Samuel DiRocco II -- a third year doctoral student and instructor in the Department of History -- graduated magna cum laude from Ashland University in May 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and minors in Political Science and Religion. In May 2006, Sam earned his Master of Arts degree in History from Youngstown State University with his thesis titled “Youngstown Jewry’s Response to Nazism and the Refugee Crisis.” Holocaust scholar Saul S. Friedman served as Sam’s academic advisor and thesis director at YSU. Hakirah: A Journal of Jewish and Ethnic Studies published his article “An Assessment of Salonikan Jewry Under the Direction of Chief Rabbi Dr. Zvi Koretz.” in 2006.
Recently, Sam authored entries for The Encyclopedia of American Disability History (Facts on File, 2009.) The journal Ohio History accepted his manuscript “One Jewish Community’s Response to Nazism and the Refugee Crisis: The Formation and Fundraising Objectives of the Jewish Federation of Youngstown, Ohio 1935-1941” for publication (Kent State University Press, 2009). Sam has presented papers at the 40th Annual American Italian Historical Association Conference, the 24th Annual Ohio Valley History Conference, and at the Ohio Academy of History’s Annual Conference over the last several years. During the summer of 2008, Sam studied at Northwestern University as one of twenty-two Fellows of the Holocaust Educational Foundation’s Summer Institute.
Professor Diane Britton is directing his major field of study: Gilded Age America. Professors Larry Wilcox and Michael Jakobson are directing his minor field of study: Modern European Antisemitism and the Holocaust. Sam’s current research interest focuses on eastern and southern European immigrant laborers working in merchant blast furnaces in small communities throughout Ohio. A native of Leetonia (Ohio), Sam remains active in the Leetonia-Salem Township Historical Society and continues to assist with on-going historic preservation projects in his hometown.
Contact Information:
Office: Tucker Hall 0154
Phone: 419-530-2497
Email: samuel.diroccoii@utoledo.edu