WCU History Department Faculty

Wayne Hanley, Department Chair: (PhD, Missouri, 1998; associate professor) Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, 18th Century Europe, Social Studies Education. whanley@wcupa.edu

LaToyna Thames-Taylor, Assistant Department Chair: (PhD, Mississippi, 2002; assistant professor) African-American, US Social, US Economic. ltaylor@wcupa.edu

William Hewitt, Graduate Coordinator: (PhD, Wyoming, 1984; professor) American West, including Native Americans, US Social, Social Studies Education. whewitt@wcupa.edu

Karin Gedge, Social Studies Coordinator: (PhD, Yale, 1994; associate professor) Antebellum America, Women’s History, US Intellectual, Social Studies Education. kgedge@wcupa.edu

Dr. Marita R. BOES, Professor, PhD, City University of New York, 1989.
Office: Reynolds 205. Telephone: 610-738-0332.

Dr. Boes’ specialty is early modern European social history. Accordingly, she teaches Women and Family in Early Modern Europe, Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Europe, and Everyday Life in Europe to the Industrial Revolution in addition to the History of Civilization surveys. She has published widely, most recently in the Journal of Interdisciplinary History.

Dr. Cecilia L. CHIEN, Associate Professor, PhD, Harvard University, 1994.
Office: Main 412. Telephone: 610-436-2995.

Dr. Chien is the department’s Asian specialist with an emphasis in pre-modern China. Her study of Chinese political economy in the middle imperial period, Salt and State (University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies), was published in 2004; a new project involves regional and family history in South China. She teaches courses such as Chinese Civilization, Modern China, East Asia, Nomads, Peasants, Merchants, and Confucian Literati, as well as History of Civilization surveys.

Dr. Lawrence R. DAVIDSON, Professor, PhD, University of Alberta, 1976.
Office: Main 502. Telephone: 610-436-2997.

Dr. Davidson is the department’s expert on the Middle East. In addition to courses pertaining to that area, he teaches Science in History and the History of Civilization surveys. Greenwood Press published a second edition of his Islamic Fundamentalism in 2002 and his latest work, America’s Palestine: Patterns of Popular and Official Perception, 1917-1948, came out in 2001.

Dr. Éric FOURNIER, Assistant Professor, PhD, University of California-Santa Barbara, 2008.
Office: Main 501. Telephone: 610-436-2789.

Dr. Fournier is the most recent addition to our faculty and his research interests lie in late antiquity, especially the treatment of ecclesiastical leaders in Vandal-occupied North Africa. He teaches courses dealing with ancient Mediterranean history in addition to the History of Civilization surveys.

Dr. Jonathan FRIEDMAN, Associate Professor, PhD, University of Maryland, 1996. Director of Holocaust-Genocide Graduate Program.
Office: Main 409. Telephone: 610-436-2972.

After spending a number of years with Steven Spielberg’s Shoa Foundation and the National Holocaust Memorial Museum, Dr. Friedman joined West Chester’s faculty in 2002 as Director of the Holocaust/Genocide Education Center. Not surprisingly, he specializes in modern German and modern Jewish history. His published work includes The Lion and the Star: Gentile-Jewish Relations in Three Hessian Communities, 1919-1945 and Speaking the Unspeakable: Essays on Sexuality, Gender, and Holocaust Survivor Memory.

Dr. Karin E. GEDGE, Associate Professor, PhD, Yale University, 1994. Social Studies Coordinator.
Office: Main 522. Telephone: 610-436-2971.

Dr. Gedge’s specialty is American antebellum history, specifically women’s history. She teaches Women in America, US Intellectual History, and the United States surveys. As such, she conducts the Methods of Teaching Social Studies course and supervises student-teachers. Her Without Benefit of Clergy: Women and the Pastoral Relationship in 19th Century American Culture was published by Oxford University Press in 2003. Dr. Gedge is also among our cadre of social studies specialists and is our current social studies education coordinator; her office houses the secondary education resource center.

Dr. Steve GIMBER, Assistant Professor, PhD, American University, 2000. American Studies Coordinator.
Office: Main 304. Telephone: 610-436-3329.

Dr. Gimber’s specialty is early American history, and he teaches courses on Colonial America, Revolutionary America, and the United States surveys. Some of his scholarship can be seen on ExplorePAhistory.com. He is also part of our cadre of social studies student-teacher supervisors and is serving as the American Studies Coordinator.

Dr. Wayne HANLEY, Associate Professor, PhD, University of Missouri, 1998. Department Chairperson.
Office: Main 500. Telephone: Telephone: 610-436-2681 or 2201.

Dr. Hanley’s area of historical specialization is in eighteenth-century Europe in general and Revolutionary and Napoleonic France in particular. In 2001, he won the American Historical Association’s prestigious Gutenberg-e prize for his dissertation, The Genesis of Napoleonic Propaganda, 1796-1799. The award brought with it publication by Columbia University Press in 2004. He is currently working on a biography of Marshal Michel Ney, one of Napoleon's great generals. He is also part of our cadre of social studies student-teacher supervisors.

Dr. Charles A. HARDY III, Professor, PhD, Temple University, 1989.
Office: Main 304. Telephone: 610-436-3329.

