Sharra Vostral

Promoted to Professor
Department of History
svostral@purdue.edu

Sharra Vostral completed a Ph.D. in history at Washington University, an M.A. in American Studies at St. Louis University, and a B.A. in Comparative Religion at the University of Michigan. An affiliated faculty member in student services, engineering education, American studies, and Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Dr. Vostral teaches courses that focus upon gender, women’s history, technology, and medicine. 

Vostral’s work examines the historical, social, and cultural meanings of technologies and the influences they have amongst everyday users. This requires historical methods and approaches, and it also requires a deep understanding of technological innovation and scientific practices. 

Vostral has authored or contributed to multiple books, including 2018’s Toxic Shock: A Social History. Vostral’s work has most recently appeared in The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstrual Studies; Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience; Canadian Medical Association Journal, and the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine.