Doug Howard, Professor, History 
(616)526-6197
dhoward@calvin.edu
Office: Hiemenga Hall 476
Weekly Schedule
(Portal login required)
Educational background
B.A., History, Western Michigan University
M.A., History, Indiana University
Ph.D., Uralic and Altaic Studies, Indiana University
Research and professional interests
Prof. Howard has published a survey of the history of Turkey and articles on Ottoman institutional and literary history. He also has an ongoing project that will be a translation and study of a seventeenth-century Ottoman mirror for princes. But he has moved this to the back burner in order to work on writing a history of the Ottoman Empire, tentatively titled Amid the Ruins. It is going to be a classic.
Recent activities
During his sabbatical leave in fall 2008, Prof. Howard was a resident fellow at Collegium Budapest Institute for Advanced Study. This is a research institute located in a beautiful setting in the castle district of Budapest (Hungary). He used the time to research and write two chapters of Amid the Ruins. He also met people who study life on Mars. To view sabbatical photos and videos, go to this Facebook link.
During the interim term 2011, Professor Howard took time off from writing Amid the Ruins to wander amid the ruins in a course called "Byzantine and Ottoman Turkey." The class of eleven Calvin students studied the transition from the Byzantine to the Ottoman Empire by visiting Edirne, Bursa, Iznik, Pamukkale, Selçuk, Bergama, Assos, and Troy and spending a week in Istanbul. The discussions were insightful, the weather was perfect, and the coffee was strong.
Life outside of Calvin College
"I like to drink really strong coffee. I usually need to eat again at 11 a.m. My wife and I enjoy our season tickets to the Tigers on FS-Detroit. And I like to work out my blues on the piano and in writing music."
Other information
Prof. Howard is the faculty coordinator of the exchange program between Calvin and Károli Gáspár Reformed University in Budapest. Each year about eighteen Calvin students study in Budapest on Calvin's semester in Hungary program during the long, gorgeous fall semester. Three Károli students study at Calvin for the interim term.
With the experience of directing the Calvin Semester in Hungary three times and living in Turkey, Professor Howard has decided to take on Washington! Yes, in spring semester 2012 Professor Howard will be the director of the Semester in Washington, D.C. In this off-campus program students put faith and practice together, working four days each week in an internship in the nation's capital, and take two courses. One, called "Integrating Faith and Public Life," features weekly visits to government offices, NGOs, faith-based organizations, museums, and the like where faith and public life come together. In 2012 the other course will be one taught by Professor Howard called "U.S.-Middle East Relations." For further information visit the Office of Off-Campus programs or email Professor Howard.
See a partial list of Doug Howard's publications.
