Kevin B. Sheets


Education:

B. A., Gettysburg College, 1992 (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa)
M.A. and Ph.D., University of Virginia, 1994, 2000

Course Offerings:

In addition to the introductory survey courses in United States history, I regularly teach courses in American intellectual and cultural history and the history of education.

American Intellectual and Cultural History to 1865 (HIS 310)
American Intellectual and Cultural History since 1865 (HIS 311)
History of American Education (HIS 415)
Historical Methods (HIS 290)

Research Interests:

As a cultural historian, my work explores the way various groups and individuals have defined an “educated person” in the past. My dissertation investigated the cultural significance, particularly to education, of the Latin language, whose mastery was considered a prerequisite to college study. My current projects look at the teaching of Latin in the public schools in the twentieth century. I am also writing about progressive-era art educators to see what effect modernism played in shaping the curriculum of schools.

Selected Publications, Projects and Paper Presentations:

My most recent article is “Antiquity Bound: the Loeb Classical Library as Middle Brow Culture in the Early Twentieth Century,” in The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 4 (April 2005): 149-171.

I am also the Project Director for “Crossroads of Change,” a Teaching American History grant. This one-million dollar 3-year federal grant provides professional development training for elementary, middle, and secondary school social studies teachers in New York.

I will be presenting at two conferences in March and April 2006. Both presentations, on antebellum reform, are part of my work related to the Teaching American History grant.

Service and Community Activities:

I find myself in meetings all the time which tells me that I devote a lot of time to service. I am particularly proud of my two committee assignments outside the department: the College Writing Committee and the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee, that latter of which I chair. The CIC sponsors year-long themes to spark cross campus discussion. This year our theme is “Rights Inalienable in a Time of War” and we’ve brought to campus Seymour Hersh, Amy Goodman, and Fred Barnes.

Having lived in Charlottesville for six years, then the Bronx for two before coming here, I admit to having felt some trepidation about making the transition to the “city” of Cortland. But I promptly fell in love with the place, in part, because I met so many wonderful friends. I also quickly became involved in a number of projects locally that made me happy to be part of the community. I have been active in the Cortland Art League, a group of Cortland area artists who display their work together at various venues around town. I serve on the Board of Trustees of our two history museums, the 1890 House Museum and Center for the Victorian Arts and the Cortland County Historical Society. Whenever possible, I drag my students to both.