Catherine headshot

Catherine Rymph

Dean

212 Lowry Hall

Phone: 573-882-4333

Email: rymphc@missouri.edu

Biography

Before accepting the position as Dean of the Honors College, Dr. Catherine Rymph served as both the chair of the History Department and the interim chair of the Religious Studies Department. A dedicated and celebrated teacher, Dr. Rymph has taught and lectured in the Honors College and directed many honors theses since her arrival on MU’s campus in 2000. In 2018, she was awarded the Gold Chalk Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching.

Dr. Rymph is the author of two books: Raising Government Children: A History of Foster Care and the American Welfare State (2017) and Republican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage to the Rise of the New Right (2006). Her research and teaching interests concern women and American politics, public policy, and child welfare, and she is an affiliate of both WGST and the Kinder Institute. Before coming to MU, Catherine Rymph previously taught at the University of Iowa and as Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Greifswald in Germany.