The Mississippi Historical Society has selected Rebecca Tuuri, associate professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi, to serve as the organization’s president for a one-year term. The society produces books, maps, brochures, and other materials that educate the public on Mississippi state history, as well as provides grants in support of Mississippi History Day.
Since 2013, Dr. Tuuri has been a faculty member in the School of Humanities at the University of Southern Mississippi. She serves as co-director of the university’s Center for the Study of the Gulf South and holds additional faculty appointments in the Center for Black Studies and the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies. Alongside her faculty positions, she currently serves as interim associate dean of the Honors College. Prior to her positions with the University of Southern Mississippi, Dr. Tuuri held faculty appointments with Rutgers University in New Jersey and Tulane Unviersity in New Orleans.
Dr. Tuuri is a member of numerous professional organizations in the history field. She has been an executive board member of the Mississippi Historical Society since 2018. Additionally, she is the author of Strategic Sisterhood: The National Council of Negro Women in the Black Freedom Struggle (University of North Carolina Press, 2018), which won the 2018 Julia Cherry Spruill prize for best book on southern women’s history from the Southern Association of Women Historians.
“I’m honored to be the president of this dynamic organization that celebrates local and statewide history projects that uplift a more honest historical narrative that can serve as an inspiration to our state and nation,” said Dr. Tuuri.
Dr. Turri graduated magna cum laude from Rice University in Houston, Texas, with two bachelor’s degrees: one in history and the other in art history. She received her Ph.D. in history from Rutgers University.