Dr. Bryan, studies the cultural history of the early nineteenth-century United States with an emphasis on manliness, expansionism, and frontiers. He wrote The American Elsewhere: Adventure and Manliness in the Age of Expansion (University Press of Kansas, 2017), which the Western Literature Association named second runner-up for the 2018 Thomas J. Lyon Award for the best book in Western American Literary and Cultural Studies. He also authored More Zeal Than Discretion: The Westward Adventures of Walter P. Lane (Texas A&M University Press, 2008) and edited Inventing Destiny: Cultural Explorations of U.S. Expansion (University Press of Kansas, 2019) and The Martial Imagination: Cultural Aspects of American Warfare (Texas A&M University Press, 2013). Dr. Bryan teaches the U.S. surveys as well as courses on U.S. cultural history, Texas, the West, Native America, and the Civil War. He also serves as editor of the Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record
Professor, Department of History
Dr. Jeff Forret was named University Professor (2023) and the Dr. Ralph and Edna Wooster Professor of History (2022-2024). He has also been an LU Distinguished Faculty Research Fellow (2016-2021); the Distinguished Faculty Lecturer (2020); and the University Scholar Award (2016). His book publications include The Price They Paid: Slavery, Shipwrecks, and Reparations Before the Civil War (2024); Williams' Gang: A Notorious Slave Trader and His Cargo of Black Convicts (2020), winner of the 2021 Leadership in History Award from the American Association for State and Local History; Slave against Slave: Plantation Violence in the Old South (2015), winner of 18th annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize awarded by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University; Race Relations at the Margins: Slaves and Poor Whites in the Antebellum Southern Countryside (2006); Slavery in the United States (2012); and co-edited, with Bruce E. Baker, Southern Scoundrels: Grifters and Graft in the Nineteenth Century (2021); with Christine E. Sears, New Directions in Slavery Studies: Commodification, Community, and Comparison (2015).
Chair and Professor, Department of History
Dr. Rebecca Boone serves as professor in the Department of History at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University. She teaches courses on the Renaissance and Reformation, Early Modern Europe, the French Revolution and Napoleon, the Atlantic World, Witchcraft and the Occult, Ancient Greece and Rome, and the History of Food, among others. Her Issues in World Cultures II course was cited as exemplary by the Center for Educational Policy Research. An intellectual and cultural historian, Dr. Boone researches the relationship between information and state power in the early modern world. Her books include War, Domination and the Monarchy of France (Brill, 2007), Mercurino di Gattinara and the Creation of the Spanish Empire (Routledge, 2015), and Real Lives in the Sixteenth Century: A Global Perspective (Routledge, 2018). She is also the general editor of a five-book series on global history, Real Lives in Global Perspective. In 2018, Dr. Boone was awarded a grant from MIT and the Andrew Mellon Foundation to complete a module for the Global Architectural History Teaching Collaborative.
Archivist for ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University and Special Collections.
Penny Clark served on the Spindletop 2001 Commission and co-edited, with Evelyn M. Lord, its commemorative book, On the Road to the Big Day and Beyond. She has given numerous scholarly presentations, including “Pursuing Petroleum Riches: ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University Special Collection” at the West Texas Historical Association meeting in April 2015, and “Glory Days: The Second Spindletop and its Architecture” at the Gulf South History and Humanities Conference, October 2014.
Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Dr. Davis received her Ph.D. in Government from the University of Texas in 1997. Her research is published in the Journal of Urban Studies Research, Comparative Sociology, SAGE Open, Law and Politics Book Review, Open Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of the History of European Ideas. Dr. Davis is MPA Director and Pre-Law Advisor at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ, where she has also served as President of the Faculty Senate. Her numerous awards include University Merit Award, Teaching Excellence Award, Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, American Political Science Association’s Outstanding Teacher, and the Jefferson County Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award.
