Tom R. Trice

Tom R. Trice is an Associate Professor of History at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts. He specializes in Modern Europe and Russian history, with a focus on death rituals, cultural history, and the Black Sea region. His research explores death and dying in Imperial and early Soviet Russia, as well as societal dynamics along the Black Sea littoral during the 19th century.

Trice holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, an M.A. from Louisiana State University, and a B.A. from Louisiana College. His work has been supported by grants and fellowships, including the Carnegie Foundation Faculty Fellowship (2007-09), the American Historical Association’s Bernadotte E. Schmitt Award (2000), and multiple institutional grants.

His publications include analyses of funerary politics, reviews of seminal historical works, and explorations of death symbolism in Russian society. Recent presentations highlight themes like mourning practices and urban disorder in Tsarist Russia. Trice actively participates in academic service, advising student organizations like Phi Alpha Theta and Cal Poly Democrats, and serving on university committees such as the General Education Program Executive Committee and the Diversity Enhancement Council.

Trice teaches courses on comparative world history, death and dying in modern societies, and Russian imperial history. His research on the 'Body Politic' project (EDC: 2008) further deepens his examination of death’s role in political representation in St. Petersburg.