Toby G. Bates
Department / Division
- War, Peace and International Affairs
Classification
- Associate Professor
Discipline
- 20th Century U.S.
Title
- Associate Professor
Contact
tbates@history.msstate.edu
662-325-3604
Address
- 208 Allen
Toby Glenn Bates, Ph.D. April 2026
Associate Professor of History
Specialties
Twentieth-Century United States
Cold War
Latin America
Contact Information
Mississippi State University - Meridian
Department of Arts and Sciences
1000 Highway 19 North
Meridian, MS 39307-5799
Office phone: (601) 484-0117
Email: tbates@meridian.msstate.edu
Education:
Ph.D., History, The University of Mississippi, 2006
Dissertation “The Reagan Rhetoric: History and Memory in 1980s America”
PhD. Examination Field: 20th Century U.S., the Cold War, and Latin American
M. A., History, The University of Mississippi, 2002
Thesis: “‘Without doubt, history will do the gallant hero justice:’ Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss and the Failure of American History”
B. A., History, The University of Mississippi, 2000
Professional Career:
Academic Experience
Mississippi State University – Meridian
Associate Professor, August 2008 – present
The University of Mississippi
Visiting Assistant Professor, June 2006 – May 2008
Publications
Books
The Reagan Rhetoric: History and Memory in 1980s America (Dekalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press, 2011).
Articles
"General Prentiss proved himself no better than a vulgar braggart!" General Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss and a Failure of Civil War Historiography,” The Journal of Mississippi History, Volume LXXIII No. 3, Fall 2011.
Publications (cont.)
“The Vietnam War and Mississippi,” for Mississippi History Now, The Mississippi Historical Society, November 2009.
“An Opportunity Seized: J & B Services, Inc., the 1970s and 1980s Deregulation of the Motor Carrier System, and the Potential for Small Business,” in Essays in Economic and Business History 24 (2004): 81-95.
Book Reviews
A Hound Dog Tale: Big Mama, Elvis, and the Song that Changed Everything, by Ben Wynne (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2024), for The Journal of Mississippi History, Volume LXXXVI, No. 3 and No. 4, Fall/Winter 2024.
The Reagan Era: A History of the 1980s. Doug Rossinow. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. ISBN-10: 0231169884, ISBN-13: 978-0231169882, 393 pp., cloth, $35.00 for Cercles, Revue pluridisciplinaire du monde Anglophone, fall 2016.
The Civil War in Popular Culture: Memory and Meaning. Eds. Lawrence A. Kreiser Jr. and Randal Allred. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2014. ISBN: 978-0-8131-4307-1, 248 pp., cloth, $40.00 for Journal of Civil War History, Volume 62, Number 1, March 2016, pp. 106-108.
The Leading Man: Hollywood and the Presidential Image. By Burton W. Peretti. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. 2012. Pp. x, 335. $29.95 for The American Historical Review, Volume 119: February 2014, pp. 204-205.
A Call to Conscience: The Anti-Contra War Campaign. By Roger Peace. (Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012. vii, 307 pp. ISBN 978-1-55849-932-4.) for The Journal of American History, Volume 100, September 2013, pp. 605-606.
General Sterling Price and the Confederacy. By Thomas C. Reynolds. Edited by Robert G. Schultz. (St. Louis: Missouri History Museum. Distributed by University of Missouri Press, c. 2009. Pp. 279. Paper, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-884982-68-3.) for The Journal of Southern History, Volume LXXVII, No. 2, May 2011.
Jimmy Carter's Economy: Policy in an Age of Limits by W. Carl Biven, published by Economic History.net, or EH.Net, January 2004
The Weather Channel: The Improbable Rise of a Media Phenomenon by Frank Batten, published by Economic History.net, or EH.Net, October 2002
Conference Presentations
“Dear Ron, Bingo!” Ronald Reagan and the Art of Surviving Iran-Contra.” Managing Scandal in the White House, Department of History at Mississippi State University, the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library and Museum, and the Presidential History Network, Starkville, Mississippi, October 24-25, 2019.
