Contact: Maridith Geuder
Ruth J. Haug
A Mississippi State research scientist is one of 37 John D. Rockefeller Archive Center Scholars for 2000.
Ruth J. Haug of the university's Social Science Research Center travels later this year to Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., to further study John D. Rockefeller's humanitarian efforts in the Magnolia State. She is the SSRC's coordinator of administrative and research services.
The archive center is a division of Rockefeller University and Haug's scholarship is part of a program supporting researchers whose projects involve substantial time at the center.
Founder of Standard Oil and one of America's leading philanthropists, Rockefeller (1839-1927) made grants during the early 20th century to help fund public health institutions in Mississippi and other states. The International Health Board, which he established, laid the groundwork for the agency that became the Mississippi Department of Health.
Haug recently completed her doctorate at MSU, where her dissertation focused on the state health department.
Her continuing research looks both at funding provided by Rockefeller to Mississippi and a grant from the General Education Board, another of his philanthropies, specifically to MSU's Social Science Research Center.
Made 50 years ago, the latter award was instrumental to the development of SSRC's mission of analyzing economic and social issues in the state, region and nation.
Her research will contribute to a history being compiled on the occasion of the SSRC's golden anniversary.
In addition to Haug, this year's Rockefeller Archive Scholars come from throughout the United States, as well as from the United Kingdom, Croatia, Austria, India, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
Her research also is being supported at MSU by the Office of Research and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.