Dr. Ronald Morris
Dr. Ronald Morris
<b>Department: </b>History<br><b>Research Area: </b>Indiana Artist biographies, Pioneer iron industry, Pioneer taverns, and Indiana pioneers<br>

Department: History

Research Focus:

Morris is PI on a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks grant project: “The Democratization of the Automobile Industry: Construction, Culture, and Preservation” NEH (google.com). The website includes primary sources, readings, lesson plans, podcasts, virtual field trips, videos, interactive map and exhibits that explore car culture and the automobile industry in the Great Lakes states that contributed car parts to the assembly plants in Detroit.  
The website highlights how many small towns hold places associated with car culture from diners to drive through windows. The approach is historical and educational to examine individuals, events, and places connected with the car parts industry in the Midwest. The final product will be a publicly available website that will allow everyone to engage in our rich, complex history of car culture in the Midwest. Products should be particularly interesting to teachers who desire to teach about this topic in their classes.

Potential Student Project(s):

Morris seeks to mentor a student scholar for this project during Spring 2024 and Fall 2024 semesters. The student scholar will work on the following research activities integral to the NEH grant project:
-Create essays and exhibits to enhance the website associated images, links, tags, and map locations
-Edit student work already on the website in lesson plans, podcasts, or virtual field trips
-Create videos to enhance the website including writing scripts and finding images
-Create interactive maps for the website with images, links, tags, and map locations
These research activities could be performed either on-site or remotely, if the student scholar has a proper work environment and adequate internet capability.

Attributes/skills/background sought in undergraduate:
-Excellent research, writing, and editing skills
-Experience with updating web sites helpful, but not required
-Organized and detailed
-An ability to follow verbal and written directions, and documented project procedures
-Enthusiasm for learning new skills and working collaboratively

Mentoring Plan:

The student scholar will have a set weekly schedule for their five hours/week assignment. Morris and the student will meet weekly face-to-face for one hour to discuss upcoming research assignments and review completed research. The first weekly meeting will include NEH project-specific orientation. All other weekly meetings will relate directly to the NEH research activities outlined above.
Each NEH research assignment will be introduced by Morris with written and verbal instructions, including previous examples and project procedures to be used as guides. Morris will be available for all questions either in-person, phone, or email. Morris will give weekly formal feedback on each research assignment. The student scholar will use that feedback to edit and revise the final research product. Students will be expected to perform meaningful research and produce quality work, while being fully guided and supported by Morris.

Contact: 765-285-8720, BB 205