Melinda Zook

Zook attained her Bachelor of Arts degree from George Washington University in 1983, with a major in English Literature. This was followed by a Master of Arts degree focusing on Modern Europe from George Washington University in 1985. Later, she received her Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University in 1993, specializing in Early Modern Europe and England.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cla.purdue.edu/about/college-initiatives/leadingethically/people/working.html|title=Working Group - College of Liberal Arts - Purdue University|website=www.cla.purdue.edu}}

Zook began her career at Purdue University as an assistant professor of history in 1993. She then became an associate professor in 1999 and was appointed to full-rank position of Professor of History in 2013.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wiareport.com/2014/04/purdue-university-promotes-21-women-to-full-professor/|title=Purdue University Promotes 21 Women to Full Professor|date=April 28, 2014}} She has been holding an appointment as a Germaine Seelye Oesterle Professor of History in the Department of History at Purdue University since 2022.{{Cite web|url=https://www.purdue.edu/bot/meetings/past-meetings/2022/01.%20feb/asac/minutes.php|title=Minutes - Board of Trustees - Purdue University}}

Zook served as the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of History at Purdue University from 2001 to 2004 and as the President of the Midwest Conference on British Studies from 2005 to 2007.{{Cite web|url=https://mwcbs.edublogs.org/conferences/|title=Archive ||website=mwcbs.edublogs.org}}

Along with seven liberal arts faculty members, Zook developed the Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts program. The program opens with a gateway sequence, Transformative Texts, for first-year Purdue students, taught by full-time faculty.{{Cite web|url=https://stories.purdue.edu/bringing-texts-alive/|title=Murphy Award winner Melinda Zook aims to bring texts alive|date=April 20, 2022|website=The Persistent Pursuit}}{{Cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00091383.2019.1674107|title=Giant Leaps for the Liberal Arts at Purdue|first=Melinda S.|last=Zook|date=November 2, 2019|journal=Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning|volume=51|issue=6|pages=45–51|via=CrossRef|doi=10.1080/00091383.2019.1674107}} In her article titled "Gen Z Is Ready to Talk. Are Professors Ready to Listen?", she discussed the model for general education, which employs small, general-education courses centered around "transformative texts" to actively engage students in debates, workshops, and projects. It emphasizes faculty mentorship and student support, acknowledging challenges, particularly those intensified by COVID-19.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/gen-z-is-ready-to-talk-are-professors-ready-to-listen|title=Gen Z Is Ready to Talk. Are Professors Ready to Listen?}} Steven Mintz, an American historian, remarked, "Their Cornerstone certificate program offers first-year students an experience somewhat analogous to that provided by Honors Colleges."{{Cite web|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/general-education-curriculum-we-need|title=The General Education Curriculum We Need|first=Steven|last=Mintz|website=www.insidehighered.com}} Students also learn that the "boundaries of race, gender, and cultural difference can be crossed by exercising the sympathetic imagination." In this respect, writes Sarah Bray, "The Cornerstone classroom is a rehearsal space for democracy."{{Cite web|url=https://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/cornerstone/documents/colleges-must-revive-general-education-opinion.pdf|title=Colleges must revive general education}}

