News

Military historian and author David A. Smith discusses the role of Admiral George Dewey in the historic battle.

What do history professors do over the summer? They research.

This year, three faculty in the history department received grants through Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences Summer Research Award Program. They will be doing archival research in different destinations.

Baylor History Grad Student, Katherine Goodwin, wins award to help fund 5-week research trip to the UK.

Baylor University faculty members Julie deGraffenried, Ph.D., department chair and associate professor of history in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Karon LeCompte, Ph.D.,  associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the Baylor School of Education, were selected to receive the 2023 Centennial Professor Awards for summer research projects.

Dr. Ronald Johnson, associate professor of history, was chosen to be co-editor of the Journal of the Early Republic. 

The Baylor Model Organization of the American States (MOAS) team returned to Texas this week after a successful performance at the Washington Model OAS (WMOAS) representing the Republic of Argentina.  

Baylor alum and history major, Victoria Lopez, uses her degree to "dive deeper" into her tech industry career.

Dr. David Smith, senior lecturer in history, has been teaching at Baylor for 20 years, but his passion for history and storytelling extends beyond the classroom. Every Monday morning, his NPR show called “David and Art” airs on KWBU.

Baylor University’s Department of History presents the Spring 2023 Women's History Month Speaker Series featuring Associate Professor of Latin American History at University of Texas El Paso, Dr. Erika Edwards, on April 19th. 

In celebration of their strength, courage, and accomplishments, bronze statues of 1967 graduates Rev. Robert Gilbert and Barbara Walker are dedicated and placed in front of the Tidwell Bible Building.

Dr. Lisa Lacy, an accomplished historian and the daughter of one of Word Record's founders, brings a unique perspective to an oral history project that will shed light on the impact the company had on the Christian music industry and its lasting influence on American culture.

On April 4, 2023, the landscape of the Baylor University campus will change. On that day, the University will dedicate two statues commemorating the late Rev. Robert L. Gilbert and Mrs. Barbara A. Walker – the first Black students to earn their undergraduate degrees from the University.

Bonnie Cantwell Fraase, a Baylor University alumna and history major, prove her experiences at Baylor and beyond have prepared her well for her legal career.

Department of History alum, Kirby F. Warnock produces new documentary, "Brothers in Blues: Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan," an authorized biographical documentary about the musical brothers who grew up in Dallas.

Registration for Fall 2023 opens April 5th. Come check out all the amazing undergraduate courses the History faculty will be teaching!

Three History faculty earned 2023 Summer Research Awards from the College of Arts & Sciences.

Jennifer Throne Seiter (BA’20) talks about her work at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

The Heart of Texas Regional History Fair held its annual competition Thursday morning at The Bill Daniel Student Center holding over 100 student competitors from 11 schools in the surrounding counties.

Baylor University’s Department of History presents the Spring 2023 Black History Month Lecture Series featuring Assistant Professor of History at Emmerson College, Dr. Kaysha Corinealdi, on February 21st. 

On February 1st, Baylor’s History Department scholarship portal for the 2023/2024 academic school year will open to all undergraduate History majors who have completed 12 credit hours of history at Baylor.

Dr. Alvarez and Dr. Sweet are among the first awardees of a new teaching innovation grant from the College of Arts & Sciences.

Baylor University was named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for U.S. Students, a recognition is given to the U.S. colleges and universities that received the highest number of applicants selected for the 2022-23 Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

A Black History Month Walking Tour, led by the Baylor Institute for Oral History's Assistant Director, Adrienne Cain, and Director and Associate Professor of History, Dr. Stephen Sloan, drew a crowd February 11th. 

Model Organization of American States (MOAS), is a student organization that pushes students to become great leaders and communicators where teams present resolutions to different issues before members of the Organization of American States.

Dr. Stephen Sloan, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Baylor University Institute for Oral History, and his team at IOH won the Texas Historical Commission’s 2023 Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation, the highest award given by the THC.

Exciting new book publications are being released from our history faculty.

In Fall 2022, a dinner to celebrate the 100th Guittard Fellow and Guittard Book Award winners was held.

 Ronald Angelo Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor and The Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Chair of History at Baylor University, has been awarded the Alpha Chi Distinguished Alumni Award, an annual award given to one alumnus from the organization in recognition of public service that exemplifies the Alpha Chi spirit of making scholarship effective for good. 

Professor Barr was named the Vardaman Endowed Professor in 2022.

Two History doctoral students, Brooke LeFevre and James Howard, successfully pursued a Graduate School BEAR Grant to host workshops dedicated to investigating and improving teaching practices.

News and updates about our retired faculty. 

Baylor’s Department of History releases the Spring 2023 lecture schedule.

The Baylor Department of History is proud to present our new student ambassador, Zoey Babyak.

Our chapter of Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society held a book sale benefitting Veterans One Stop.

