Maureen C MacLeod
- Associate Professor, History, Department Chair, Humanities
- School of Liberal Arts
- GMH 205
- mmacleod@mercy.edu
- (914) 674-7312
Dr. MacLeod is the Chair of the Humanities Department, Seminars Program Director, and an Associate Professor of History. She is a specialist in the history of Europe during the long nineteenth century, specifically in France. Her research and current manuscript project focus on early nineteenth-century French female education, examining the role of education at the Maisons d'Éducation de la Légion d'Honneur and how the students were able to gain agency and create their own future—one that allowed them to make their own choice to enter the domestic world and engage in the private sphere, or to pursue their own career endeavors without restriction.
Dr. MacLeod regularly teaches surveys and upper-level courses in European history, on the history of women and gender, and the Middle East. She is also interested in teaching and researching the history of science and technology. An avid traveler Dr. MacLeod enjoys visiting the places she teaches about and bringing back information and first-hand experiences to the classroom.
Ph.D. in History at Florida State University, 2014
M.A. in History at Wayne State University, 2008
B.A. International Relations and French Language at Michigan State University, 2005
Current Research Project
Le Bel Esprit: Creating Female Independence through Education in Early Nineteenth-Century France
This project focuses on female education at the Maison d’éducation de la Légion d’honneur during the Napoleonic Empire in France. This study argues that the female students were able to gain agency through their unique educational experience, which allowed them to frame their own future. It also maintains that the opportunity for women to engage in the public sphere and embrace an independent lifestyle occurred earlier than many historians argue, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, largely because of the Napoleonic era educational institutions. This research also examines the curriculum and pedagogy of the school as well as students’ independent endeavors to harness their education for their own purposes. By examining student dossiers from little-explored archives of the Napoleonic era, this study traces the students throughout their lives, recording their accomplishments, which were not the norm for women in early nineteenth-century France.
Courses Taught
HIST 101 European History to 1500
HIST 102 European History Since 1500
HIST 194 Global History of Witchcraft
HIST 220 “Method in the Madness:” An Introduction to Historical Research
HIST 228 Problems in Women’s and Gender History
HIST 232 Early Modern Europe
HIST 233 Middle Eastern History
HIST 290 Honors History
HIST 295 Global Women’s Suffrage Movements
HIST 303 The Enlightenment
HIST 308 History of Nineteenth-Century Europe
HIST 309 History of Twentieth-Century Europe
HIST 311 World War II in Europe
HIST 314 History of Tudor and Stuart England
HIST 318 French Revolution and Napoleon
HIST 320 Historiography and Historical Methods
HIST 327 Modern Russia
HIST 495 Senior Seminar in History
Edited Books
MacLeod, M. and Stein, S. Teaching and Learning History Online: A Guide for College Instructors. New York: Routledge, 2023.
Articles/Book Chapters
MacLeod, Maureen “Using Technology and Pedagogy in Assessment: Timelines, Story Mapping, and Edpuzzles.” In MacLeod, M., and Stein, S Teaching and Learning History Online: A Guide for College Instructors. New York: Routledge, 2023.
MacLeod, Maureen. Prefacio. La mujer de la Europa de Napoléon. L’Aigle: Revista de Historica Napoleónica 1 (2022), 3-4
MacLeod, Maureen, “Schooling and Privilege: Schoolgirls at the Maison d’éducation de la Légion d’honneur during the Napoleonic Empire.” Napoleonic Scholarship: The Journal of the International Napoleonic Society 7 (2016): 139-152.
Refereed Encyclopedia Entries
MacLeod, M. (2013). Ecology (women in). In M. Stange, C. Oyster, & J. Sloan (Eds.), The multimedia encyclopedia of women in today’s world. (2nd ed., pp. 486-491). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Fellowships, Awards, Grants, and Academic Distinctions
National Endowment for the Humanities, Humanities Connects Grant $50,000, 2024-2025 to create a scientific humanities pathway through general education
National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2019-2021
William F. Olson Chair in Civic and Cultural Studies, 2019-2020
Dr. Fay T. and Dennis Greenwald, Esq. Faculty Development Grant, 2016, 2019
Mercy College Faculty Development Grant – Summer Research, 2016, 2017, 2019
Mavie Award for Best Faculty Advisor, History Club, 2016-2017
Walbolt Dissertation Research Fellowship, History Department, 2012
Heidi L. Millarker Award for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Feminist Scholarship, 2011
Ben Weider Research Fellowship, Institute on Napoleon and French Revolution, 2008-2010
Teaching and Learning Grants
Instructional Enhancement Grant, 2021-2022, 2023-2024
Mercy College Summer Research Grant Program to work with student researchers, 2018
Assessment Linkages Grant, “History Workshops,” Spring 2016
Faculty Senate Microgrants for Teaching Innovation , 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023