Dr. Stuart Rockoff

Stuart Rockoff was born in Ft. Worth and raised in Houston, Texas and graduated from Wesleyan University with a BA in history.  He received his Ph.D. in US history from the University of Texas at Austin with a special emphasis on race, immigration and American Jewish history.  He has taught courses in American and ethnic history at such schools as the University of Texas and Millsaps College and has published numerous articles and essays on southern Jewish history. For 11 years, he served as the historian at the Institute of Southern Life. In November 2013, he became just the third executive director of the Mississippi Humanities Council, following in the large footsteps of Dr. Cora Norman and Dr. Barbara Carpenter. Under his leadership, the MHC develops and supports a wide range of public humanities programs that explore Mississippi’s rich history and culture. He was a member of the scholarly review board for both the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. He currently serves on the board of the Mississippi Book Festival and the state’s National Register of Historic Places Review Board. He lives in Jackson with his wife Susan.