OUR FACULTY
L to R: Drs. Price, Dehner, Gythiel, Dreifort, Johnson, Henry, Torbenson, Klunder, Loftus (seated), Owens, Hundley, and Miner
George Dehner: george.dehner@wichita.edu 978-7734
Assistant Professor: World, Environmental
Ph. D., Northeastern University, 2005
Professor Dehner is a world environmental historian who examines the intersection of humans and disease in the modern era. He recently completed his dissertation "Comparing National and International Responses to the Threat of Pandemic Disease," in December of 2004, and in 2006, had an essay appear in an edited collection of research titled Research in World History: New Horizons. He is turning this examination into a book length manuscript, and is currently working on articles for the fields of public health and world history.
John E. Dreifort: john.dreifort@wichita.edu 978-7742
Professor: France, 19th and 20th century Europe, Graduate Program Coordinator
Ph.D., Kent State University, 1970
Professor Dreifort is a specialist in Modern European Diplomacy and the history of Baseball. He is the author of Yvon Delbos at the Quai d'Orsay: French Foreign Policy During the Popular Front, 1936-1938, Myopic Grandeur: The Ambivalence of French Foreign Policy toward the Far East, 1919-1945, and Baseball History From Outside the Lines. His articles have appeared in such journals as The Journal for Contemporary History, The Historian, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, and Research Studies. He is currently working on a book manuscript on the wartime relationship between Generals Eisenhower and de Gaulle. Dr. Dreifort serves as the graduate advisor.
Anthony P. Gythiel: anthony.gythiel@wichita.edu 978-7744
Professor: Medieval Renaissance, Reformation, Patristics
Ph.D., University of Detroit, 1971
Dr. Gythiel specializes in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. He has translated numerous books that deal with the theology of the early Christian East. Among his most recent translations are Le mystére de la Trinité, The Mystery of the Trinity: Trinitarian Experience and Vision in the Biblical and Patristic Tradition and The Spirituality of the Christian East, vol. II. a translation of Tomas Spidlik, La spiritualite de l'Orient chretien. Dr. Gythiel just received an honorary degree from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.
Robin Henry: robin.henry@wichita.edu 978-7741
Assistant Professor: Legal, Gender and Sexuality, American West
Ph.D., Indiana University, Bloomington, 2006
Professor Henry specializes in interactions among sexuality, law and the American West. She has recently completed her book manuscript tentatively titled “Criminalizing Sex, Defining Sexuality: Law, Manhood, and Identity in the Nineteenth Century American West.” She is on track to submit it for publication at a university press in early September 2009. In addition to teaching courses on constitutional history and women and gender history, she introduced and taught a graduate course on Gender and Sexuality in U.S. History. Dr. Henry also serves on the Committee on the Status of Women for the Organization of American History.
Helen Hundley: helen.hundley@wichita.edu 978-7745
Assistant Professor: Russia, Soviet Union, Modern Britain
Ph.D., University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, 1984
Professor Hundley teaches courses on Russian and Soviet History, Eastern Europe, modern English History and imperialism. Her article, "George Kennan and the Russian Empire: How America's Conscience became an Enemy of Tsarism," appeared in Kennan Institute Occasional Paper (Kennan Institute, 2000) and "The London Missionary Society's Mongolian Missions: British Insights into the 'Great Game' in Asia," was included in Splendidly Victorian, Essays in Honor of Walter l. Arnstein.
Willard Carl Klunder: will.klunder@wichita.edu 978-7747
Associate Professor: Early 19th century America, Civil War, American diplomatic, American military
Ph.D., University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, 1981
Professor Klunder specializes in early nineteenth-century American history. He is the editor and transcriber of The Story of My Life by Frederic Finnup; and the author of Lewis Cass and the Politics of Moderation, 1782-1866. The Cass biography was the runner-up in The Society of Midland Authors annual awards competition. Dr. Klunder regularly contributes a range of book chapters, journal and encyclopedia entries, and book reviews for scholarly publications, generally focusing on political, biographical, and/or military history from the antebellum era through the Civil War. Professor Klunder served as the W.S.U. Faculty Senate president during the 2000-2001 and 2004-2005 academic years.
