He was a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Connecticut, where he taught for decades.
According to historian Richard D. Brown, Stave was "recognized around the world for his leadership in the field" of oral history.
He advised oral history projects and practitioners in Argentina, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Greece, Kenya, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, and Turkey.
With Linda Shopes, he was general editor of the Palgrave Studies in Oral History series, which had published thirty volumes by the time of Stave's death in 2017.
He also authored or edited eleven books, including Red Brick in the Land of Steady Habits (2006), a history of UConn that the university commissioned to mark its 125th anniversary.
Following Bruce Stave's retirement, they ran an oral history consulting business and continued to volunteer for local organizations and educational programs.
[1] A graduate of City College of New York (1961) and the University of Connecticut (MA in English, 1968), Sondra Stave worked as a teacher, legislative assistant, and Mansfield director of adult education.