“…maintain that position at all hazards.” General Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss and a Hazardous Position in Civil War Historiography, 85th Annual Meeting of Society of Military History, Louisville, Kentucky, April 5-8, 2018.
Conference presentations (cont.)
“Long Live the King!” Memory Manipulation and Elvis Presley, 1977-1979, Popular Culture Association in the South & American Culture Association in the South (PCAS/ACAS) Conference in Nashville, TN, October 13-15, 2016.
“The General Did Not Enjoy His Stay,” General Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss and the King Edward Hotel, Mississippi Historical Society, Jackson, MS, March 5, 2016.
“"Does Not Need An Action Figure But Does Need Acknowledgement": Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss and a Hole In Civil War Historiography,” Popular Culture Association in the South & American Culture Association in the South (PCAS/ACAS) Conference in Savannah, GA, October 3-5, 2013.
“States’ Rights and Silence: The Neshoba County Murders in American Memory,” First National Conference on Civil Rights, Philadelphia, Mississippi, June 19-21, 2011.
“If Prentiss Had Died That Day…” Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss and Civil War leadership Not Recognized,” The University of Mississippi Conference on the Civil War: Leadership, Oxford, Mississippi, October 30-31, 2009.
“Remember The Good Stuff Rather Than The Bad!” Reagan’s Rhetoric and the Vietnam War Veteran,” Organization of American Historians 2007 Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN March 29 – April 1, 2007.
“‘A fictional version of the truth:’ Reagan’s Rhetoric and the Vietnam War Veteran,” The Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, November 10-12, 2005.
“‘Do We Get To Win This Time?’: Reagan’s Rhetoric and the Vietnam Veteran,” The Vietnam War - Thirty Years On: Memories, Legacies and Echoes University of Newcastle Society for War, Society and Culture, University of Newcastle, Australia
April 14-15, 2005.
“‘Do We Get to Win This Time?’”: Reagan’s Rhetoric and the Vietnam Veteran,” Thirty-Fifth Annual Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, San Diego, CA March 23-26, 2005.
“An Opportunity Seized: J & B Services, Inc., the 1970s and 1980s Deregulation of the Motor Carrier System, and the Potential for Small Business,” Twenty-Eighth Annual Economic and Business Historical Society National Conference, Memphis, Tennessee, April 24-26, 2003.
“‘Without doubt, history will do the gallant hero justice.’ Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss and the Failure of American History,” Forty-Sixth Annual Missouri Valley History Conference, University of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska, March 6-8, 2003.
“‘Without doubt, history will do the gallant hero justice:’ Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss and the Failure of American History,” Eighteenth Annual Ohio Valley History Conference, Austin Peay University, Clarksville, Tennessee, October 24-26, 2002.
Conference Panels Created & Accepted
Far West Popular and American Culture Associations panel acceptance November 2019, “‘King, a Beast, and a Robot walk into a room,’ History, Memory, and Popular Culture in 1950s-1980s America,” 32nd Annual Meeting of the Far West Popular and American Culture Associations', February 21-23, 2020 - Las Vegas, NV.
Society for Military History Panel Acceptance, November 2017, “The Good, the Bad, and the Misunderstood: Profiles of Civil War Leadership,” 85th Annual Meeting of Society of Military History, Louisville, Kentucky, April 5-8, 2018.
