Prof. Jerry H. Bentley (1949-2012) and the Bentley World History Funds
In commemoration of Jerry's extraordinary scholarly gifts and personal commitment to World History research and teaching, his wife Carol Mon Lee has generously established several endowed funds to honor the scholarly legacy of Dr. Bentley through support for faculty and student excellence in the field of World History.
The Bentley Funds at UHM History
- Jerry H. Bentley Endowed Scholarship in World History: Supports UHM History students pursuing studies in World History
- Jerry H. Bentley World History Endowed Faculty Award: Support junior and mid-career UHM History faculty conducting World History research
- Jerry H. Bentley Distinguished Professorship Endowment in World History: Supports History faculty who are pursuing scholarly research, publication, pedagogical innovation, or other impactful work in the field of world history.
Should you wish to contribute to these funds or make an additional gift in Dr. Bentley's memory, please visit the links or contact Eriza Bareng at eriza.bareng@uhfoundation.org or Alessandra Kim at alessandra.kim@uhfoundation.org.
Jerry Bentley and his wife, Carol Mon Lee
Biography and Legacy
Born the oldest of three sons in Birmingham, Alabama, Jerry Harrell Bentley (December 12, 1949 – July 15, 2012) was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he attended public high school and earned a BA in History from the University of Tennessee Knoxville. He finished his MA (1974) and PhD (1976) at the University of Minnesota, and came to the University of Hawaiʻi in 1976 where he remained until his retirement in 2012.
Although his early research focused on Renaissance humanist scholarship of the Bible, in Hawaiʻi Jerry emerged as an international leader in World History scholarship and teaching. His inclusive and humanist appreciation for cross-cultural and transnational interactions, dynamics, and connections, from ancient times to the present, was elegantly and persuasively articulated. World History offers a path beyond a narrow nationalist approach, he wrote, by focusing on “comparisons, connections, networks, and systems rather than the experiences of individual communities or discrete societies” (“The Task of World History,” 2011). World History also provides powerful tools to challenge assumptions and biases about the historical rise of Europe in comparison with other global societies and cultures. Jerry’s later scholarship was also significantly influenced by Indigenous historiography as well as themes raised by Pacific and maritime history.
It is an indication of Jerry’s influence, and also his success in amplifying the work of emerging World History scholars in the US and around the world, that transnational and comparative approaches are now widely adopted across virtually all History subdisciplines.
Jerry was also known for his generosity and success in helping to promote World History both nationally and internationally. He helped develop content and curriculum standards for high school and undergraduate World History classes. In addition to establishing a flourishing PhD program in World History at UHM, he also fostered a World History program at Capital Normal University in Beijing.
In adition to the funds established by Carol Mon Lee in the UHM Department of History, the World History Association renamed its annual book prize the Bentley Book Prize in 2012 in recognition of Jerry's role as a founding member and longtime editor of the Journal of World History. The American Historical Association, likewise, honors Jerry through its Jerry Bentley Prize in World History of the American Historical Association and Jerry Bentley World History Travel Grants.
The Jerry H. Bentley Distinguished Professorship in World History
In 2022, the History Department launched the Jerry H. Bentley Distinguished Professorship in World History, an endowed professorship generously supported by his wife, Carol Mon Lee. The professorship provides research and other scholarly support for history faculty who are pursuing projects in the field of world history.
The 2025-26 Jerry H. Bentley Distinguished Professorship in World History is Professor Wensheng Wang.
The inaugural 2022-23 recipient (renewed through 2024) was Professor Karen Jolly.
The Jerry H. Bentley Faculty Award
Established in 2014, this annual award supports world history research by junior and mid-career faculty.
Award Winners:
2025 Monica LaBriola
2024 Ned Bertz, Marcus Daniel, and Noah Dolim
2023 Joseph Foukona, Harrison Kim
2022 Monica LaBriola, John Rosa
2021 Monica LaBriola, Frank Zelko
2019 Vina Lanzona, Wensheng Wang
2018 Marcus Daniel
2017 Suzanna Reiss, Vina Lanzona
2016 Ned Bertz
2015 Yuma Totani, Kieko Matteson
The Jerry H. Bentley Student Scholarship
Before Dr. Bentley passed away, he and Carol Mon Lee established the Jerry H. Bentley Endowed Scholarship in World History. This scholarship provides vital research and travel support for advanced graduate students studying world history.
