Dr. William Offutt, JD, Ph.D

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Dr. William Offutt, JD, Ph.D
Professor of History & Faculty Advisor
Email: woffutt@pace.edu

Bill Offutt was born in Washington DC, graduated Phi Beta Kappa in History from Stanford University in 1976, and graduated from Stanford Law School in 1979. Despite passing the California Bar, he decided not to practice law but rather went to graduate school at Johns Hopkins University in early American history, where he received his Ph.D. in 1988. After three years of academic itineracy, with one year at Pacific Lutheran University and two at Baylor University, he came to Pace as an Assistant Professor in 1990. His book, Of Good Laws and Good Men: Law and Society in the Delaware Valley 1680-1710 (1995) and helped him get tenured and promoted. His research turned to colonial and revolutionary New York; that focus led into his second book, Patriots, Loyalists and Revolution in New York City 1775-1776. This simulation based approach to the Revolution is part of the "Reacting to the Past" series sponsored by Barnard; this “game” has been adopted and played in dozens of colleges and universities in the US and around the world. In 2001, he became Director of Pace's Honors Program for New York City, which in Fall 2003 became the Pforzheimer Honors College. In 2007, he became Faculty Advisor for Honors, a role he has enjoyed under 4 Honors directors since. He is also Executive Assistant to the Dean for Arts and Sciences, coordinator for Learning Communities at Pace. His fall weekends are spent living and dying with the football fortunes of Stanford and the Washington Football Team; the rest of the year belongs to the Washington Nationals and The Simpsons.