Academic Honors and Awards
2020 Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year – Mississippi State University
2018 Office of Research & Economic Development (ORED) $400 Travel Grant – Mississippi State University - Starkville
2011 Faculty Research Award – Division of Arts and Sciences - Mississippi State University – Meridian
2011 Meridian Star Reader’s Choice Teaching Award
2011 Nominee, Ralph E. Powe Research Excellence Award, Mississippi State University – Starkville – Meridian
2011 State Pride Award: Mission, Teaching, Service, Mississippi State University – Starkville – Meridian
2010 State Pride Award: Mission, Teaching, Service, Mississippi State University – Starkville - Meridian
2010 Outstanding Teaching Award, Division of Arts and Sciences, Mississippi State University - Meridian
2009 Outstanding Teaching Award, Division of Arts and Sciences, Mississippi State University - Meridian
Graduate Assistantship, Department of History, The University of Mississippi,
August 2000 to May 2006
Administrative Experience
Current Administrative Experience:
Senator - Arts and Sciences Faculty Senate – Mississippi State University – Starkville
January 2023 – Present
Member of the Mississippi State University Promotion and Tenure Committee
Meridian Campus Delegate 2023 – Present
Member of the Mississippi State University – Meridian Promotion and Tenure Document Committee July 2012 – Present
Previous Administrative Experience:
Member of the Mississippi State University – Meridian Promotion and Tenure Document Committee July 2012 – July 2023
Member – Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee – Mississippi State University – Meridian
March 2013 – December 2021.
Mississippi Historical Society - Board of Directors – For the term 2017-2020
Board of Directors: The Rose Hill Cemetery Group, Meridian, MS – November 2015 – July 2017
Member - Criminology Faculty Search Committee for Mississippi State University – Meridian June-July 2015
Member - Psychology Faculty Search Committee for Mississippi State University – Meridian March – February 2013
Faculty Advisor – Mississippi State University – Meridian Student Association, 2010-2012
Member – Business Faculty Search Committee for Mississippi State University – Meridian February – March 2012
Member – Graduate Dean Search Committee for Mississippi State University – Starkville
November 2012
Member – Instructor and Director of Field Education for Social Work for Mississippi State University – Meridian February – March 2012
Chair – Mathematics/Statistics Search Committee for Mississippi State University – Meridian February – March 2011
Member - Psychology Faculty Search Committee for Mississippi State University – Meridian March - April 2010
Member - Dean Search Committee for Mississippi State University – Meridian
June – August 2009
Founding Member of the History Graduate Student Advisory Committee, University of Mississippi August 2000-May 2006.
Current Dissertation Committee:
Committee Member for Ph.D. candidate Amanda Knight, MSU ID# 902-297-242 regarding the Educational Policy and Organizational Design Committee
Former Dissertation Committee:
Committee Member for Ph.D. candidate Robniecha Shirnette Rush, MSU ID# 903-723-077 regarding Educational Policy and Organizational Design, August 2025.
Committee Member for Niklas Trzaskowski’s “Manager of Progress and Process”: The Life and Times of H. R. Haldeman, for partial completion of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of History, Mississippi State University, November 2018.
History Round Tables:
Making Sense of the Civil War, Mississippi Library Commission-National Endowment of the Humanities, Vicksburg, Mississippi, October – December 2012.
Community Service Activities:
Continue service as visiting pastor, Campground Church, Walnut Mississippi, March 31, 2024 – present
“Thanksgiving & American History,” Campground Church, Walnut, MS, November 26, 2025.
“The Place of Men and Boys in American Culture,’” International Men’s Day, Starkville, MS, November 19, 2025.
“The Place of Men and Boys in American Culture,’” International Men’s Day, Meridian, MS, November 18, 2025.
“Trump: One Year Review, Part II,” WALT Radio, November 7, 2025.
“Trump: One Year Since Election, Part I,” WALT Radio, November 6, 2025.
“The North’s Clock & the South’s Climate: United States’ Historical Regional Labor, Walnut, MS, October 25, 2025.
“America: Historically a Christian Nation?”, Campground Church, Walnut, MS, July 2, 2025.
“Jeff Bezo’s Wedding: Something Borrowed, Something Ewwwww,” WALT Radio, June 16, 2025.
“Will the Middle East ever find Peace?”, WALT Radio, June 2, 2025.
“50 years since JAWS Changed Everything,” WALT Radio, May 9, 2025.
“The Importance of Recording Memories,” Longwood Community Living Center, Booneville, MS, April 18, 2025.
“Celebrating Easter Throughout American History,” Campground Church, Walnut, MS, April 10, 2025.
