EDUCATION
Ph.D. 1995, Columbia University: History of Science, European Cultural History.
B.A. 1987, Adelphi University: History; Université de Caen, and Université d’Angers.
BOOKS
• The Happiness Myth (Harper San Francisco, forthcoming Spring 2007).
• Funny (University of Wisconsin, November 2005).
• Doubt: A History (Harper San Francisco, 2003).
• The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Anthropology, and Atheism in France (Columbia University, 2003).
• The Next Ancient World (Tupelo, 2001).
BOOK AWARDS
For Funny
• University of Wisconsin Felix Pollak Prize (2005).
For The End of the Soul
• Phi Beta Kappa Society’s Ralph Waldo Emerson Award (2004).
For The Next Ancient World
• Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award (2002).
• ForeWord Magazine’s Poetry Book of the Year (2002).
• Tupelo Press Judge’s Prize (2000).
FELLOW
New York Institute for the Humanities, Fellow as of 2004.
ESSAYS AND REVIEWS
• The Philadelphia Inquirer Essay on the future of science and faith, Currents (September 10, 2006)
• The Washington Post “Review of Heroes, by Lucy Hughes-Hallet” Style (December 14, 2005).
• The New York Times “Down By Law: Review of Women’s Lives, Men’s Laws, by Catherine Mackinnon” Book Review (May 22, 2005).
• The American Scholar “Universal Truths: Stories We’ve told Ourselves about the Heavens and the Earth: Review of The Grand Contraption, by David Parks,” (Summer 2005).
• The Chronicle of Higher Education “Let There Be Brights” (February 8, 2003) Sect. 2, B4.
• Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences “Review of Les Géants patagons: Voyage aux origines de l’homme, by Jacqueline Duvernay-Bolens” 33: 3 (Summer 1997), 340.
BOOK CHAPTERS
• “The Solvency of Metaphysics: The Debate Over Racial Science and Moral Philosophy in France, 1890-1914,” in Science, Race, and Ethnicity, John P. Jackson Jr., editor (University of Chicago, 2002), 130-154.
• Western Civilization: The Continuing Experiment (brief edition), with Thomas Noble, B. Strauss, D. Osheim, K. Neuschel, W. Cohen, and D. Roberts (Houghton Mifflin,1998).
POETRY IN ANTHOLOGIES
Best American Poetry 2005, Paul Muldoon and David Lehman, eds. (Scribners, 2005).
Good Poems for Hard Times, Garrison Keillor, ed. (Viking/Penguin, 2005).
Poetry Daily, Boller, Selby, and Yost, eds. (Sourcebooks, 2003).
Good Poems, Garrison Keillor, ed. (Viking/Penguin, 2002).
Poems to Live by in Uncertain Times, Joan Murray, ed. (Beacon, 2001).
Best American Poetry 1999, Robert Bly and David Lehman, eds. (Scribners, 1999).
FACULTY AWARDS
Four-time winner of the Bi-Annual Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award, Nassau Community College, 2005, 2003, 2001, and 1999.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
• “Gray Matters,” Conduit (January, 2005).
• “Vacher de Lapouge and the Rise of Nazi Science,” The Journal of the History of Ideas 61 (April 2000), 285-304.
• “The Solvency of Metaphysics: The Debate Over Racial Science and Moral Philosophy in France, 1890-1914,” Isis: Journal of the History of Science Society 90 (Spring 1999), 1-24.
• “French Scientific Materialism and the Liturgy of Death: The Invention of a Secular Version of Catholic Last Rites (1876-1914),” French Historical Studies 20: 4 (Fall 1997), 703-735.
• “A Vigilant Anthropology: Léonce Manouvrier and the Disappearing Numbers,” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 33: 3 (Summer 1997), 221-240.
TEACHING
Poets and Philosophy, New School University, Graduate Writing Program, Fall 2006.
Poetry Workshop, Creative Writing, Undergraduate, New York University, Summer 2006.
Associate Professor in History (tenured), Nassau Community College, 1994-2006.
Instructor in History, Mannes College, 1993-1994.
RECENT TALKS
Rector’s Forum “Hecht on Doubt: A History.” Hosted by Reverend William McD. Tully, Saint Bart’s Episcopal Church (Park Avenue, NYC), August 8, 2006.
The Skeptic’s Society Lecture, “Doubt and the History of Skepticism.” Hosted by Michael Shermer, July 10, 2005, Caltech, Pasadena, CA.
“Science Against Faith,” Department of Science and Technology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, February 11, 2005.
“Us vs. Them” Secularism and Religion, New York Institute for the Humanities, New York University, hosted by Lawrence Weschler, October 22-24, 2004.
Otherness: The Construction of Race in the 20th Century, Webster University, St. Louis, December 5-6, 2003. “The Origins and Logic of Antiracism in France.”
The Skeptic’s Society Lecture, “The End of the Soul: Science and Atheism.” Hosted by Michael Shermer, September 21, 2003, Caltech, Pasadena, CA.
Race in the History of Science. Center for the Study of Diversity, MIT, February 2001.
History of Science Society, Annual Meeting, November 8-11, 2001, Denver, Colorado. “Atheism, Evolution, and Nihilism: Secular Ethics in France, 1870-1914.”
RADIO
“On Doubt,” The Brian Lehrer Show, hosted by Brian Lehrer, National Public Radio,
November 2004.
“A History of Doubt with Jennifer Michael Hecht,” Speaking of Faith, hosted by Krista Tippett,
Minnesota Public Radio, December 11, 2003.
“Doubt: A History,” Talk of the Nation, hosted by Neal Conan, National Public Radio,
November 13, 2003.
Poems read on The Writer’s Almanac, hosted by Garrison Keillor, MPR (multiple occasions).
MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
American Historical Association
History of Science Society
Poetry Society of America
PEN
POETRY IN JOURNALS (selected)
Poetry, Partisan Review, Ms. Magazine, Antioch Review, Barrow Street, Gettysburg Review, Southern Review, Salmagundi, Quarterly West, Missouri Review, Denver Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, Gargoyle, Black Warrior Review, River City, Washington Square Review, LIT, Confrontation, Poetry Daily.com, Nerve.com, No Tell Motel.com
POETRY READINGS (Selected, 2001-2006):
The New School University, New York, NY
KGB Bar, New York, NY
Poet’s House, New York, NY
Cody’s Books, Berkeley, CA
Virginia Festival of the Book, Charlottesville, VA
The Open Center, New York, NY
Enoch Pratt Library, Baltimore, MD
92nd Street Y, Kaufman Concert Hall, New York, NY
Cornelia Street Café, New York, NY
Second Stage Theater, Hollywood, CA
Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
Barbes, Brooklyn, NY
Bowery Poetry Club, New York, NY
Makor, New York, NY
Baker’s Books, Dartmouth, MA
Soft Skull, Brooklyn, NY
The Ear Inn, New York, NY
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