Susan Burch is an historian whose work centers on deaf, disability, Mad, race, ethnicity, Indigeneity, and gender and sexuality in the United States and Russia across the 19th and 20th centuries. Material culture, oral history, and accessible design are through-lines in her scholarship and teaching. Inclusive practices based on respect, reciprocity, sustainability, and care guide her community-anchored work.
Since joining the American studies faculty at Middlebury College in 2009, Susan has directed the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, co-facilitated the Advisory Group on Disability Access and Inclusion, directed the American Studies Program, and led efforts to promote access, inclusion, and full participation across and beyond the college campus. She has authored and co-authored numerous books and journal articles, co-edited anthologies and special journal issues, and served as editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of American Disability History (2009).
Susan has received an American Council of Learned Societies’ Fellowship, a National Archives regional residency fellowship, National Endowment for the Humanities and Mellon Foundation grants, and a Fulbright Scholars award.