“The Old Territory System,” Professional Wrestling in the South, Humanities Club, Itawamba Community College, Fulton, MS, February 18, 2025.
“Trump: One Year Review, Part II,” WALT Radio, January 31, 2025.
“Trump: One Year Review, Part I,” WALT Radio, January 30, 2025
“Reflections on the 2024 Presidential Election”, WALT Radio, November 22, 2024.
“The Historical Meaning of ‘He’s a good man,’” International Men’s Day, November 22, 2024.
“Two Weeks of Crazy, the 2024 Presidential Election”, WALT Radio, October 18, 2024.
“One Month to Go, the 2024 Presidential Election”, WALT Radio, October 4, 2024.
“One Month to Go, the 2024 Presidential Election”, WALT Radio, October 3, 2024.
Community Service Activities: (cont.)
“‘Either Way, History to be Made’: the 2024 Presidential Election”, WALT Radio, September 26, 2024.
“2024 Presidential Election; Home Stretch, Part 2,” WALT Radio, September 6, 2024.
“2024 Presidential Election; Home Stretch,” WALT Radio, September 5, 2024.
“6 Months into 2024,” WALT Radio, July 25, 2024.
“Presidential Debates Throughout History,” WALT Radio, June 14, 2024.
“Presidential Debates Throughout History,” WALT Radio, June 13, 2024.
May 25 WEDDING
“Celebrating Easter Throughout American History,” Campground Church, Walnut, MS, March 31, 2024.
“President Biden’s State of the Union Reaction,” WALT Radio, March 13, 2024.
“2024 Presidential Elections, WALT Radio, March 1, 2024.
“Preparing for the Upcoming Election Year,” WALT Radio, December 1, 2023.
“Thanksgiving & American History,” Campground Church, Walnut, MS, November 19, 2023.
“America: Historically a Christian Nation?”, Campground Church, Walnut, MS, October 22, 2023.
“Faith & Academia: Being Good at One Makes You Better at the Other,” Campground Church, Walnut, MS, October 8, 2023.
“Off year Elections; Are They Important? Part 2,” WALT Radio, October 20, 2023.
“Off year Elections; Are They Important? Part 1,” WALT Radio, October 19, 2023.
“When Modern Politicians Quote Historical Figures,” WALT Radio, October 6, 2023.
“How Soon is Too Soon in Running for President, Part 2,” WALT Radio, September 22, 2023.
“How Soon is Too Soon in Running for President, Part 1,” WALT Radio, September 21, 2023.
“Methodists Church in Mississippi; Part 2,” Campground Church, Walnut, MS, September 17, 2023.
“History-Homecomings; Methodists Church in Mississippi,” Campground Church, Walnut, MS, September 10, 2023.
“Does History Help Clarify the Bible: Part 2,” Campground Church, Walnut, MS, August 13, 2023.
“Has Any Former President Hung Around Like Trump, Part 2,” WALT Radio, August 11, 2023.
“Has Any Former President Hung Around Like Trump, Part 1,” WALT Radio, August 10, 2023.
“Does History Help Clarify the Bible: Part 1,” Campground Church, Walnut, MS, August 6, 2023.
Community Service Activities: (cont.)
“‘The Media is Biased’, A Historical Claim for Decades,” WALT Radio, July 25, 2023.
“Funny Moments in American History,” WALT Radio, July 7, 2023.
“Does Knowing Your History Help Our Mental Health,” WALT Radio, April 27, 2023.
“Who To Believe about the American Economy,” WALT Radio, March 31, 2023.
“Climate Change & Mississippi Wildlife,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, March 10, 2023.
“Community Activism,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, March 9, 2023.
“Mississippi Legislature & History,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, February 16, 2023.
“UFO Mania & United States History,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, February 15, 2023.
“History, presidents, & classified documents,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, January 19, 2023.
“A new Congress Approaches,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, January 6, 2023.
“Meridian Fire Chief & Mississippi town finding,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, September 14, 2022.
“Emerging Legacy of President Trump,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, September 12, 2022.