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice
Dr. Margot Gage is a social epidemiologist and assistant professor at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University. She earned her Ph.D. in social epidemiology and public health from the University of Amsterdam/Amsterdam Medical Center from the Department of Public Health. During her Ph.D., she visited UCLA to carry out research. Before coming to ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University, Dr. Gage completed two post-doctoral fellowships at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in the Department of Sociology, where she also served as principal investigator. During her Norwegian postdoctoral period, she completed a research visit to Harvard University. Dr. Gage has written over 17 peer-reviewed journal publications and has over 100 citations. Reuters News quoted her for her co-authored research on lone motherhood. Her co-authored publication on corruption and health is cited by the United Nations. She has won a number of awards and has been invited to present her research at international conferences. Dr. Gage speaks Dutch fluently. She is a veteran advocate and is building Texas's first Women Veteran and Women First Responder Park. She teaches courses in research methods, epidemiology and global health, global health disparity, marijuana and medicine and introduction to sociology.
American Historical Association, Washington, DC
Dr. Gillis is the Director of Teaching and Learning at the American Historical Association. He received an AB from Harvard University, M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, and Ph.D. from Indiana University. The American Antiquarian Society awarded Dr. Gillis the Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship to support his research and writing. He has also received funding from such institutions at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at UCLA, the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon, and the McNeil Center for Early American Studies. Dr. Gillis joined the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University History Department in 2017 and served as Assistant Director of the Center for History and Culture. In 2022, he began his current position at the American Historical Association.
Texas Historical Commission, Austin
Rayanna Hoeft works in the Museum Services Program at the Texas Historical Commission. She obtained her B.A. in History from the University of Texas in Arlington, graduating summa cum laude. She obtain her M.A. in History with a concentration in Public History from Texas State University in San Marcos and received the Liddle Teaching Fellowship in the History department. Rayanna interned with the Education Department at the LBJ Presidential Library, University of Texas at Austin. She taught A.P. World History and U.S. Government/Economics in Wimberley ISD. Before joining the Texas historical commission, Hoeft worked in public history venues, including the McFaddin-Ward House Museum and the Spindletop Boomtown Museum in Beaumont, Texas, and Stark Cultural Venues in Orange, Texas.
Associate Professor, Department of English and Modern Languages
Katherine Hoerth joined ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University as an Assistant Professor of English in Fall 2017. She serves as editor-in-chief of the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University Literary Press and poetry editor of Amarillo Bay and Devilfish Review. Her poetry books include Goddess Wears Cowboy Boots, which won the Helen C. Smith Prize from the Texas Institute of Letters in 2018, and The Lost Chronicles of Slue Foot Sue, published Fall 2017 from Angelina River Press. Her work has been included in journals such as Southwestern American Literature, THINK Journal, and Pleiades. She is the President of the Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers.
Director of the Dishman Art Museum at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University
Before joining the Dishman, Kiel was Chief Curator at The Light Factory Contemporary Museum of Photography and Film in Charlotte, N.C. Prior to his appointment at The Light Factory, Kiel served as Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Cincinnati Art Museum for 24 years. He also taught the history of photography at Northern Kentucky University at Highland Heights. Kiel received a BFA in Graphic Design from Ohio University and M.A. in Art History from the University of Cincinnati.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice
Dr. Stefan Krause is a visiting assistant professor and Faculty Advisor for the Anthropology program here at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University. He is also the former cultural anthropologist for the Federated States of Micronesia.
Past CHC Director
In addition to her work with the CHC, Linsley is a researcher at the McFaddin-Ward House Museum, where she formerly held the position of Curator of Interpretation and Education. She received a B.A. in Spanish and an M.A. in History from ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ, and she has previously taught as an adjunct instructor for the History Department. Many of you may be familiar with Judy's scholarship. She has published extensively on the history of Beaumont and Southeast Texas, co-authoring Beaumont: A Chronicle of Promise; The McFaddin-Ward House; and the award-winning Giant Under the Hill: A History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, Texas, in 1901. She has also published articles appearing in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly and in the Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, as well as for the Local Writers Project for the Center for Regional Heritage Research at Stephen F. Austin University. Her historical interests include the African American experience, women, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas, and oral interviews.
