Nicole C. Rudolph | Faculty Profiles

Diplomas/Degrees

Ph.D. in French Studies, New York University (2005)

D.E.A. in Social Sciences (equivalent to M.Phil.) with Honors, Ecole Normale Superieure / Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France (1999)

M.A. in French Studies, New York University (1998)

M.A. in French Language and Literature, University of Pittsburgh (1993)

B.A. in American History and French Language and Literature, University of Pittsburgh (1990)

Certificate in West European Studies, University of Pittsburgh (1990)

Personal Statement

Prior to joining the Honors College, I was Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures and the Department of History.

Recent Courses

Honors Thesis

Specialization/Interests

history and literature of modern France, women and feminism in the West, housing and urbanism

Research Interests

women and feminism in the West; French cultural and social history, urbanism and history of domestic architecture, urban environmental studies

I serve on the Editorial Board of the interdisciplinary journal French Politics, Culture and Society (

International Experience

Prof. Rudolph holds a graduate degree from the École Normale Supérieure / École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. She taught at the Université de Nantes and has travelled extensively throughout French-speaking terriories in Tahiti, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Canada. She publishes on 20th- and 21st-century French society and culture.

She has also studied and worked abroad in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, and England.

She has travelled to Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Germany, Croatia, Scotland, and Finland.

Books

Nicole C. Rudolph (2015). . Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books. Issued in paperback in May 2020.

Chapters

N. Rudolph (2022). “French Housing and the Environment, 1945-1975: From Public Health to Private Space.” In Jeanne Haffner, ed., Landscapes of Housing: Design and Planning in the History of Environmental Thought (London and New York: Routledge), 195-212.

N. Rudolph (2010). "'Who Should Be the Author of a Dwelling?' Architects versus Housewives in 1950s France". In K.H. Adler & Carrie Hamilton, eds., Homes and Homecomings: Gendered Histories of Domesticity and Return (Chichester, United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons), 87-105.

Articles

Rudolph, N. (2020), "The innovative state: ÉcoQuartiers as French laboratories of 'green culture'," in French Cultural Studies, 31.2: 159-170.

Rudolph, N. (2019), "Constructed Nature and Social Space: Recent Work in French Envirourban History." Journal of Urban History, 45, 1, 150-156.

Rudolph, N. (2014), "'Plunging the Soul into Contemplation': On MoMA's Le Corbusier, An Atlas of Modern Landscapes". French Politics, Culture & Society, 32.3, 45-56.

Rudolph, N. (2014), "Model Homes: Negotiating Interiors in Postwar France". Interiors: Design, Architecture, Culture, 5.2, 239-256.

Rudolph, N. (2012), Architecture as a Portal to the Teaching of French Language and Literature. The French Review, 85.3, 508-518.

Rudolph, N. (2009), 鈥溾€榃ho Should Be the Author of a Dwelling?鈥�: Architects versus Housewives in 1950s France". Gender and History, 21.3, 541-559.

Rudolph, N. (2004), 鈥淒omestic Politics: The Cit茅 Exp茅rimentale at Noisy-le-Sec in Greater Paris". Modern and Contemporary France, 12.4, 483-495.

Conference Presentations

N. Rudolph (2023). "When Designers' Visions Collide with Dwellers' Practices, Whose Craft Matters More?" At the symposium Home/Making: Intersections of Craft and Home, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

N. Rudolph (2022)." Why It’s Hard to Dwell in Green Housing." At CLE (Cultural Literacy Everywhere) Symposium on Dwelling. University College Dublin, Ireland (via Zoom)

N. Rudolph (2018). "The Innovative State : Eco-Quartiers as French Laboratories of 'Green Culture'." At French Cultural Studies International Workshop: France as a Laboratory of Culture. Columbia University, New York, NY.

N. Rudolph (2017). "Fantastic Models and Their Discontents: How Spectacular Architecture Shaped Domestic Space Expectations in Postwar France." At Fantasy in Reality: Architecture, Representation, Reproduction. Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK

N. Rudolph (2016). "Nature and the 'Third Way' in French Mass Housing: From Public Health to Private Space, 1945-1975." At the European Association of Urban Historians. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

N. Rudolph (2016). "Appliances and Authenticity: Le Fabuleux Destin de Mère Denis." At Society for French Historical Studies Annual Meeting. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.

N. Rudolph (2015). "What Can History Professors Learn from the Foreign Language Classroom?" At the annual meeting of the Society for French Historical Studies. Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO.

N. Rudolph (2014). "The Rise of the Jardin d’hiver: The Effect of the Grenelle de l’environnement on French Ideas of Home." In Society for French Studies. University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.

N. Rudolph (2013). "From the Hygienic, Rational Home to the Secure, Sustainable Home: Nature and Technology in French Urban Housing, 1950-2010." At the annual meeting of the Society for French Historical Studies. Harvard/MIT, Cambridge, MA.