“Mississippi Authors: Art of Reading,” Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience, Meridian, MS, September 3, 2022.
“Dr. Minh Duong & fleeing Vietnam in 1975,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, August 26, 2022.
“MSU-Meridian and Lisa Sollie,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, August 24, 2022.
“Approaching the 2022 Mid-terms; Part III,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, August 23, 2022.
“New Semester at MSU-Meridian,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, August 22, 2022.
“History or Present, Which is Worse,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, August 16, 2022.
“Approaching the 2022 Mid-terms; Part II,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, July 22, 2022.
“Approaching the 2022 Mid-terms,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, July 21, 2022.
“History of Political Division in the United States; Part II,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, July 15, 2022.
“History of Political Division in the United States; Part I,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, July 14, 2022.
“History and Pandemics,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, May 19, 2022.
Community Service Activities: (cont.)
“First-Term Presidents at the Halfway Point,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, May 6, 2022.
“History & Congressional Mid-Terms,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, May 5, 2022.
“Law Enforcement & History,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, March 15, 2022.
“Approaching 2022 Midterms,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, March 14, 2022.
“Ukraine & the United States: Part II,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, March 4, 2022.
“Ukraine & the United States,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, March 3, 2022.
“Mississippi: Growing but not Changing?” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, February 17, 2022.
“2021: A Historical Year in Review,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, January 21, 2022.
“Masculinity and American Popular Culture,” 3rd Annual International Men's Day Conference, Mississippi State University – Meridian’s Kahlmus Auditorium, Meridian, MS, November 18, 2021.
Cohost, “Mornings in Meridian,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, August 3, 2020 – July 30, 2021.
We are all Historians–Historical Thinking in Understanding Contemporary Affairs,” Mississippi State University College of Arts and Sciences Humanities Lecture, Mississippi State University Riley Center, Meridian, MS, March 2, 2021.
“‘He’s a Good Man,’ The Meaning of Manhood Throughout History,” Featured Speaker at the
International Men's Day Conference, Mississippi State University – Meridian, November 19, 2020.
Cohost, “Around Home,” WZKR Radio, Super Talk MS, Meridian, MS, January – May 2020.
“Importance of Historical Knowledge,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, November 26, 2019.
“Impeachment and American History,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, November 25, 2019.
“The United States Veteran,” Keynote Speaker, Meridian-Lauderdale County Veterans Day Celebration, Meridian, MS, November 11, 2019.
“The Peoples’ Paper”, Pushmataha Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Meridian, MS, September 12, 2019.
“Origins of Old Sayings,” Bedford Care of Marion, MS, April 9, 2019.
“Importance of knowing your nation’s history,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, January 8, 2019.
“Birds, National Power and History,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, November 20, 2018.
“Political Discourse & Debate in History,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, October 24, 2018.
Community Service Activities: (cont.)
“Birds and History: Symbolism and Signs,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, October 23, 2018.
“Fear and American History, Part 2,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, September 18, 2018.
“Popular Culture and American History,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, September 13, 2018.
“President Trump in Historical Context,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, May 23, 2018.
“Fear and American History,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, May 1, 2018.
“Civil Rights & American History,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, January 10, 2018.
“Historical Writing as a Profession,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, December 27, 2017.
“2017: A Historical Year in Review,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, December 21, 2017.
“Mississippi Approaches Year 200,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, October 11, 2017.
“The Vietnam War and the state of Mississippi,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, September 26, 2017.
“Godzilla & Global Warming Class as new Methodology,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, July 18, 2017.
“Something Bigger Than Yourselves,” Commencement, Leadership Lauderdale, June 13, 2017.
“Presidential Elections & Scandals of History,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, June 12, 2017.
“Ronald Reagan & the End of the Cold War,” Quitman High School, March 24 & 28, 2017.
“Donald Trump: 100 Days & Early Historical Legacy,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, February 28, 2017.
“Meridian & the Gypsy Queen,” Rose Hill Historical Society, February 4, 2017.