Ariel Loftus: ariel.loftus@wichita.edu 978-7790
Associate Professor: Ancient, Women in antiquity, Papyrology
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1992
Dr. Loftus specializes in ancient history. Her areas of interest include Athenian democracy, the social history of Egypt and women in the ancient world. She has published in Zeitshrift fur Papyrology und Epigraphy and co-authored a chapter in P.Mich. Koenen, vol 18, Festschrift for Ludwig Koenen (1996). She also is co-author of an ancient Greek textbook, Greek for Reading (University of Michigan Press, 1994). Professor Loftus is currently working on a transcription and translation of a papyrus fragment of a 2nd century set of farm accounts that was recently purchased by the Ablah Library at Wichita State University. She is currently working on a book length project on the Periclean Citizenship Law in fourth century BC Athens.
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Craig Miner: craig.miner@wichita.edu 978-7740 To see an interview with Craig Miner, click here
Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History: Late 19th century America, Business, Kansas Ph.D., University of Colorado, 1970
Dr. Miner is an expert in the history of Kansas and business history. He is the author of numerous books, among which are West of Wichita: Settling The High Plains of Kansas, 1865-1890 and Harvesting the High Plains: John Kriss and the Business of Farming, 1920-1950. His book Kansas: History of the Sunflower State, 1854-2000 came out in 2002. Next Year Country: Dust to Dust in Western Kansas, 1890-1940 came out in 2006. His most recent articles include sections in John Brown to Bob Dole: Movers and Shakers in Kansas History and Kansas Territorial Reader. His current work also includes an exploration of the Bleeding Kansas issue as covered in 1850s newspapers.
Robert M. Owens: robert.owens@wichita.edu 978-7794 To hear an interview with Dr. Owens, click here
Assistant Professor: Colonial, Early U.S.
Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 2003
Now serving as dept chair, Dr. Owens specializes in Colonial, Revolutionary, and Early American History, particularly Indian Affairs. He has published articles in the Journal of the Early Republic and the Journal of Illinois History, and is currently at work on a book on the Southern Indians in the Early Republic. His book, Mr. Jefferson's Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy, is a 2007 publication from University of Oklahoma Press.
Jay Price: jay.price@wichita.edu 978-7792 Blog Web page
Associate Professor: Public History, American culture and religion, North American West, Public History Program Director
Ph.D., Arizona State University, 1997
Jay M. Price directs the Public History Program at Wichita State University. His publications include Gateways to the Southwest: The Story of Arizona State Parks, Wichita, 1860-1930, Wichita's Legacy of Flight, and El Dorado!: Legacy of an Oil Boom. His work on the El Dorado boom became the basis for a KPTS-produced documentary called "Oil Dorado: Life and Times of an Oil Boom." He heads a team that is currently finishing a photo history of the Wichita Lebanese Community. His other writings include works on local history, the history of tourism, regional identity, and sacred architecture. A member of the Kansas Humanities Council speakers’ bureau, he has delivered the talks, “Reading Roadside Kansas,” “Sacred Landscapes of Kansas,” and “Building the Old West.” His current project is "Temples for a Modern God," a study of Postwar religious architecture. He is currently a member of the Kansas Humanities Council board and the Kansas Historic Sites Board of Review.
Niall Shanks: niall.shanks@wichita.edu 978-7789
Curtis D. Gridley Distinguished Professor of History and Philosophy of Science: Philosophy and History of Science, especially Evolutionary Biology and Medicine
Ph.D., University of Alberta
Professor Shanks received a B.A. (Hons.) in Philosophy from the University of Leeds in 1979, an M. Phil. in Philosophy from the University of Liverpool in 1981, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Alberta in 1987. Shanks is the author of several books and numerous articles on the history and philosophy of science, including "God, the Devil, and Darwin: A Critique of Intelligent Design Theory." Shanks latest book (co-authored with Ray Greek, MD) is "Animal Models in the Light of Evolution." Shanks' research interests are currently focused on evolutionary biology and its implications for medical theory and practice from the standpoint of history of science and of research methodology. Professor Shanks is Vice-President of Americans for Medical Advancement. Shanks also served a term (2008-2009) as President of the Southwest and Rocky Mountain Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Shanks teaches courses on the history of medicine and the history of science and technology.
Craig L. Torbenson: craig.torbenson@wichita.edu 978-7795
Associate Professor: U.S., Geography, Family history, Undergraduate Coordinator
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 1992
Craig Torbenson teaches Human and World Geography as well as several regional geography courses and Family History. He recently contributed two chapters in his co-edited Brothers and Sisters: Diversity Within College Fraternities and Sororities that was published in spring 2009. His other workse include A Common Heritage: The Descendants of Ole Torbjornsen Leine and Anna Johannesdatter Bergen. He volunteerd at the LDS Family History Library and helping individuals do their own family history research. Dr. Torbenson serves as undergraduate advisor.