Axe ’Em, Jacks!
Studying the past and shaping the future
Why study history? There are more reasons than you might think. At SFA, our history professors preserve historical sites, keep oral traditions alive, solve social problems and protect civil rights. They study war, politics and peace. They study popular culture, foreign relations, religion and feminism. And, most importantly, they share their knowledge with SFA’s history students and help shape the next generation of historians.
At SFA, you’ll attend lectures and participate in research with dedicated, highly qualified professors (almost all of our history professors hold doctoral degrees).
Mark Barringer
Dr. Mark Barringer holds a PhD in history from Texas Christian University. His research interests include the American west, Texas history, environmental history and 20th century America.
Robert Allen
Dr. Robert Allen holds a PhD from Columbia University. His research interests include early modern Europe, France, old regime and revolution.
Jennifer Beisel
Dr. Jennifer “Perky” Beisel’s teaching interests include U.S. history, American recreation, material culture, historic preservation and the Gilded Age. She holds a Doctor of Arts in history and historic preservation from Middle Tennessee State University.
Lisa Bentley
Lisa Bentley holds a Bachelor of Arts in education and a Master of Arts in history from SFA, as well as Texas Educator Certificates in social studies and art. Her research interests include oral history and race and East Texas history and folklore.
Court Carney
Court Carney, Ph.D., is a cultural historian whose work explores the intersection of race, memory, and the construction of a usable past. He is the author of "Cuttin’ Up: How Early Jazz Got America’s Ear" and the forthcoming "Reckoning with the Devil: Nathan Bedford Forrest in Myth and Memory." He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Black history and modern American culture.
Philip Catton
Dr. Phillip Catton holds a PhD in history from Ohio University. His research and teaching interests include modern Asia and the Vietnam War.
Dr. Suparna Chakraborty
Dr. Suparna Chakraborty received her Ph.D. from Purdue University. Her research interests include the history of science, gender history and transnational studies.
Aryendra Chakravartty
Dr. Aryendra Chakravarttty earned his PhD from Pennsylvania State University. His teaching specialties and research interests include modern South Asia, imperialism and colonialism and world history.
Dana Cooper
Dr. Dana Cooper is the author of Informal Ambassadors and co-editor of Motherhood and War as well as Motherhood and Antiquity. Her teaching interests include women's, diplomatic, gender and transatlantic history.
Randi Barnes-Cox
Dr. Randi Barnes-Cox’s teaching interests include Russia and American and European consumer culture. She holds a PhD in Russian history from Indiana University.
Dr. Troy Davis
Dr. Troy Davis earned his PhD in history from Marquette University. His areas of specialization include Irish history, European history since 1945 and diplomatic history.
Charles (Chuck) Dendy
Charles Dendy holds a Master of Arts in history from Stephen F. Austin State University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas Law School. He teaches U.S. History and historical research methods.
Cynthia Devlin
Cynthia Devlin holds a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from the University of Houston and a Master of Arts in history from SFA. Her focus is U.S. History and her interests include the histories of law, aviation, ancient American civilizations, Texas women and Southern culture.
Dr. Jere Jackson
Dr. Jere Jackson’s teaching interests include World War I, the Holocaust and Nazi Germany and western civilization. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina. Jackson is the director of The Center for East Texas Studies.
Andrew Lannen
Dr. Andrew Lannen’s teaching interests include American sports and U.S. history. He holds a PhD in history from Louisiana State University.
Aaron Coy Moulton
Aaron Coy Moulton specializes in the history of authoritarian regimes and intelligence networks in the Western Hemisphere. His work has been supported by the Hoover Presidential Foundation, the Roosevelt Institute, the Truman Library Institute, the Eisenhower Foundation, Phi Alpha Theta, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium, the Dirksen Congressional Center, the University of Southern California Libraries, the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, the Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South at the University of Alabama, the Hoover Institution Library & Archives at Stanford University, and the Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Oregon. Among his publications, his award-winning research can be found in Cold War History, The Americas, and The Journal of Latin American Studies with op-eds in The Washington Post and Time. Recently, he served as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Right-Wing Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Mayers Fellow at The Huntington Library, and he is currently on a research fellowship with the Center for History and Culture of Southeast Texas and the Upper Gulf Coast at Lamar University. His current manuscript, Caribbean Blood Pacts: The Guatemalan Revolution and the Caribbean Basin's Cold War, 1944-1954, is under contract with "The United States in the World" Series with Cornell University Press. In 2023, he received the Teaching Excellence Award from the College of Liberal and Applied Arts.
Brook Poston
Dr. Brook Poston holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Kansas School of Law and a PhD from Texas Christian University. His research interests include American legal history, the American presidency and Supreme Court history.
Paul Sandul
Dr. Paul Sandul’s research interests include public history, cultural memory, oral history, suburban and urban history and rural studies. He holds a PhD in history from California State University, Sacramento and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Scott Sosebee
Dr. Scott Sosebee teaches U.S. history and the history of Texas, and he serves as the executive director and editor for the East Texas Historical Association. He holds a PhD from Texas Tech University.
Samuel Sutherland
Dr. Samuel Sutherland teaches western civilization as well as courses in ancient and medieval history. He holds a PhD from The Ohio State University. His research interests include slavery, servitude, monasticism and the Church in central-medieval western Europe.
Megan Weatherly
Megan Weatherly holds a Bachelor of Arts from SFA and a Master of Arts from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her research interests include environmental history, history of the American West and public history.
Carolyn White
Carolyn White holds a Master of Arts in history from SFA and teaches U.S. history.
Sue Dockery
Sue Dockery has served as the administrative assistant and office manager for the Department of History since 2016.
Dr. L. Bao Bui
Lecturer
Dr. L. Bao Bui holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; a Master of Arts in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts in English and political science from Pomona College. His primary research interest is letter writing during the Civil War, and he is currently writing a book titled Mail Intimacy: Gender Roles and Epistolary Privacy During the Civil War.
Hunter M. Hampton
Dr. Hunter M. Hampton holds a PhD in history from the University of Missouri. He earned his Master of Arts from Fuller Theological Seminary and his Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Arkansas. His research interests include sports and religion in American history.
Matt Loftice
Lecturer
Matt Loftice earned a Master of Arts in history from SFA and a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Texas at Arlington. His academic experience includes four decades as a high school U.S. history and government teacher for the Center Independent School District in Center, Texas.
Stephen Taaffe
Dr. Stephen Taaffe earned his PhD in history from Ohio University. His teaching and research interests include American military history and American foreign relations history.
Lydia Towns
Dr. Lydia Towns holds a PhD in Transatlantic History from the University of Texas at Arlington. Her research interests include the Early Modern Atlantic World, Explorations and Discoveries, Cartographic History, Tudor England, and the history of Piracy and Privateers. Her teaching interests also include World History. She currently serves as the Executive Secretary for the Society for the History of Discoveries.
Contact
Department of History
936.468.3802
history@sfasu.edu
Dugas Liberal Arts North
Room 303
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 13013, SFA Station
Nacogdoches, Texas 75962