Associate Professor of History Alice Weinreb has recently utilized opportunities across Loyola University Chicago to expand her scholarship and to engage students directly in cutting-edge research. She is currently researching a new book project on the history of eating disorders in the post-war world, an under-studied topic requiring interdisciplinary methods from fields such as sociology, anthropology, feminist theory, and psychology. Dr. Weinreb is the first recipient of Loyola’s new Intra-University Visiting Fellowship, which allows a Loyola faculty member to spend a semester immersed in another Loyola department outside of their own. She is spending the Spring 2023 semester collaborating with the Psychology Department, where she explored methods and practices in that field. She will apply what she learned to her research on the transnational and interdisciplinary history of eating disorders. 

Weinreb’s collaboration with students on the topic of eating disorders began even earlier. In Summer 2022, she supported a paid undergraduate intern as part of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Undergraduate Summer Research Experience, and added additional interns in the Fall 2022 semester. These students presented their research findings on February 10, 2023, at a Research Roundtable moderated by Dr. Weinreb. They reported on their foray into the postwar history of eating disorders using a variety of sources, including medical, pop cultural, feminist, and traditional archival sources. 

Dr. Weinreb and her undergraduate interns spoke at the February 10th roundtable “Eating Disorders as an Interdisciplinary Problem: Research in the History of Psychiatry.”

In Fall 2023, Dr. Weinreb will be offering a new undergraduate research seminar allowing further undergraduate research opportunities on the topic of eating disorders. HIST 300E,  “History of Psychiatry: Research Seminar on Eating Disorders 1970-2000,” will investigate questions of how and why eating disorders became so prevalent in the United States and around the world during the late twentieth century. Over the course of the semester, students will conduct original archival research, write a 15-20 page research paper, and have the opportunity to present their research at a student symposium. The interdisciplinary course, which is a joint venture between the History and Psychology departments, is also approved as an Engaged Learning Course. Dr. Weinreb especially encourages Psychology, History, and Women/Gender Studies students to apply. 

To learn more about the course, view the flyer below. Reach out to Dr. Weinreb at aweinreb@luc.edu with any questions.