Rachel Chrastil

Rachel Chrastil, Ph.D., serves as Xavier’s Provost and Chief Academic Officer. Chrastil is an award-winning teacher and internationally recognized scholar of modern European history, with expertise in civilian experiences at the dawn of total war. She joined the faculty at Xavier in 2005 and achieved the rank of Professor in 2017.

Chrastil is a dedicated teacher-scholar with a particular passion for teaching in the Core Curriculum. Her courses include First-Year Seminar: Paris, Historical Perspectives: Europe at War 1914-1945, the French Revolution, and A History of Saving the World. In her courses, students learn to describe change over time, to see multiple causes of complex transformations, and to enter into the perspectives of people whose experiences are very different from their own. In her books Organizing for War: France, 1870-1914 and The Siege of Strasbourg, Chrastil examines civilian experiences in major international conflicts. Chrastil’s latest book, How to Be Childless: A History and Philosophy of Life Without Children, examines the causes, interpretations, and experiences of childlessness in Western countries during the modern era. Chrastil’s work on childlessness has appeared in The Washington Post, Psychology Today, Cincinnati Edition, New Books Network, and the podcast Think Act Be.