LES ADLER

Les Adler has been a faculty member in the Hutchins School since 1970, serving also as Provost from 1977-1979 and from 1987-1997. Additionally, he spent a half-year teaching in England in 1983 for the American Institute for Foreign Study, and a year in Southeast Asia as Fulbright Professor of American history and foreign policy as the National University of Singapore in 1991-1992. He earned his BA degree in Russian and European history from the University of New Mexico in 1963 and his MA (1965) and Ph.D. (1970) degrees in American history from the University of California at Berkeley.

 

His original research interests dealt with the cultural origins of the Cold War, culminating in several articles and a book, The Red Image: American Attitudes Toward Communism in the Cold War Era, published in 1991. Most recently, his research has focused on the multi-faceted life and career of the political activist, writer, historian, philosopher of science and innovative interdisciplinary thinker, Arthur Koestler.

A book reviewer on subjects in East European and American history, culture and foreign affairs for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1987, he has also contributed articles and essays on issues related to the Persian Gulf War, Sikh religious traditions and Nuclear Accidents during the Cold War era to several national newspapers and National Public Radio.

In addition to teaching both lower and upper division interdisciplinary classes in Hutchins, he is currently Director of the newly-created Hutchins Center for Interdisciplinary Learning which manages a variety of projects designed to share the nearly thirty-years of innovative teaching and learning experience of the Hutchins School with the larger regional, statewide and national communities.