Department of History
Northern State University
Aberdeen, South Dakota 57401
605-626-7795
diasr@northern.edu
Ph.D. in History, June 1995, University of California, Riverside
Dissertation: “‘Together We Build’: The Rise and Fall of the Kaiser Steel
Corporation in the New Deal West.”
Dissertation Committee: Ronald C. Tobey (Chair), Charles Wetherell, and
Mark S. Foster (University of Colorado, Denver)
M.A. in History, December 1990, University of California, Riverside
Major Field: United States 1776 to present
Minor Field: Europe 1789 to present
M.A. in Psychology, June 1986, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
B.A. in Psychology, June 1983, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA
Teaching Experience
Professor, 2004 –
Associate Professor, 1999-2004
Assistant Professor, 1995-1999
Northern State University, Department of History
Courses Taught
Upper-division
United States 1940 to Present
United States 1900 to 1940
The Vietnam War
Twentieth Century Frontier
The United States in the Cold War
The United States in the 1960s
Research and Writing
Lower-division
United States 1877 to Present
United States to 1877
Adjunct Instructor, 1994-1995
Mission College, Department of Social Sciences, Santa Clara, CA.
Teaching Assistant, 1990-1994
University of California, Riverside, Department of History
Publications
Books:
Francis Bradford and Ric Dias, Power to Spare Was Not Enough; The Hall-Scott
Motor Car Company and Commercial Engine Making in America, SAE
International Publishing, Warrendale, PA, in press, 2007.
Ric Dias, “‘Built to Serve the Growing West’; The Kaiser Steel Corporation and
The Modern American West,” book manuscript in progress.
Articles:
Ric Dias and Francis Bradford, “The Rise and Fall of Hall-Scott, Engine
Manufacturer,” Automotive History Review (Spring 2005), no. 43, pp.
50-63.
Ric Dias, “Henry J. Kaiser: Can-do Capitalist, ‘Government Entrepreneur,’ and
Western Booster,” Journal of the West, 42 (Fall 2003), pp. 54-62.
Ric Dias, “‘Built to Serve the Growing West’: Kaiser Steel Corporation, the
Federal Government, and Regional Development,” Journal of the West, 38
(Fall 1999), pp. 57-64.
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Ric Dias, “The Great Containment: The Federal Imperative to Urbanize the Cold
War West,” Ch. 4 in The Cold War American West, Kevin Fernlund, ed.,
(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998).
Ric Dias, “Henry J. Kaiser’s Fontana,” California Historian 42 (Spring 1996),
pp. 7-13.
Reviews have appeared in Journal of the West, Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, South Dakota History and Technology and Culture.
Conference Papers:
Ric Dias and Francis Bradford, “No Substitute for Power,” Wheels of Time, vol. 6,
no. 1, January-February 2005, pp. 36-49.
Ric Dias, “Frontiers Revisted, Henry J. Kaiser’s New Deal for the American
West,” presented to the Aberdeen branch of the Westerners, Northern
State University, Spring 1999.
Ric Dias, “Can’t You Just Give Me Something to Write On? Getting Students to
Create Better Paper Topics,” Writing for Learning Journal, vol. 3, 1998,
pp. 102-111. Part of Collaborative K-16 Writing Across the Curriculum
Project.
Ric Dias, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the America of L. Frank Baum,”
presented at Oz and Beyond Conference, Northern State University,
February 25,1996.
American Historical Association
Society of Automotive Historians
Pi Gamma Mu
PHI Eta Sigma
South Dakota Council on the Humanities
NSU Outstanding Honors Faculty Member of the Year, 2002, 2004
NSU Williams Library Faculty/Student Collaborative Research Award,
1998, 2003
NSU Outstanding Student Organization Faculty Advisor, 1998, 2001
NSU Outstanding Faculty Member, 1998
NSU Faculty Development Grant, 1996, 1998
Service:
Chair,
Promotion and Tenure Committee, Chair Search Committes,
Updated October 2004