Michael Scher Papers, 1969-74 | University of Illinois Archives

Michael Roger Scher (1942-1975) was assistant professor of history (1972-75) at the University of Illinois (UI). He was an educator and scholar of nineteenth-and-twentieth-century French history.

Scher was born on March 24, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree (1964), a master's degree (1966), and a doctorate (1972) at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was an instructor at UCLA (1971-72) before joining the faculty at UI in 1972. Scher taught courses in nineteenth-and-twentieth-century European history as well as on the contemporary Western world. In 1974, he participated in the Seventh Annual Illinois Conference of Community College, College, and University Teachers, presenting his paper, "Involvement in Teaching and Learning: A Lesson in Dynamics." At the time of his death, he had recently published "Neither War Nor Nation: The Rise of Antimilitarism in France, 1870-1900" in La Revue Roumaine d'Histoire and had nearly finished a significant manuscript on French politician and pacifist Gustave Herve (1871-1944).

Scher died suddenly and prematurely on January 25, 1975. He was remembered as "an extremely enthusiastic and popular teacher" and a promising young scholar (History at Illinois). The UIUC Department of History's Michael Scher Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Paper was named in his honor.

Sources:

"Michael Roger Scher," History at Illinois (1974â??76), accessed May 21, 2020, https://history.illinois.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/1974-76_20160310133139.pdf.

"Michael Scher Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Paper," Department of History, accessed May 21, 2020, https://history.illinois.edu/award/michael-scher-award-outstanding-undergraduate-paper.