Department

Emeriti / Retired

Education

• B.A.  University of Vermont  
• M.S./M.A.  University of Oregon  
• R.N.  Merritt College  
• Ed.D.  University of Tennessee  

Background

Dr. Engs taught for 30 years in the Department of Applied Health Science. She retired from teaching in 2003 but continued to be an active researcher and has published several books and articles since this date. She has made over 300 research and other presentations, published over 150 articles, and 11 books.

Over her career, she explored hypotheses concerning the determininants of behavior. This involved investigating the history of cycles of prohibition, eugenics, and other social/health movements with moral overtones - "Clean Living" crusades. In her first twenty years, she primarily used quantitative sociological and applied research methods to examine drinking patterns in relationship to sexuality, women's health, and other health issues. This research led her to an interest in the etiology of attitudes, behaviors, and drinking norms from a broader historical and cultural prospective.

Consequently, in the early-1990 she began to explore the history of drinking within the cultural context of Western Europe and North America. This line of study evolved into the exploration of other health related issues and health reform crusades, such as Eugenics, and their reformers during the Progressive Era. She is now working on a book about the Covid pandemic.

Selected Publications

Articles

Engs, R. C. "Past influences, current issues, future research questions." In Eleni Houghton and Ann M. Roche. Learning about Drinking. Taylor and Francis: London & New York, 2001a.

Engs, R. C., Fisher, Irving, Stoddard, Cora Frances. "Scientific Temperance Federation, and other entires". In Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia, 2 Vol. Editors, Jack S. Blocker; David M. Fahey; Ian R. Tyrrell. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003.

Engs, R. C.. Eugenics, Immigration Restrictions and the Birth Control Movements (Chapt. 16). Sibley, K (Editor). "A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover" (2014). John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Engs, R. C. "Background to the Eugenics Movement and influences on Friedrich Hayek." In Robert Leeson, ed. Hayek a Collaborative Biography Part X: Eugenics, Cultural Evolution, and the Fatal Conceit. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.

Books

Engs, R. C. Clean Living Movement: American Cycles of Health Reform. Praeger Press: Westfield, CT, 2000; Reprinted in paperback, 2001.

Engs, R. C. The Progressive Era's Health Reform Movement: A Historical Dictionary. Praeger Press: Westfield, CT, 2003.

Engs, R. C. The Eugenics Movement: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group: Westport, CT, 2005.

Engs, R. C. Conversations in the Abbey: Senior Monks of Saint Meinrad Relfect on their lives. St. Meinrad, IN: Saint Meinrad Archabbey, 2008.

Engs, R. C. [editor]/ Sinclair, Upton: Unseen Upton Sinclair: Nine Unpublished Stories, Essays and Other Works. McFarland & Company: Jefferson, NC, 2009.

Engs, R. C. THE FIELD HOSPITAL THAT NEVER WAS: Diary of Lt. Col. Karl D. Macmillan's, MD, 96th Field Hospital in China-India-Burma Theater 1945, WWII, 2015.

Conversations in the Abbey(Vol. 2): Engs, R. C., Editor. (2016) Saint Meinrad Archabbey, St. Meinard, In.

Engs, R. C. Health and Medicine through History: From Ancient Practices to 21st-Century Innovations. Greenwood: Santa Barbara, CA, 2019.

Engs, R. C. Bizarre Medicine: Unusual Treatments and Practices through the Ages. Santa Barbara, CA:ABC-Clio Greenwood, 2022.