“Big Foot in Mississippi,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, January 3, 2017.
“A Month Since the Election: What Now Part II?”, WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, November 14, 2016.
“The 2016 Presidential Election: What Now?”, WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, November 9, 2016.
“Elvis Presley, History, and Memory Manipulation,” WZKR – Radio, Meridian, MS, October 19, 2016.
“Elvis Presley, History, and Memory Manipulation,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, October 12, 2016.
“The 2016 Presidential Election: The Day Approaches,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, October 7, 2016.
“Odd United States Presidential Elections,” Samuel Dale Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, Meridian, MS, October 5, 2016.
“Ready or Not, Part II: the 2016 Presidential Election,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, September 22, 2016.
Community Service Activities: (cont.)
“Ready or Not: the 2016 Presidential Election,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, September 7, 2016.
Engaging Students Through Writing,” Maroon and Write Workshop, Mississippi State University – Meridian, February 26, 2016.
“History and the Presidential Election,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, February 12, 2016.
“Honoring Our Veterans,” Riley Center – Aldersgate, Meridian, MS, November 11, 2015
Advantages B.A. History, East Central Community College, Decatur, MS, September 29, 2015.
“History of Rose Hill Cemetery,” Public Tour, Meridian, MS, September 26, 2015.
“Folklore vs. History,” WJDQ – Radio, Meridian, MS, September 22, 2015.
“MSU-History and Rose Hill Cemetery,” WTOK “Mornings in Meridian, September 18, 2015.
“The Good ‘Ole Days, If You Are White & Male,” 1950s America, Mississippi State University – Meridian Elementary Education Majors, Meridian, MS, August 26, 2015.
“Higher Education & Interdisciplinary Studies,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, July 14, 2015.
“History & Politics,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, February 23, 2015.
“Ronald Reagan and Alzheimer’s,” Meridian Community College, March 20, 2014.
“Commencement Speaker: Community College of the Air Force – Key Field Air National Guard Base,” March 1, 2014.
“Elvis and American History,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, January 8, 2014.
“Scholarships Awarded,” WTOK – Channel 11 – ABC Television – October 17, 2013.
“Thomas Kimmel Speaks,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, August 6, 2013.
“Thomas Kimmel: Grandson of Admiral Husband Kimmel,” Mississippi State University – Meridian, August 5, 2013.
“Righting A Wrong: The Fight For Admiral Husband Kimmel,” WALT – Radio, Meridian, MS, August 2, 2013.
“Religion & the Founding of the United States,” Meridian Civitan Club, Meridian, MS, April 9, 2013.
“Misremembering the Most Remembered War,” Holmes Community College, Grenada, MS, April 2, 2013.
“Women and the Progressive Movement,” Jones County Junior College, Ellisville, MS, March 28, 2013.
“Book Talk of The Reagan Rhetoric,” Collinsville, MS Book Club, November 27, 2012.
“Women’s Equality Day Community Talk,” Newton City Library, Newton, MS, August 23, 2012.
“Hollywood and History,” WALT Radio, 102.1 – Meridian, MS, July 24, 2012.
Community Service Activities: (cont.)
“The Reagan Years,” Pushmataha Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, Meridian, MS, May 9, 2012.
“Reagan and American Memory,” Samuel Dale Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, Meridian, MS, May 2, 2012.
“Promotion of The Reagan Rhetoric,” National Radio Interview – The Bob Dutko Show, WMUZ 103.5, Detroit Michigan, January 31, 2012.
“70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor,” WALT Radio, 102.1 – Meridian, MS, December 7, 2011.
“Promotion of The Reagan Rhetoric,” National Radio Interview – The Bryan Fischer Show: Focal Point - Tupelo, MS – December 1, 2011.
“Discussion of Alcohol Advertising 1940s-2010,” Meridian Civitan Club, September 13, 2011.
“Promotion of The Reagan Rhetoric,” WALT Radio, 102.1 – Meridian, MS.
“Promotion of The Reagan Rhetoric,” 105.7 “The Beat” Radio, July 13, 2011.
