Eric C. Rust

Office Hours

Summer I: M-F 7:30-7:50am, 12:15-1:00pm, or by appointment.

Office B25

Education

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

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.

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.

Major Publications

• Author of 2 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). 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/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.
• Translator, editor, of: Erich Topp, Fackeln uber 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, Naval Officers under Hitler: The Story of Crew 34 (New York: Praeger, 1991). Revised edition forthcoming: Naval Officers Under Hitler: The Men of Crew 34 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2017).
• Author of 28 scholarly articles; 38 conference presentations; 57 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

• Civil Courage in Uniform: The Life and Death of U-Boat Commander Oskar Kusch (New York: Savas Beatie Publishing Group) (forthcoming.)
• 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. 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