Benjamin Leavitt

Advisor

Dr. Andrea Turpin

Education

M.A. in History, Baylor University, 2018

B.A. in History, Grove City College, 2016

Research Interests

My dissertation research focuses on intersections between religious history and the history of higher education in the United States. It is particularly centered on the institutional identities of small, church-related liberal arts colleges: how they have understood their place in the bigger picture of American religion and higher education, especially since the Civil War and in light of growing universities. I have also written and presented historical studies of college chapel services, college architecture, ecumenical groups working in higher education, and the impact of rurality and region on church-related educational institutions.

Exam Fields: U.S. History since 1877 (major field); American Religious History (dissertation field); Global Colonialism and Cold War (minor teaching field)

Selected Publications

(forthcoming) Review of Mother of Modern Evangelicalism: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Mears, by Arlin C. Migliazzo. Journal of Presbyterian History 100 (2022).

“Fruits of the Ivy Vine,” Christian History, Issue 139, May 2021.

“College Chapel and COVID-19,” Anxious Bench: The Relevance of Religious History for Today, October 14, 2020.

Review of “The Resilience of Religion in American Higher Education,” Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion, May 13, 2019.

Selected Activities

Awards/Fellowships/Grants

• Presidential Fellowship, Baylor University Graduate School, 2018-2023

• Nominee, Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, Baylor University, 2022

• Exploratory Research Grant, Hagley Museum and Library, 2021

• Special Collections Teaching Fellowship, Institute for Oral History, Baylor University, 2021

• Lynn E. May, Jr. Study Grant, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, 2021

• Fundamentals of Data Research Fellowship, University Libraries, Baylor University, 2019

• Finalist, 2019-2022 Cohort, Lilly Graduate Fellows Program, 2018

• Thesis Research Travel Funding to Yale Divinity School Library, Baylor University, 2017

• Guittard Fellowship, Department of History, Baylor University, 2016-2017

• Elinor M. Caruthers Award, Grove City College, 2016

• Phi Alpha Theta History Award, Grove City College, 2016

• David E. McKillop Scholarship, Grove City College, 2015

• ODK Paper of the Year for the Social Sciences, Grove City College, 2014 & 2013

• Permelia Baldwin Shoemaker Award, Grove City College, 2014

• Presidential Scholarship, Grove City College, 2012