History Department

Contact Us 
Chairperson: Ryan Alexander
Phone: 518-564-5291
Email: ralex006@plattsburgh.edu

The History Department is dedicated to thinking deeply and critically about the ways history shapes our world and is committed to student success. We are a community of energetic and talented professors renowned for their research and committed to student success. Our dynamic curriculum features thematic explorations of topics in environmental history, migration, popular culture and religion, as well as regional surveys from the Renaissance to the present. Small class sizes ensure that students get lots of individual attention both inside and outside the classroom to learn skills that will help them be successful in a complex and changing world. Our graduates go on to work in education, law and politics. They make careers for themselves in public history, library science, radio and television, journalism, editing and grant writing.

The History Department offers two majors: a traditional liberal arts curriculum and, in conjunction with the Teacher Education Unit, a combined B.A./M.S.T. History/Adolescence Education program that leads to New York state teacher certification in Social Studies (7-12). In the traditional curriculum, students study the theory and practice of history, survey different regions and historical eras, and explore broadly historical themes such as colonialism, gender, genocide, migration, popular culture, and religion. They complete junior- and senior-year seminars that offer the opportunity to conduct original historical research, and design and complete a journal-length article or an applied project such as a museum exhibit or a work of historical fiction. In the combined B.A./M.S.T., students are introduced to a variety of social sciences necessary to becoming effective social studies teachers, such as geography, government, and economics. In addition to studying the theory and practice of history alongside traditional history majors, prospective teachers complete junior and senior seminars devoted to social studies teaching methods.

Professors:
Vincent Carey (Ph.D., SUNY Stony Brook; SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching)
Wendy Gordon (Ph.D., Central Michigan University; SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching; SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service) 
Jeff Hornibrook (Ph.D., University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; ​SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching) 
Gary Kroll (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma Norman Campus; SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service) 
Mark Richard (Ph.D., Duke University) 
Richard Schaefer (Ph.D., Cornell University; SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching) 
Connie Shemo (Ph.D., SUNY Binghamton) 

Associate Professors: 
Ryan Alexander (M.A., Ph.D., University of Arizona)
Sylvie Beaudreau (Ph.D., York University)

Programs

• History, B.A./B.S.

• History Minor