“Promotion of The Reagan Rhetoric,” "Mornings with Scott and Ken," WOKK Radio, July 13, 2011.
“Promotion of The Reagan Rhetoric,” "Mornings with Scotty Ray and Debbie, "B-103 Radio, July 12, 2011.
“Promotion of The Reagan Rhetoric,” Interviewed on WMOX – 1010AM – Talk Radio, July 12, 2011.
“Promotion of The Reagan Rhetoric,” WTOK – Channel 11 – ABC Television – July 12, 2011.
“Promotion of The Reagan Rhetoric,” The Meridian Star, May 17, 2011.
“New Book”, The Meridian Star, May 17, 2011.
“Discussion of The Reagan Rhetoric: History and Memory in 1980s America,” Meridian Civitan Club, May 3, 2011.
“150th Anniversary of the Civil War,” WTOK – Channel 11 – ABC Television, April 12, 2011.
“Freedom Summer Remembered,” First Union Baptists Church, Meridian, MS, March 21, 2011.
“Discussion of The Reagan Rhetoric: History and Memory in 1980s America,” Exchange Club of Meridian, February 15, 2011.
“College Career Day,” West Lauderdale High School, January 11, 2011.
“Discussion of The Reagan Rhetoric: History and Memory in 1980s America,” WALT – 910AM - Talk Radio, December 28, 2010.
“Anne Frank and Her Importance to History,” WTOK – Channel 11 – ABC Television, November 9, 2010.
“The Tragedy of the Holocaust Brought to Life through Then and Now Photography,” The Diary of Anne Frank Presentation, Mississippi State University – Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts, November 9, 2010.
Community Service Activities: (cont.)
“Upcoming Fall 2010 History Classes,” WGBC – TV - Channel 30 – FOX Television, Meridian, MS, August 2, 2010.
“History All Around Us,” Lions Club, February 11, 2010, Meridian, Mississippi.
Research Showcase for the College of Arts and Sciences “Surprised in his tent, wounded, valiant charge, dead horse, captured, escape”: How Civil War Newspapers Moved General Benjamin
Prentiss from Shiloh Champion to Shiloh Coward,” October 22, 2009, Starkville, Mississippi.
“Historical Origins of Everyday Phrases,” Samuel Dale Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, Meridian, MS, October 7, 2009.
“2nd Year of the History Degree,” Interviewed for 5p, 10p, and Mornings in Meridian on WTOK – Channel 11 – ABC Television, July 23, 2009.
“100 Years of the NAACP,” Interviewed for 5p, 10p, and Mornings in Meridian on WTOK – Channel 11 – ABC Television, May 19, 2009.
“The Battle of Shiloh in Memory,” Lions Club, April 23, 2009, Meridian, Mississippi.
“Emmett Till: Five Decades Later,” Interviewed for News at Five on WTOK – Channel 11 - ABC Television, April 9, 2009.
“Emmett Till: Five Decades Later,” A talk to local high schools to promote the Emmett Till Traveling Exhibit, April 9, 2009, Meridian, Mississippi.
“The Inauguration of Barack Obama,” WALT – 910AM - Talk Radio, January 20, 2009.
“Historical Significance of Barack Obama,” WALT – 910AM - Talk Radio, November 4, 2008.
Research Showcase for the College of Arts and Sciences “A Crime They Did Not Commit:
Ronald Reagan, American Memory, and the Vietnam War,” October 17, 2008, Starkville, Mississippi.
“Meridian group to celebrate Obama's speech, By Jennifer Jacob,” Interviewed by The Meridian Star regarding the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, August 23, 2008.
“New History degree and Gender Studies minor,” Interviewed on WMOX – 1010AM – Talk Radio, August 11, 2008.
“New History degree and Gender Studies minor,” Interviewed on WALT – 910AM - Talk Radio, August 4, 2008.
“New History Major at Mississippi State University – Meridian,” Interviewed on Mornings in Meridian, WTOK – Channel 11 - ABC Television, July 22, 2008.
