Adam Dean, PhD

Associate Professor of History
Chair of the History Department
John M. Turner Chair in the Humanities

434.544.7253
dean.aw@lynchburg.edu
Carnegie 114

Experience

• Fall 2019 – Present, John M. Turner Distinguished Chair in the Humanities, University of Lynchburg
• July 2017 – Present, Associate Professor, University of Lynchburg
• July 2011 – June 2017, Assistant Professor, University of Lynchburg
• June 2010-2011, Jefferson Fellowship Program Coordinator, Jefferson Scholars Foundation, Charlottesville, Va.
• Fall 2010, Adjunct Professor, University of Richmond
• Summer-Fall 2010, Adjunct Professor, University of Virginia
• April 2008 – September 2008, Natural Resources Technician, Virginia Department of Forestry, Charlottesville, Va.
• Fall 2006 – 2009, Instructor, University of Virginia

Education

• PhD in United States History – University of Virginia, 2010
• MA in United States History – University of Virginia, 2006
• BA in History – University of California, Los Angeles, 2005

Publications

Books

• An Agrarian Republic: Farming, Antislavery Politics, and Nature Parks in the Civil War Era, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2015

Refereed Articles

• “Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction,” forthcoming, The Oxford Handbook on Reconstruction, UK: Oxford University Press
• “Natural Glory in the Midst of War: The Establishment of Yosemite State Park,” Civil War History 4 (2010): 386-419
• “‘Who Controls the Past Controls the Future’: Southern Textbooks in an Era of Civil Rights,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 117 (2009): 315-55

Public and Digital Humanities Experience

• Project Leader, “Reconstruction and Education,” Student Designed Museum Exhibit at Historic Sandusky, Lynchburg, Virginia, 2019
• Project Leader, “Local Stories, National Struggles: The Civil War in Appomattox and Lynchburg,” Student Designed Interactive Museum Exhibit at the American Civil War Museum, Appomattox, Virginia, 2018
• Supervising Professor, “Lynchburg in the Civil War,” Student Designed Digital History Website, Lynchburg College, 2017
  Viewable at https://sanduskydigitalhistory.wordpress.com/
• “Technology, Industry & Innovation,” Pennsylvania Heritage Society for the
  150th Anniversary of the American Civil War, http://www.pacivilwar150.com/understand/industry.aspx

Book Reviews, Encyclopedia Articles, Websites

• “The Virginia History Textbook Controversy,” forthcoming, Encyclopedia Virginia
• Review of Paul Taylor, ‘The Most Complete Political Machine Ever Known’: The North’s Union Leagues in the American Civil War, Civil War History 67 (2021): 59-60
• Review of Gregory P. Downs and Kate Masur, eds., The World the Civil War Made, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 115 (2017): 437-439
• Review of James L. Huston, The British Gentry, the Southern Farmer, and the Northern Family Farmer, Journal of Southern History 82 (2016): 933-935
• Review of Brian Allen Drake, ed., The Blue, the Gray, and the Green: Toward an Environmental History of the Civil War, Agricultural History 90 (2016): 151-52
• Review of “The People’s Contest: A Civil War Era Digital Archiving Project,” Journal of American History 101 (2014): 676
• Review of Margaret T. Peters, Conserving the Commonwealth: The Early Years of the Environmental Movement in Virginia, Environmental History 15 (2010): 341-42
• “James Fenimore Cooper,” in Kathleen A. Brosnan, ed., 4 vols., Encyclopedia of American Environmental History (New York: Facts on File, 2010)

Presentations

Conference Presentations

• “Student-Athlete Well-Being,” NCAA Faculty Athletic Representative Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, November 2018
• “‘An Impetus Given to the Enfranchisement of the Freedmen,’ The Role of the 14th Amendment in African American Suffrage,” British American Nineteenth Century Historians Conference, Cambridge, England, October 2018
• “Revisiting the Context of the 14th Amendment: Black Suffrage and White Southern Unionists,” Lebanon Valley College Center for Political History, Annville, Pennsylvania, June 2018
• “‘The Mudsills Are Coming,’ Understanding the American Civil War through Popular Song,” International Society for Music Education Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, July 2016
• “The Southern Loyalists’ Convention: The Southern Republicans, Race, and Reunion,” Organization of American Historians Conference, Providence, Rhode Island, April 2016