Before coming to West Chester, Dr. Hardy spent a decade as an independent documentary producer and historical consultant, producing sound documentaries for public radio and video documentaries for various museums and other non-profit organizations. He is extremely active in the field of oral history. In 1999, the Oral History Association presented Dr. Hardy with its Nonprint Media Award for outstanding use of oral history in his multimedia publication, I Can Almost See the Lights of Home. He currently serves on the National Council of the Oral History Association. His most recent project is ExplorePAhistory.com, an educational website. In addition to the United States surveys, he teaches Oral History, American Popular Culture, Environmental History, and Varieties of History.

Dr. William L. HEWITT, Professor, PhD, University of Wyoming, 1984. Graduate Coordinator.
Office: Main 216. Telephone: 610-436-2345.

As befits a person who earned his doctorate at Wyoming, Dr. Hewitt specializes in the American West, including Native Americans. He is also among our cadre of Social Studies Education specialists. In addition to the American West and American Indians courses, he teaches Manhood in America, Gay America, and Genocide, and supervises student-teachers. His Across the Wide River, a novel of American Indian life, was recently published by the University of New Mexico Press, and Prentice-Hall produced his A Century of Genocide.

Dr. James A. JONES , Professor, PhD, University of Delaware, 1995.
Office: Main 519. Telephone: 610-436-2168.

Dr. Jones’s areas of specialization are African history, globalization, and the use of computer technology in historical research. Accordingly, he teaches courses in African History as well as Computer Applications in Historical Research and the History of Civilization surveys. Heinemann published his Industrial Labor in the Colonial World: The African Workers of the Chemin de Fer Dakar-Niger. His work on Riggtown, a West Chester neighborhood, has earned him a reputation in the community. Professor Jones also has two works on local history: Made in West Chester: A History of Industry in West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1867-1945 and Railroads of West Chester.

Dr. Lisa A. KIRSCHENBAUM, Professor, PhD, University of California, Berkeley, 1993.
Office: Main 502. Telephone: 610-436-2997.

Dr. Kirschenbaum is our specialist in Russian history. Before arriving at West Chester, she taught at an independent secondary school in California. Her expertise includes both Russian history and women’s studies. In addition to History of Civilization II, she has taught courses in Russian and Soviet history, gender and war in modern Europe and has supervised student teachers. Her publications include Small Comrades: Revolutionizing Childhood in Soviet Russia, 1917-1932 (Routledge, 2001) and The Legacy of the Siege of Leningrad: Myth, Memories, and Monuments, 1941-1995 (Cambridge University Press, 2006). She is currently working on a cultural history of international communism.

Dr. Thomas J. LEGG, Associate Professor, PhD, The College of William and Mary, 1994. History Internship Coordinator.
Office: Main 501. Telephone: 610-436-2789.

In addition to Social Studies Education, Dr. Legg’s interests include the American Civil War, technology and American society, and nineteenth century maritime and naval History. Prior to coming to West Chester, Dr. Legg held positions at Mystic Seaport and Western Michigan University. His work has appeared in American Civil War Leadership and Naval War College Review. In addition to the Methods of Teaching Social Studies course, he teaches Civil War, Varieties of History, a course in American technology and life, supervises student-teachers, and serves the department’s internship coordinator.

Dr. Tia MALKIN-FONTECCHIO, Assistant Professor, PhD, Brown University, 2003.
Office: Main 419. Telephone: 610-436-2654.

Dr. Malkin-Fontecchio’s specialty is Latin American history. Accordingly, she teaches Colonial Latin America, Modern Latin America, and electives in Latin American history, in addition to the History of Civilization surveys. Her dissertation, “Citizens or Workers? The Politics of Education in Northeast Brazil, 1959-1964,” focused on popular culture and educational reform in 1960s Brazil. She also supervises student-teachers.

Dr. LaToyna THAMES-TAYLOR, Assistant Professor, PhD, University of Mississippi, 2002. Assistant Chairperson.
Office: Main 304. Telephone: 610-436-3329.

Dr. Thames-Taylor spent the summer of 2000 with us as a Frederick Douglass Teaching Scholar, and then joined our regular faculty in 2001. Her teaching areas include the history of the American South and African-American history. She has presented the results of her research on rape, lynching, and gender at a number of academic conferences.

Gail Anne Capehart (MA, University of Delaware, 1992; instructor) American History gcapehart@wcupa.edu

Andrew E. Dinniman (Ed.D, Pennsylvania State University 1978; profesor) Global Perspectives adinniman@wcupa.edu

Richard E. Erickson (PhD, Temple University, 1979; instructor) American History and Social Studies Education rerickson@wcupa.edu

Brenda Gaydosh (ABD, American University, 2004; instructor) European History bgaydosh@wcupa.edu

Charles Gedge (MA, Roosevelt University, 1973; instructor) American History cgedge@wcupa.edu

Vance Kincade (PhD, Ohio University, 1996; instructor) American History vkincade@wcupa.edu

Robert J. Kodosky (PhD, Temple University, 2006; instructor) American History rkodosky@wcupa.edu

Steven D. Molden (MA Bloomsburg University 1978; instructor) American History smolden@wcupa.edu

Angelo Repousis (PhD Temple University 2002; instructor) American History arepousis@wcupa.edu

James Scythes (MA. Villanova 1997; instructor) European History jscythes@wcupa.edu

	Department of History 500 Main Hall West Chester, Pennsylvania 19383	(610)436-2201 http://www.wcupa.edu/