Greg Rohlf

Visiting Assistant Professor of History
Office Location: Meredith 221
515-271-2510
greg.rohlf@drake.edu 

Greg Rohlf is author of Building New China, Colonizing Kokonor, (2016) which examined Chinese state building in Tibetan regions of China, especially through agricultural resettlement.  His most recent publication is a biographical analysis of China historian John King Fairbank entitled “Lorena King Fairbank and John King Fairbank: South Dakota Cosmopolitans.” This appears in Heartland River: A Cultural and Environmental History of the Big Sioux  River Valley   (2022).  His current project, “The Lecture Hall and the Battleship” focuses on transnationalism in higher education, especially in East Asia and the United States between 1880 and 1930.  His research interests include politics, comparative frontiers, history of architecture, gender roles, war and society, environmental history and sport history.   He teaches courses in East Asian and World History, as well as freshman seminars, including Imperial China, Global History of Sport, History of Warfare, Japan in War and Peace, The Struggle for Modern Tibet, Hmiltonia: Who Tells (Y)our Story? and Who Fights, Who Wins?  As a teacher, he values experiential learning methods, visual analysis, and using digital tools as well as pen and paper. 

Rohlf is a native of Iowa, and has degrees from Luther College (B.A., 1988), the University of Michigan (M.A. , 1993) and the University of Iowa (Ph.D., 1999).  He is also on the faculty of the Stockton, California campus of the University of the Pacific.  In his free time, he enjoys cycling, cooking, gardening and spending time with family.