Cornerstone is recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as a national model for revitalizing interest in the humanities and fostering lifelong learning through its approach to general education.{{Cite web|url=https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/videos/purdue-program-provides-nationwide-model-for-liberal-arts|title=Purdue Program Provides Nationwide Model for Liberal Arts}} In 2020, the NEH and the Teagle Foundation partnered to enhance college general education through the Cornerstone program, announcing $7 million for the replication initiative named "Cornerstone: Learning for Living".{{Cite web|url=https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/tag/Teagle+Foundation|title=Teagle Foundation — Grants for Nonprofits | Find Grants & Funders|date=September 23, 2020|website=Inside Philanthropy}} Expanding to other campuses, the program enhances liberal arts for STEM-focused students, with $1.625 million in grants awarded to 21 institutions in 2021 as part of this effort.{{Cite web|url=https://teaglefoundation.org/How-We-Grant/Grants-Database/Grants/Cornerstone-Learning-for-Living/Planning-for-Cornerstone-Learning-for-Living-(19)|title=The Teagle Foundation - 2022 May - Planning for Cornerstone: Learning for Living|website=teaglefoundation.org}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bard.edu/news/details/?id=17791&prefurl=bard-college-awarded-50000-teagle-foundation-NEH-cornerstone-grant-2021-06-02|title=Teagle Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities Award Bard College $50,000 Cornerstone: Learning for Living Grant to Develop Second-Year Common Courses|first=Bard Public|last=Relations|website=www.bard.edu}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.slu.edu/news/announcements/2021/october/core-cornerstone-learning-for-living-grant.php|title='Cornerstone Learning for Living' Grant Awarded to the SLU University Core|website=www.slu.edu}}

This work has been covered by media outlets such as The Washington Post,{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2018/09/21/liberal-arts-shouldnt-be-an-afterthought-large-research-universities/|title=Liberal arts shouldn't be an afterthought at large research universities|newspaper=The Washington Post }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/great-books-can-heal-our-divided-campuses-9f9e549b|title=Essay | Great Books Can Heal Our Divided Campuses|first=Andrew|last=Delbanco|newspaper=WSJ }} The New York Times,{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-college-humanities.html|title=The End of College as We Knew It?|website=The New York Times }} The Chronicle of Higher Education,{{Cite web|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/teaching-in-an-age-of-militant-apathy?_ga=2.56254635.160111784.1711428424-396158466.1709271574|title=Teaching in an Age of 'Militant Apathy'}} Town and Country,{{Cite web|url=https://www.magzter.com/stories/fashion/Town-Country-US/DA-VINCI-WAS-A-DOUBLE-MAJOR|title=DA VINCI WAS A DOUBLE MAJOR|website=www.magzter.com}} LearningWell Magazine,{{Cite web|url=https://learningwellmag.org/article/looking-for-meaning-in-college/|title=Looking for meaning in college? Try discussing a great book.|date=February 27, 2024|website=LearningWell Magazine}} and Inside Philanthropy.

Zook's research areas encompass early modern European history, with a focus on Tudor-Stuart England, political thought, culture, and women and gender studies.

Zook has authored books including Radical Whigs and Conspiratorial Politics in Late Stuart England which focused on England's political landscape during the 1670s-1680s, examining a network of radical conspirators seeking a Protestant monarchy succession. She emphasized the grassroots origins of liberalism, tracing its development in London's social hubs and arguing for its defense on the streets amid adversity. William E. Burns in his review of this book said, "Certainly this volume is evidence of how rich their efforts have been."{{cite web|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4054006|title=Reviewed Work: Radical Whigs and Conspiratorial Politics in Late Stuart England Melinda Zook|jstor=4054006 }} Her book, Protestantism, Politics and Women in Britain, was awarded Best Book on Gender for 2013 by the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women. It examined the role of women in late seventeenth and early eighteenth-century British politics, highlighting their effort to protecting the Protestant faith both domestically and internationally. Susan Wiseman, upon reviewing this book, remarked that "This study is an important contribution to the thinking on Protestant women in the period 1660–1714."{{Cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/276/article/640550|title=Protestantism, Politics, and Women in Britain, 1660–1714 by Melinda Zook (review)|first=Susan|last=Wiseman|date=April 15, 2016|journal=Early Modern Women|volume=11|issue=1|pages=259–262|doi=10.1353/emw.2016.0070 |via=Project MUSE}}

