Modern Europe
• HIS 4340 Special Topics in History (Maastricht)
• HIS 4348 Independent Study in European History (Waco and Maastricht)
• HIS 5348 Readings in European History (Waco and Maastricht)
• HIS 5370 Historiography Seminar
• HIS 5V99 Thesis