Tracy Neumann
Associate Professor
Director of Public History
Social media
Tracy Neumann
Department
History
Tracy Neumann specializes in transnational and global approaches to twentieth-century North American history, with an emphasis on cities and the built environment. She teaches courses on twentieth-century U.S. history, urban history, research methods, and public history. Before pursuing a PhD, she worked for several years as a consultant for a cultural resource management firm. Neumann is an editor of the Global Urban History blog and the Elements in Global Urban History series. She is also an affiliate of the North American Cultural Diplomacy Initiative.
Research interest(s)/area of expertise
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Modern U.S. History
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Global History
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Urban History
Research
Neumann's work explores the politics of urban development and how global and local processes interact to shape urban space, public policy, and daily life. She is the author of Remaking the Rust Belt: The Postindustrial Transformation of North America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016) and of essays on urban history and public policy. Her current research examines the political, cultural, and intellectual history of the global dissemination of urban design and international development concepts since 1945, with a focus on the role of philanthropic foundations and international organizations. Through an investigation of programs sponsored by organizations such as the UN, UNESCO, the World Bank, and the Ford Foundation, she is reconstructing how ideas about the design and management of North Atlantic cities influenced, and were influenced by, development projects in the global South.
Education
- Ph.D., History, New York University, 2011
- M.A., Historic Preservation Planning, Cornell University, 2001
- B.A., History & Russian Studies, University of Michigan, 1998
Awards and grants
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Outstanding Graduate Director Service Award, 2022
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Humanities Center Faculty Fellowship, Wayne State University, 2018
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Career Development Chair, Wayne State University, 2018
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Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award, Wayne State University, 2017
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William Lyon Mackenzie King Postdoctoral Fellowship, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, 2015-2016
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President’s Research Enhancement Award in the Arts and Humanities, Wayne State University, 2015-2016
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Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Wayne State University, 2014
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University Research Grant, Wayne State University, 2014
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Humanities Center Faculty Fellowship, Wayne State University, 2014
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Residency Research Fellowship, Eisenberg Institute, University of Michigan, 2012-2013
Selected publications
Book
Remaking the Rust Belt: The Postindustrial Transformation of North America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016)
Articles and essays
- "Overpromising Technocracy’s Potential: The American-Yugoslav Project, Urban Planning, and Cold War Cultural Diplomacy," Journal of Planning History," OnlineFirst, February 13, 2022
- “Reforging the Steel City: Symbolism and Space in Postindustrial Pittsburgh,” Journal of Urban History 44 (July 2018): 582-602
- “The Post-Industrial City,” in Mark Rose and Roger Biles, eds., The President and American Capitalism Since 1945 (Gainesville, FL: The University Press of Florida, 2017), 249-267
- “‘Goodbye, Steeltown’: Planning Post-Steel Cities in the US and Canada,” in Steven High, Lachlan MacKinnon, and Andrew Perchard, eds., The Deindustrialized World: Confronting Ruination in Post-Industrial Places (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2017), 190-207
- “Renaissance and Retrenchment in the 1970s,” Journal of Urban History 39 (January 2015): 39-43
- “Privatization, Devolution, and Jimmy Carter's National Urban Policy,” Journal of Urban History 40 (March 2014): 283-300
Other qualifications directly relevant to courses taught
Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management, Wayne State University, 2022
Courses taught by Tracy Neumann
Winter Term 2023 (current)
- HIS3650 - History of Detroit
- HIS8030 - Seminar in Modern American History
- US3650 - History of Detroit