N. Rudolph (2011). "Beyond the Grand Ensemble: State-Sponsored Housing Innovation and the Meaning of Home in France, 1966-1972". At the annual meeting of the Society for French Historical Studies. Charleston, SC.

N. Rudolph (2010). "Disagreeable Odors and Secreting Kitchens: Home Design and Women鈥檚 Roles in Postwar France". In Society for French Historical Studies. Tempe, AZ.

N. Rudolph (2008). "'Who Should Be the Author of a Dwelling?’: Architects versus Housewives in 1950s France". At Homes and Homecomings. University of Nottingham, UK.

N. Rudolph (2005). “Living Small: The Cellule d’habitation and the Democratization of Comfort in 1950s France". At the annual meeting of the Western Society for French History. Colorado Springs, CO.

N. Rudolph (2002). "'La voix de ceux qui ne s’expriment pas’: Critiques of State-Planned Housing in 1950s France". At the annual meeting of the Western Society for French History. Baltimore, MD.

N. Rudolph (2001). “Postwar Experiments in Modern French Living: The Prefabricated Village of Noisy-le-Sec". At France and America: Culture and Society in the Twentieth Century. University of Southampton, UK.

Invited Presentations

Nicole Rudolph (Sept/Oct 2022). "The State and Expertise" and "About Editors and Generalists: On French Politics, Culture & Society." Invited presentations deliverated at the conference, "France in the Twentieth Century: Mobilizing People, Power, and Ideas: A Conference in Honor of Herrick Chapman," held by the Institute of French Studies at New York University on September 30 and October 1.

Nicole Rudolph (June 2021). "Outside In: The Changing Relationship Between Inhabitant and Nature in French Home Design, 1955-2015". Invited presentation delivered to the Modern France Research Seminar (a cross-college initiative) at Cambridge University, UK.

Nicole Rudolph (November 2019). “The Rise and Fall of the 4P: From Rational Man to Urban Man.” Invited presentation at Parsons/New School University, New York, NY.

Nicole Rudolph (March 2018). “Rule-makers and Their Discontents: Who Changed French Postwar Housing?” Invited presentation delivered at the symposium “Unruly Design: Making, Changing and Breaking the Rules”, Parsons School of Design - The New School, New York, NY.

Nicole Rudolph (November 2017). “Modern Mass Housing and the Right to Comfort: French-American Intersections,” invited presentation at Parsons School of Design /New School University, New York, NY.

Nicole Rudolph (October 2016). At Home in Postwar France: Modern Mass Housing and Class, New York University, New York, NY

Nicole Rudolph (April 2016). Teaching French History and French Studies. Institute of French Studies Alumni Conference, New York, NY.

Nicole Rudolph (February 2016). At Home in Postwar France: Modern Mass Housing and Gender. Columbia University, New York, NY.

Grants

American Philosophical Society, Franklin Research Grant, for archival research in France, awarded April 2010

茄子视频 Provost's Office International Faculty Development Grant, for research in France on eco-neighborhoods, awarded October 2017 (declined)

茄子视频 Provost's Grant, sponsors participation in the Council for International Educational Exchange's International Faculty Development June 2010 seminar on Religious Diversity in France, awarded February 2010

Adelphi Faculty Development Grant, for completion of book project, "At Home in Postwar France," awarded February 2014

Adelphi Faculty Development Grant, for archival research in France, awarded January 2010

French-American Cultural Exchange Tournées Festival Grant, for bringing a festival of French film to campus, awarded August 2010 and August 2012

Honors and Accomplishments

Member, Board of Visitors, University Honors College, University of Pittsburgh

Nominee, 2013 and 2015 Adelphi Teaching Award for untenured faculty

Recipient of Western Society for French History's Millstone Prize, for best interdisciplinary paper presented at annual meeting (2003)

Fulbright Research Scholar, 2000-2001

Phi Beta Kappa (elected junior year)

Professional Activities

Editorial Board member, French Politics, Culture & Society

Book Review of Kelly Ricciardi Colvin, Gender and French Identity after the Second World War, 1944-1954, The American Historical Review, 125, (February 2020)

Book Review of Kenny Cupers, The Social Project: Housing Postwar France, in French Politics, Culture & Society 33, 3 (Winter 2015)

Book Review of Sophie Corbillé, Paris bourgeois, Paris bohème: La ruée vers l'est, in H-France Review, 14, 175 (November 2014)

Book Review of Whitney Walton, Internationalism, National Identities, and Study Abroad: France and the United States, 1890-1970, in French Politics, Culture and Society 30, 3 (Winter 2012)

Book Review of W. Brian Newsome, French Urban Planning 1940-1968, H-France Review 11, 70 (March 2011)