Stephen Sloan

Areas of Specialization

Post-1941 United States History, Oral History, Public History, Environmental History

Education

Ph.D., Arizona State University
MA, Baylor University
BBA, Baylor University

Why I Chose Baylor

A native Texan, I studied as a first-gen undergraduate and graduate student at Baylor University. This is a place that has long been my academic community.

Biography

I did my PhD work at Arizona State University in the United States Post-1945, Public History, and the American West. My first academic position was as the co-director of the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi. I returned to Baylor in 2007 as a professor in the Department of History and the Director of the Institute for Oral History. I am active in local history organizations, a past president of Historic Waco and the Heart of Texas Regional History Fair. One key local initiative that I created and develop is Waco History, a website and free mobile app on local history. A spinoff project of this is my podcast, the Waco History Podcast. In the community of oral historians, I am the Executive Director of the national Oral History Association, a member of the American Council for Learned Societies. My work has been funded by grants at the local, state, and national level and I have had the opportunity to present my research at many state and national meetings and abroad at conferences in Liverpool, Prague, Guadalajara, Naples, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Jyväskylä, and Krakow. In 2024, I was recognized as the Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year by Baylor University and was named a Big XII Faculty of the Year.

Selected Publications

Books

Stephen M. Sloan. Oral History for Public Historians. New York: Routledge Press, 2026 (in progress).

Stephen M. Sloan, Steven K. Sielaff, Michelle L. Holland, and Adrienne A. Cain. Oral History at a Distance. Routledge Press, 2024.

Stephen M. Sloan and Mark Cave, eds. Oral History and the Environment: Global Perspectives on Climate, Connection, and Catastrophe. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.

Julie K. deGraffenried and Stephen M. Sloan, eds. The United States in Global Perspective: A Primary Source Reader. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2020.

Stephen M. Sloan, Lois E. Myers, and Michelle Holland, eds. Tattooed on My Soul: Texas Veterans Remember World War II. College Station: Texas A&M Press, 2015.

Mark Cave and Stephen M. Sloan, eds. Listening on the Edge: Oral History and Crisis. New York: Oxford Press, 2014.

Articles

Stephen M. Sloan and Melissa M. Sloan, “‘To Make This Voice Known’: Oral History, Psychology, and Trauma-Informed Interviews with Survivors of Genocide,” in Handbook of World Oral History, edited by Selma Leydesdorff and Mark Cave (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers, 2025).

Stephen M. Sloan, “Oral History and World War II: From the Front Line to the Lone Star State,” in Texas and Texans in World War II: 1941-1945, edited by Christopher B. Bean (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2022): 229-53.

Patterson, Clinton A., Beach, Don M., Reyes, Juanita M., and Sloan, Stephen M., “Stakeholder Perceptions and Experiences of a College Live Mascot Program: A Study of Higher Education Ad Hoc Change,” Innovative Higher Education 46 (2021): 377–92.

Stephen M. Sloan, “Behind the ‘Curve’: COVID-19, Infodemic, and Oral History,” Oral History Review, 47 (Summer-Fall 2020): 193-202.

Stephen Sloan, “Confronting Horror: Concentration Camp Liberators from Texas Speak,” Texas Heritage Magazine 1 (2020): 16-21.

Stephen M. Sloan, "Swimming in the Exaflood: Oral History as Information in the Digital Age," in Oral History and Digital Humanities: Voice, Access, and Engagement, eds. Douglas A. Boyd and Mary A Larson (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014): 175-186.

Stephen M. Sloan, "Colliding with History: Texas Liberators of World War II Concentration Camps," Sound Historian: The Journal of the Texas Oral History Association, 15 (2013): 81 –107.

Stephen M. Sloan, "On the Other Foot: Oral History Students as Narrators," Oral History Review, 40 (Summer-Fall 2012): 298 –311.

Selected Activities

Awards

• Big XII Faculty of the Year, 2024-2025
  • Inaugural designee from Baylor University for this program that recognizes outstanding faculty at Big 12 institutions who have excelled in areas of innovation and research on their respective campus.
• Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year Award, Baylor University, 2024
  • Annually recognizes a faculty member who makes a significant contribution to the learning environment at Baylor through teaching, research and creative activity and service.
• Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation (for Institute for Oral History), Texas Historical Commission, 2022
  • Highest achievement in the preservation of Texas' prehistoric and historic heritage.
• Outreach Award, Texas Digital Library, May 2022
  • Award for Waco History App and Waco History Podcast
• Solid Gold Neighbor Award, Department of External Affairs, Baylor University, May 2022
  • Award for Waco History App and Waco History Walks
• Award of Merit, Texas Historical Commission 2020 (with Steven K. Sielaff and Michelle L. Holland)
  • An award of distinction for work with Texas World War II concentration camp liberators and survivors of genocide.
• Elizabeth B. Mason Oral History Project Award, Oral History Association, October 2018
  • Award for “Survivors of Genocide Oral History Project”
• Book Award, Oral History Association, October 2015 (with Mark Cave)
  • Award for Listening on the Edge: Oral History in the Aftermath of Crisis
• Award of Merit, American Association for State and Local History, August 2011 (with Lois E. Myers and Elinor A. Mazé)
  • An award of distinction for the project Here and There: Recollections of Texas in World War II, a joint initiative with the Texas Historical Commission.

Fellowships

• Big 12 Fellowship, West Virginia University, November 2015

Regular Course Offerings

• Undergraduate:
  • HIS 1300 | U.S. in Global Perspective: Revolutions
  • HIS4391 | The Vietnam War
  • HIS4379 | The Cold War
  • HIS4388 | American Environmental History
• Graduate:
  • HIS 5367 | Seminar in Oral History

Other Courses Taught

• Undergraduate:
  • HIS3300 | Methods in Oral and Public History
  • HIS4380 | The American West
  • HIS4392 | US Foreign Relations Since 1919
• Graduate:
  • HIS5393 | Graduate Seminar on the Cold War

Work with Students

Accepting grad students, direct undergraduate research

Check out the Baylor Institute for Oral History here!