Award Winners:
2024-25 Ruizhi Choo
2023-24 Sulim Graves (Kim)
2022-23 Carissa Chew, Jaehyung Kim
2021-22 Adrian Alarilla, Terri-Lee Bixby, and Wonkeun Lee
2016-17 Tomoko Fukushima
2015-16 Brandon Tachco
2014-15 William Matthew Cavert
2013-14 Robert Findlay
2012-13 Michael Johnson
Selected Works by Jerry Bentley
Architects of World History: Researching the Global Past, with K.R. Curtis, eds (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014)
“Europeanization of the World or Globalization of Europe?” Religions 3 (2012): 441-454
“The Task of World History,” Oxford Handbook of World History (2011)
“Why Study World History?” World History Connected, 2008
“Early Modern Europe and the Early Modern World”, in J. H. Bentley and C. H. Parker, eds. Between the Middle Ages and Modernity: Individual and Community in the Early Modern World (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2007): 13-31
Seascapes: Maritime Histories, Littoral Cultures, and Transoceanic Exchanges, ed. Jerry H. Bentley, Renate Bridenthal, Kären Wigen (University of Hawai`i Press Perspectives on the Global Past series, 2007)
"Beyond Modernocentrism: Toward Fresh Visions of the Global Past" in Victor H. Mair, ed., Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World (Honolulu: University of Hawai`i Press, 2006): 17-29
Interactions: Transregional Perspectives on World History, edited by Jerry H. Bentley, Renate Bridenthal, and Anand A. Yang (University of Hawai`i Press Perspectives on the Global Past series, 2005)
“Myths, Wagers, and Some Moral Implications of World History,” Journal of World History 16:1 (March 2005): 51– 82
(with Herbert F. Ziegler) Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000); second edition (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003)
"World History and Grand Narrative," in Benedikt Stuchtey, ed., Writing World History, 1800–2000 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003): 47-66
"The New World History," in Lloyd Kramer and Sarah Maza, eds., A Companion to Western Historical Thought (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002): 393–416
“From National History Toward World History" in Matthias Middell, ed., Vom Brasilienvertrag zur Globalgeschichte: In Erinnerung an Manfred Kossok anlässlich seines 70. Geburtstages (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2002): 169-82. Translated into German: "Von der Nationalgeschichte zur Weltgeschichte," Comparativ 12 (2002): 57-70
"Shapes of World History in Twentieth-Century Scholarship," in Michael P. Adas, ed., Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001): 3–35
“Asia in World History,” Association for Asian Studies Education About Asia 04:1 (Spring 1999): 5-9
"Sea and Ocean Basins as Frameworks of Historical Analysis," The Geographical Review 89 (1999): 215–24.
"World History," in D.R. Woolf, ed., Making History: A Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing (New York: Garland, 1998): 968–70
"A Tale of Two Analogues: Learning at a Distance from the Ancient Greeks and Mayans and the Problem of Deciphering Extraterrestrial Radio Transmissions," with Ben Finney. Acta Astronautica 42 (1998): 691-96
"Hemispheric Integration, 500–1500 CE," Journal of World History 9 (1998): 237–54
"Revisiting the Expansion of Europe: A Review Article," Sixteenth Century Journal 28 (1997): 503-10
“Cross-Cultural Interaction and Periodization in World History,” American Historical Review 101 (1996): 749-70
Shapes of World History in Twentieth-Century Scholarship (American Historical Association pamphlet, 1996)
Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993)
"Graduate Education and Research in World History" World History Bulletin (5.2, Spring/Summer 1988). Translated into Chinese: “Meiguo de shijieshi yanjiu yu yanjiusheng jiaoyu,” Jinan xuebao 3 (1988): 78-84, 113, translated by Liang Zhihong
Politics and Culture in Renaissance Naples (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987)
Humanists and Holy Writ: New Testament Scholarship in the Renaissance (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983)
"Erasmus, Jean Le Clerc, and the Principle of the Harder Reading," Renaissance Quarterly 31:3 (Autumn, 1978): 309–321
More About Jerry:
Encounters Old and New in World History: Essays Inspired by Jerry H. Bentley, edited by Alan Karras and Laura J. Mitchell (University of Hawai`i Press, Perspectives on the Global Past Series, 2017)
“Encounters, Old and New, in World History: A Celebration of Jerry Bentley,” California + Northwest World History Association Joint Meeting, February 28 – March 2, 2014
Special Issue in Honor of Jerry H. Bentley, Journal of World History 25:4 (December 2014)
Robert B. Townsend, American Historical Association President, “Jerry H. Bentley (1949–2012),” July 19, 2012
Karen L. Jolly, “In Memoriam: Jerry H. Bentley (December 9, 1949 - July 15, 2012),” Journal of World History 23:3 (September 2012): vi-xi
Middell, M., & Naumann, K., “Globalizing History and Historicizing Globalization: In Memoriam of Jerry H. Bentley (1949–2012).” Comparativ 22:6 (2012): 7–10. https://doi.org/10.26014/j.comp.2012.06.01