“New History Major and Faculty at Mississippi State University – Meridian,” Interviewed on Live at Five, WTOK – Channel 11 - ABC Television, July 17, 2008.
“MSU-Meridian to offer new bachelor’s degree in history,” Interviewed by The Meridian Star, July 13, 2008.
Interhostel Lecture “State’s Rights and Silence: Reagan, Dukakis, and the Place of the 1964
Community Service Activities: (cont.)
Neshoba County Murders in American Memory,” April 8, 2005, Oxford, Mississippi.
Book Publicity
Signing – Mississippi State University – Meridian – July 14, 2011
Signing – Reed’s Gum Tree Bookstore – Tupelo, MS – July 21, 2011
Signing – Reed’s Gum Tree Bookstore Authorpalooza – Tupelo, MS – December 1, 2011
National Radio Interview – The Bryan Fischer Show: Focal Point - Tupelo, MS – December 1, 2011
National Radio Interview – The Bob Dutko Show – WMUZ Radio (103.5 FM), Detroit, MI – February 1, 2012
Consulting Experience
Reviewed, “Iran-Contra and American Democracy from Nixon to Trump,” for the Journal of American History,
March 2023.
Reviewed “The Friar’s Point Coup” for the Journal of Mississippi History, March 11 – May 8, 2021.
Reviewed Telling the Soviet Redemption Story: Ronald Reagan’s Soviet Rhetoric, for Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, January 18 – February 22, 2021.
Reviewed The Frontiers of Mexican History: A New History of Mexico from Earliest Times, Raphael B. Folsom, Assistant Professor of History, University of Oklahoma, for Oxford University Press, Inc., Higher Education Group, 198 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016. January 17-30, 2014.
Consultant and Interviewed Participant, Back To Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything, Futuristic Studios, Hollywood, California, June 1-3, 2012.
Workshop Instructor for the National Endowment For The Humanities, “War, Death, and Remembrance: The Memory and Commemoration of the American Civil War” June 4-8 and June 11-15, 2007, the University of Mississippi.
Served as research assistant, Fall 2001-Spring 2004, for The Journal of the Economic & Business Historical Society.
Served as research assistant for articles in Beacham’s Encyclopedia of Social History: America in the Twentieth Century (2001).
Cited draft reviewer of Gregory S. Taylor’s The History of the North Carolina Communists Party (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2009.
Cited early draft reviewer for Gene Smiley’s Rethinking the Great Depression (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee Publisher, 2002.
History Day, University of Mississippi, 2005 and 2006, Judging competitions dealing with a knowledge of United States and World history among various Mississippi high schools.
Generated test bank of Latin America questions for History Day 2009, University of Mississippi
Consulting Experience (cont.)
History High School Day, University of Mississippi, Spring 2001, 2003, Emphasizing to high school students the career opportunities presented with a History degree.
Courses Taught (italics denote new class preps)
Revolutionary America
Diplomatic History of the United States
United States History to 1877
United States History from 1877
The American West
The Civil War 1850-1877
United States 1877-1917
United States History 1917-1945
United States Since 1945
America’s Vietnam War
Modern Civil Rights Movement
The Cold War
The Presidency of Ronald Reagan
American History and Memory
Mississippi History
United States and Latin America
Twentieth Century Latin American Revolutions
Modern Mexico
Bad Meat and Bigfoot
Godzilla and Global Warming
History of United States Popular Culture
American Life and Thought
Adolf Hitler and Historiography
Graduate Colloquium - United States 1877-1917
Graduate Colloquium - United States 1877-1945
Graduate Colloquium – United States Since 1945
Graduate Colloquium – Modern Civil Rights Mvt.
Graduate Colloquium – Presidency Ronald Reagan
Professional Membership
American Historical Association
Organization of American Historians
Society of Military History
The Southern Historical Association
Mississippi Historical Association
American Culture Association
Popular Culture Association
Popular Culture Association of the South
Far West Popular & American Culture Associations
Phi Alpha Theta