Zook co-edited Generations of Women Historians: Within and Beyond the Academy with Hilda L. Smith, among other works. This book, a collection of essays, explored the historical journey of early women historians, revealing how societal and intellectual factors shaped their lives and careers. It highlighted their contributions over four centuries and the distinct challenges they encountered in academia compared to men. In Challenging Orthodoxies, co-edited with Sigrun Haude, she explored diverse perspectives on early modern women's experiences, challenging conventional narratives across various realms. Emma Major in her review for Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts stated, "This excellent collection of essays in honor of Hilda L. Smith is full of surprises and scholarly delights."{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/76096202|title=Review of Sigrund Haude and Melinda S. Zook, eds, Challenging Orthodoxies: The Social and Cultural Worlds of Early Modern Women: Essays Presented to Hilda L. Smith|first1=Emma|last1=Major|first2=U. K.|last2=University of York|date=April 15, 2016|journal=ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830|volume=6|issue=2|doi=10.5038/2157-7129.6.2.5 |via=www.academia.edu}}

Co-edited with Michael Morrison, Zook's book Revolutionary Currents analyzed the global crosscurrents of revolutionary ideologies and highlighted the impact of transatlantic interactions on shaping modern revolutions. Doina Pasca Harsanyi from Central Michigan University noted, "This volume will be a valuable contribution to any discussion of the dynamic interplay between the ramifications of historical attempts at nation-building and the current march towards globalization."{{Cite web|url=https://www.h-france.net/vol5reviews/harsanyi.html|title=H-France Reviews|website=www.h-france.net}}

• 2016 – Kenneth T. Kofmehl Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, Purdue University
• 2018 – Purdue University Faculty Scholar, Purdue University{{Cite web|url=https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/history/news/index.html|title=News - College of Liberal Arts - Purdue University|website=cla.purdue.edu}}
• 2018 – Jon C. Teaford Faculty Award, Purdue University
• 2019 – Helen B. Schleman Gold Medallion Award, Purdue University Mortar Board Society
• 2022 – Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, Purdue University

• Radical Whigs and Conspiratorial Politics in Late Stuart England (1999) ISBN 978-0271028415
• Revolutionary Currents: Nation Building in the Transatlantic World (2004) ISBN 978-0742521650
• Protestantism, Politics, and Women in Britain, 1660-1714 (2013) ISBN 978-1137303196
• Challenging Orthodoxies: The Social and Cultural Worlds of Early Modern Women (2016) ISBN 978-1409457084
• Generations of Women Historians: Within and Beyond the Academy (2018) ISBN 978-3319775678

• Zook, M. S. (2002). Integrating Men's History into Women's History: A Proposition. The History Teacher, 35(3), 373–387. [https://doi.org/10.2307/3054443 Integrating Men's History into Women's History: A Proposition]
• Zook, M. S. (2002) The Restoration Remembered: The First Whigs and the Making of their History, The Seventeenth Century, 17(2), 213–234, [https://doi.org//10.1080/0268117X.2002.10555509 The Restoration Remembered: The First Whigs and the Making of their History]
• Zook, M. S. (2004). The political poetry of Aphra Behn. The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn, 46–67.
• Zook, M. S. (2008). The Shocking Death of Mary II: Gender & Political Crisis in Late Stuart England. British Scholar, 1(1), 21–36.
• Zook, M. S. (2009). Turncoats and Double Agents in Restoration and Revolutionary England: The Case of Robert Ferguson, the Plotter. Eighteenth-Century Studies, 42(3), 363–378. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/40264217 Turncoats and Double Agents in Restoration and Revolutionary England: The Case of Robert Ferguson, the Plotter]
• Zook, M. (2021). 3 ‘Blood will have Blood’: The Regicide Trials and the Popular Press. In B. Cowan, S. Sowerby, B. Cowan, M. Goldie, T. Harris, N. Newton Key, M. Knights, J. Marshall, A. McKenzie, P. Monod, A. Patterson, S. Sowerby & S. Taylor (Ed.), The State Trials and the Politics of Justice in Later Stuart England (pp. 73–92). Boydell and Brewer: Boydell and Brewer. [https://doi.org/10.1515/9781800102736-008 3 ‘Blood will have Blood’: The Regicide Trials and the Popular Press]

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Category:American historians

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