UB Center for Disability Studies

The UB Center for Disability Studies offers academic degree programs that provide students and community members with the tools needed to advance the study of disability within the humanities in collaboration with social sciences, education, law, and the health sciences. Learn more.

UB Gender Institute

The Gender Institute, a UB-wide research center founded in 1997, offers grants and awards to UB faculty and students. We support scholarship on women and on the intricate connections between gender and other social forces, such as sexuality, race, class, health, age, religion, and place. Learn more.

UB SPHHP

The mission of the School of Public Health and Health Professions (SPHHP) is to improve the health of populations, communities and individuals through disciplinary and interdisciplinary education, research and service. Through a range of research initiatives and centers, the SPHHP is contributing to improved health for populations, communities and individuals. Learn more.

Michael Rembis

PhD

Professor Mike Rembis.

Michael Rembis

PhD

Michael Rembis

PhD

Fields

19th century United States History; 20th century United States History; Intellectual History; History of Medicine, Disability and Science; Social and Cultural History; History of Discipline

Education

  • PhD, History, University of Arizona, Tuscon, 2003
  • MS, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1996
  • BA, History, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1994

Courses Regularly Taught

History of Eugenics
History of Madness
Disability History I and II
Introduction to Disability Studies

Research Interests

Rembis has authored or edited many books, articles, and book chapters, including: Defining Deviance: Sex, Science, and Delinquent Girls, 1890-1960 (University of Illinois Press, 2011/2013); Disability Histories co-edited with Susan Burch (University of Illinois Press, 2014); The Oxford Handbook of Disability History co-edited with Catherine Kudlick and Kim Nielsen (Oxford University Press, 2018); Disabling Domesticity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016); and Disability: A Reference Handbook (ABC-CLIO, 2019). In 2012, Rembis and co-editor Kim Nielsen launched the Disability Histories book series with University of Illinois Press. His research interests include the history of institutionalization, mad people's history, and the history of eugenics. He is currently working on a book entitled, Writing Mad Lives - in the Age of the Asylum. Rembis is the lead editor and author on the New York City Department of Education Hidden Voices Project, Perspectives of Americans with Disabilities.

Selected Publications

Defining Deviance: Sex, Science, and Delinquent Girls, 1890-1960 (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2011, 2013)

Disability Histories, co-edited with Susan Burch (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2014) 

The Oxford Handbook of Disability History, co-edited with Catherine Kudlick and Kim Neilsen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018) 

Disabling Domesticity (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) 

Fellowships and Grants

  • UB Civic Engagement Research Fellow