As a graduate of a small liberal arts college, I understand the importance of student-faculty engagement. Having the opportunity to conduct my own research while working closely with a faculty advisor was one of the most important activities I engaged in as an undergraduate and I carry that individualized focus into my classroom.  

As a professor, my goal is to facilitate a learning environment that encourages cadets to ask questions and challenge assumptions. My focus is on creating courses that emphasize critical thinking and writing skills and in-class discussion.  While most of my students will not become professional historians, I still train them to develop skills that they can apply to any number of careers: to examine sources, consider context, weigh evidence, build arguments and engage in informed discussions. In helping cadets hone their analytical abilities, I hope to push them to become better leaders, officers, and citizens. I use primary and secondary sources to expose cadets directly to the past and to show them the ways that historians interpret past events. In so doing, I expect cadets to incorporate insights from class discussions into their written assignments. I am committed to improving cadet writing; all of my classes incorporate a variety of written assignments and I provide on-going guidance as cadets draft and revise papers. For the U.S. surveys, I require several smaller papers that rely on the cadet’s interpretation of primary documents, such as diary entries, maps, and letters, as well as essays that review secondary sources, including journal articles and monographs. In upper-level courses, I challenge cadets to conduct original research and form their own conclusions while writing research papers. I expect my classes to be demanding but I am present every step of the way to assist cadets in fostering their intellectual development. My research on the ordinary person’s experiences during and after the Civil War directly influences my teaching, and allows me to incorporate a diverse array of voices into my classes, which is important because I teach a diverse range of students. Explaining the ways in which runaway slaves assisted the Union war effort is much more interesting and impactful to students when told through the eyes of Alan Pinkerton’s operatives who gained valuable information from them rather than simply giving statistics on the number of contrabands from each Virginia county.

Achieving these goals requires a commitment to meet each cadet at his or her level and to be present. This means I make myself available outside the classroom as much as possible. This is a foundational aspect to the way in which I view my role as a teacher. In addition to holding scheduled office hours, I accommodate cadets unable to meet at those times by making alternate appointments. I encourage cadets to meet with me to ask questions about the readings, submit drafts of writing assignments, to review comments on graded work and to discuss upcoming exams. I give significant feedback on all writing assignments, making notes and comments on drafts and final papers as well as all exams, to encourage intellectual growth and to further strengthen their reading and writing skills. 

Courses Taught:

• Capstone Experience
• Civil War & Reconstruction
• History of Everyday Life in the 19th Century
• History of the South Since 1865
• History of the United States I
• History of the United States II
• Independent Studies on American Slavery and the history of VMI
• Jacksonian America
• Thesis Course for Honors
• U.S. Constitutional History
• Virginia History