In their latest rankings, U.S. News put Baylor at No. 16 nationally for undergraduate teaching and No. 21 for undergraduate research/creative projects. No other Texas or Big 12 school made the top 25 in both categories; in fact, only Rice (No. 4 for teaching) and Texas (No. 19 for research) cracked the top 25 in either listing.

Baylor's Model Organization of Americas States team hosted the 26th annual ESMOAS competition on campus and presented in a Moot Court competition.

Baylor University’s Department of History presents the Fall 2022 Charles Edmondson Historical Lecture Series featuring Distinguished Professor of History and Humanities Chair for City University of New York, Dr. James Oakes, on November 9-10th.

The Oral History Association [OHA] has announced that Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History (IOH) will be the organization’s new home, effective Jan. 1, 2023.

Dear Arts & Sciences alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends –– below is a partial listing of the 2022 Homecoming activities sponsored by the College, its departments and its academic programs. We hope to see you on campus this week for Homecoming!

Dr. Stephen Sloan, Associate Professor of History and Director of Baylor’s Institute for Oral History, brings history out of the “ivory tower” of academia to the people and community of Central Texas . . . and beyond.

Hannah Zimmerman (History & Political Science, 2023) is spending her fall semester in Washington, D.C. with the Baylor in Washington program, a unique engaged learning and professional development opportunity for Baylor undergraduates.

Stephen Sloan, Associate Professor of History and the Director of Baylor’s Institute for Oral History, set to release new book in October 2022.

Katherine Goodwin, a doctoral student in the Department of History, has been named Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor in the Humanities for Spring 2022 by the Baylor Graduate School.

The Department of History is excited to announce the winner of the 2022 Guittard Book Award for Historical Scholarship is Daniel J. Watkins, Assistant Professor of History at Baylor.

Baylor University department of history presents the annual Charles Edmondson Historical Lecture Series, featuring James Oakes, Distinguished Professor of History and Humanities Chair at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. 

Baylor University is one of only 22 U.S. colleges and universities – and only two in Texas – to receive an “A” for its rigorous core curriculum in the annual “What Will They Learn?” report released by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA).

Baylor University's Department of History is proud to recognize seven faculty members for Service Awards in 2022-2023.

We are nearing our goal for the Robert Gilbert Memorial Endowed Scholarship in History established in 2021. This scholarship recognizes the importance of diversity at Baylor University by honoring Robert L. Gilbert.

Dr. Ronald Angelo Johnson, Associate Professor of History and The Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Chair of History, will be a panelist on President Linda Livingstone’s next Baylor Conversation Series event in October.

When taking one of Dr. Julie Anne Sweet’s classes, students are guaranteed one thing: They will learn about history, and it will be interactive.

I Will Teach History: The Life & Times of Francis Gevrier Guittard, Professor, Baylor University is the life story of the founding chair of the Department of History at Baylor, who served as chair from 1910-1948. The book is the final volume of a trilogy written by Dr. Frank Guittard’s grandson, Charles Francis Guittard, a 1964 Baylor Arts & Sciences graduate.

Daniel J. Watkins, Assistant Professor of History and Undergraduate Program Director, is one of five scholars to receive the Gale and ASECS Award Fellowship.

For the 11th time, Baylor University has attained elite Honor Roll status as a 2022 Great College to Work For, according to a new survey by The Great Colleges to Work For program.

A tradition at Baylor since 1960, Family Weekend strives to help families of Baylor students become better acquainted with the University and its beloved traditions.

Ten extraordinary women and their histories will be introduced by 10 Baylor faculty members during the seventh annual Boundary Breaking Women’s Panel, sponsored by Baylor’s Women’s and Gender Studies program. The panel will be held from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, on the fifth floor of the Cashion Academic Center and is free and open to Baylor students, faculty and staff.

Dr. Ronald Angelo Johnson, Associate Professor of History and The Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Chair, was selected as a 2022-2023 academic year Baylor Fellow.

Baylor’s growing emphasis on faculty and student research is driven by three factors:

Compassion — the desire to help people in countless ways;

Curiosity — the desire to learn more about the world God created; and

Courage — the desire to go places and tackle issues that others might shy away from.

The department gathered recently to honor five longtime faculty members who retired between May 2020 and May 2022. Together, they taught in Baylor’s Department of History for a whopping 167 years! 

Research led by Baylor History and honors college faculty and students makes it to the television screen as Discovery adventure series “Expedition Unknown” follows their discoveries.

Baylor’s Department of History is pleased to welcome two new Assistant Professors of History this fall: Dr. Ricardo Álvarez-Pimentel and Dr. Marilia Corrêa.

Dr. Jules Sweet, Professor of History and Director of Military Studies, won the “Betsy” Award for Mentoring in Spring 2022.

Baylor University’s Model Organization of the American States (MOAS) team has returned to Texas this spring after continuing its tradition of excellence in competition at another academic model.

Dr. Andrea Turpin, Associate Professor of History and Graduate Program Director, awarded Sabbatical Grant from the Louisville Institute for calendar year 2023.