Civil War U: The Civil War concentration at Sam Houston State University

Sam Houston State University: Civil War concentration and Civil War Consortium (website)
Dr. Brian Matthew Jordan, co-chair: bmj018@shsu.edu
Dr Evan Rothera, co-chair: ecr036@shsu.eeu

Fun Fact: “Ours is the only program/academic center for the study of the war west of the Mississippi River!”

by Carson Hayek

HUNTSVILLE, Tex.—Studying Civil War history at Sam Houston State means a lot of historical firepower brought to bear in the war’s biggest theater.

Sam Houston State’s history department offers a Civil War concentration within its bachelor’s degree program. The department has four nationally recognized faculty members, and students can gain experience at museums and historical sites while conducting research.

The Department of History’s Civil War faculty includes Brian Matthew Jordan, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; Evan Rothera, a Phi Alpha Theta Best First Book Award winner and Colby Award finalist; J. Matthew Ward, a Society for Military History Best First Book Award winner; and Adrian Brettle, a Lincoln Prize finalist.

Jordan, chair of the department, said the faculty’s different specialties allow students to learn and study the Civil War from multiple points of view. “We leverage our specialties to offer a well-rounded Civil War education,” Jordan said. “[Our program] is transnational and comparative, and attentive to military, social, political, and environmental histories.”

The school’s program also extends past the confines of a classroom. The Civil War Consortium—the program’s public-facing imitative—brings scholars and experts to campus for lectures, small-group discussions, and workshops. (see the ECW News piece about the Consortium here.) Students can also pursue editorial internships with the Journal of Southern History, which Sam Houston State’s history department co-hosts.

Jordan said one of the program’s most valuable assets is its access to primary sources. The university has partnered with more than 20 historic sites, museums, and battlefields, including the San Jacinto Battlefield and the Alamo.

Additionally, the Civil War Consortium Seminar Room contains thousands of Civil War pension files and reference material, which allows students to conduct original research with faculty. Sam Houston State’s Special Collections Library also includes one of the largest collections of original Union regimental histories west of the Mississippi.

The Sam Houston Memorial Museum provides additional opportunities for students interested in public history, living history, and archives.

For Jordan, however, the students are the most rewarding part of the program. “They are exceptionally eager and help us to see the war in new ways through their insatiable curiosity,” he said.

Jordan encourages students who want to specialize in Civil War to study outside of their preferred area of expertise. “Do something out of your methodological comfort zone,” Jordan said. “No less importantly, study another conflict. Learning about another conflict in a different time and place will open comparative vistas and make legible new questions.”

Students pursuing the concentration graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in History with a Civil War concentration. Upper-level courses cap at 45 students while seminars are limited to 15.

For students considering graduate school, the department also offers a master’s program in history.

Prospective students can contact the Sam Houston State Civil War Consortium or the history department at 936-294-4460, or email program co-directors Brian Jordan at bmj018@shsu.edu or Evan Rothera at ecr036@shsu.eeu.

————

Carson Hayek, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., is a junior journalism student at St. Bonaventure University.

*     *     *

As part of our series “Civil War U” examining Civil War-focused programs in higher education, Emerging Civil War’s Chris Mackowski spoke with senior Jonathan Lorine from Sam Houston State University about the Civil War concentration in the university’s History program.