Michael DeGruccio, Ph.D.

Michael deGruccio is a lover of dialogue. His philosophy is that history is a supremely humanizing discipline in that it asks us to reckon with the lost world that made us. And history is most humanizing when we move beyond condescension so easily cast upon past people — tsk, tsk, tsk– and instead try to understand their strangeness. Just as we can only really smell our home by leaving it for a long while, we can only detect our complex selfhood by journeying into the lives of others. What better way to do this than through history!

Professor deGruccio much prefers hearing a student ask a genuine question — one that is born from puzzlement or even confusion –than to hear a student rush to give an answer. All good history — all education– begins with admitting that we do not know.

Professor deGruccio loves photography, working in his wood shop, ceramics, film editing, picking his guitar, and recording music.