Professor, Department of Art and Design
Professor Meeks earned her MFA in Art at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and her M.A. in Teaching in Art and her B.A. with honors in Art from the University of Louisville. Since 1981, Meeks’ work has been exhibited in the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (California), the Alternative Museum (New York), and the Montgomery Armory Art Center (Florida). Meeks has works included in the permanent collections of the Fundación Torre Pujales (Corme, La Coruña, Galicia, Spain) and the Art Museum of Southeast Texas.
Honorary Member
Dr. Sam Monroe is known not only as an experienced and trusted leader in higher education, but also as someone who has worked to promote and preserve the music and arts of Southeast Texas. He earned his degree in Business Administration from Sam Houston State University and his master of education degree and an honorary doctor of law degrees from ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University. After serving on the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University Board of Regents for five years, Monroe became president of ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ State College-Port Arthur in 1974, where he became the longest-serving president of a higher institution in the state. In 2004, he was named "Citizen of the Year" and the next year, he was the first recipient of the Southeast Texas "Man of the Year" award. He was also instrumental in founding the Museum of the Gulf Coast, which actively preserves the history of the region.
Associate Professor, Department of English and Modern Languages.
Dr. Adam Nemmers served as the 2023-2024 interim assistant director for the Center. Hailing from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he joined ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University in 2017. In addition to his responsibilities teaching US literature, he serves as faculty advisor for Pulse, LU's student-run literary magazine, and co-editor of the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Journal of the Humanities. His research interests include modernism, American ethnic literature(s), literary theory, and creative writing.
LU Foundation and Spindletop Advisory Board Member
Ellen Walker Rienstra is the co-author of several histories and historical articles, including The Long Shadow: The Lutcher-Stark Lumber Dynasty; Giant Under the Hill: A History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, Texas, in 1901; A Pride of Kin, and six articles for the new edition of The Handbook of Texas. She served as a consultant for the episode on Spindletop in “The Story of US,” the 2010 American History series for the History Channel. Rienstra currently does contract research and writing for the Nelda C. and H. J. Lutcher Stark Foundation in Orange. She is a past president of the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University Alumni Advisory Board and is also a member of the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University Foundation and the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum Advisory Board.
Writer in Residence, Department of English and Modern Languages
Dr. Sanderson has published three collections of short stories: Semi-Private Rooms,1994 (1992 Kenneth Patton Prize); Faded Love, 2010 (Texas Institute of Letters’ 2010 Jesse Jones award nominee), and Trashy Behavior, 2013. He has published seven novels, including, El Camino del Rio (1997 Frank Waters Award) and Safe Delivery (2000 Violet Crown Award finalist). He has one forthcoming book, La Mordida (2017). Dr. Sanderson has also published an essay collection, A West Texas Soapbox (1998). His short story, “Bankers” won the Texas Institute of Letters’ Kay Cattarulla Award in 2012. His publications include about 80 short stories, essays, and articles.
Television Studio Operations Manager, Department of Communications and Media
Gordon S. Williams is the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University Television Studio Operations Manager and adjunct instructor for LUTV News. He is an award-winning content creator whose projects have screened at over seventy film festivals and earned distribution deals from entities such as Amazon Video and Shorts International. Williams has presented “Beaumont’s Black History- In Moving Pictures” to regional universities that gives insight into the history of African Americans in Beaumont that never existed in a visual media via the award-winning short film “The Example” and LUTV Productions, “They Will Talk About Us: The Charlton-Pollard Story. On June 16, 2023, Gordon Williams received a Special Congressional Recognition from the office of U.S. Representative Brian Babin for his outstanding achievement in producing media that presents the region's Black history and experiences.
Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice
Dr. Wright is a former NIMH Research Fellow (Yale) and Rockefeller Foundation Scholar (Italy). He has authored over fifty publications in scholarly books and journals. Dr. Wright is known internationally for his research on religious and political movements, conflict and violence. He has published six books, including Storming Zion: Governments Raids on Religious Communities with Susan J. Palmer (2015), Saints under Siege: The Texas State Raid on the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints with James T. Richardson (2011), Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma City Bombing (2007), and Armageddon in Waco (1995).