Public Presentations

• “Why did the American Civil War Happen?”, Annual John M. Turner Chair Lecture, September 24, 2020, Lynchburg, Virginia
  Virtual presentation viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IdcUI243fY
• “‘A Rank Demagogue and Damned Scoundrel:’ Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction,” Annual John M. Turner Chair Lecture, October 24, 2019, Lynchburg, Virginia
• “Local Stories, National Struggle: The Civil War in Appomattox and Lynchburg,” American Civil War Museum History Happy Hour, March 12, 2019, Lynchburg, Virginia
• “The Origin of Disunion? Rethinking the Missouri Compromise,” Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, September 15, 2018, Lynchburg, Virginia
• Panelist, “The Contested Legacies of Historical Monuments,” Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest with Edward Ayers, Colder Loth, and Joseph McGill, October 4, 2017, Lynchburg, Virginia
  Viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuH8HHsiQ1I
• “The Past is Never Dead, The Confederate Monument Controversy in Historical Context,” Lynchburg College History Seminar Presentation, September 27, 2017
• “National Reconstruction: Land Redistribution in the South and West after the Civil War,” Banner Lecture Series, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, May 19, 2016
  Televised by CSPAN and viewable at https://www.c-span.org/video/?409688-1/land-use-reconstruction
• “The History of American Land Law and the Standing Rock Crisis,” Lynchburg College Teach-In, November 29, 2016
• “‘A Higher Law than the Constitution;’ The Republican Party and United States Nationalism,” American Historical Association Conference, Boston, MA, January 2011
• “An Agrarian Republic: Northern Nationalism During the Civil War,” The Society of Civil War Historians Biennial Academic Conference, Richmond, VA, June 2010
• “The Creation of Wartime Union Nationalism,” Society for History in the Federal Government Conference, College Park, MD, March 2010
• “‘Rude and Nature-Murdering Tillage:’ The Environmental Origins of Anti-Slavery Politics,” American Society for Environmental History Conference, Portland, OR, February 2010
• “‘The Destiny of the New World and the Duty of a Republican Government’ The Foundation of Yosemite State Park,” American Society for Environmental History Conference, Tallahassee, FL, February 2009
• “‘Who Controls the Past Controls the Future:’ Southern Textbooks in an Era of Civil Rights,” Jefferson Scholars Foundation Academic Conference, Charlottesville, VA, February 2007

Fellowship and Awards

• Turner Distinguished Chair in the Humanities, April 2019-Present
  Chaired professorship awarded by the Dean of the School of Humanities, the Provost, and the University President to a distinguished faculty member to influence other faculty by demonstrating new approaches to the humanities and new pedagogy.
• William C. Coleman McGhee Award for Best Article by a Graduate Student, July 2010
  Given by the Virginia Historical Society for “Who Controls the Past, Controls the Future”
• John L. Nau III Fellow, Jefferson Scholars Foundation, University of Virginia, 2005-2010
• Gary D. Nash Award for Best Honors Thesis in American History, UCLA, 2005

Professional Affiliations

• British American Nineteenth Century Historians
• American Society for Environmental Historians
• Alumnus of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation Fellowship Program

Teaching Areas

• Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction
• 19th-Century Environmental History

University Service

• Faculty Chair, University of Lynchburg, July 2020-July 2021
  Works closely with the University President and Provost in crafting policies, procedures, and strategic initiatives. Serves on Presidential Advisory Council, Strategic Budget Group, and Benefits Committee. Serves as chair for monthly faculty meetings.
• Faculty Diversity Recruitment and Retention Taskforce, 2020-Present
  Serves on a task force that developed a comprehensive plan for overhauling university hiring policies and recruitment initiatives to secure a more diverse faculty body
• Faculty Athletic Representative, University of Lynchburg, August 2016-Present
  Ensures academic integrity of student athletes, encourages student athlete well-being, and aids with institutional control of athletics
• Internship Coordinator, History Department, University of Lynchburg, August 2012-Present
  Setting up and supervising internships for undergraduate and graduate history students

Personal Information

I have three young children that I enjoy with my wife Kara. In my free time, I am passionate about bike racing, fly-fishing, and skiing.