Andrea Patterson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Liberal Studies

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Teaching interests: My teaching interests include survey courses in the history of science from antiquity to the 19th century; a science in the modern world course which examines the role and impact of science on contemporary society (i.e. changes in our perceptions of matter, space, time, and inheritance and the impact of technology on our health, environment and global climate. My seminar is closely related to my scholarly interests and investigates the changing status of race in the context of law, medicine, education and public policy thorughout the 20th century.

Research interests: My scholarly interests include the history of medicine, the history of science and technology, and the history of social and cultural movements. Specifically, I am interested in the health of southern blacks in the progressive era American South.

Brief biography: I earned my Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley in 2003 in History of Science and American History and wrote my dissertation, entitled “The Health of Southern Blacks,” under the guidance of Leon Litwack. I am an alumni of CSUF where I was awared a Masters of Arts degree in American Studies in 1995 and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biochemistry in 1993. I conducted my senior research under Glenn Nagel and my thesis was entitled “Overproduction and Isolation of an Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase.” Prior to my move to the United States I studied at the Technical University in Munich, Germany, where I was awared a Vordiplom (Bachelor in Science) in Biology.