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History

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History Faculty

Dr. Keith Alexander
Title	Associate Professor of History
Email	kalexand@shepherd.edu ( Email )
Phone	304-876-5335
Modern Germany, Modern Europe, Environmental History, Historic Preservation, Oral History, History and Culture of Cuba Ph.D., University of Maryland M.A., University of Maryland B.A., Penn State University Dr. Alexander’s research interests include the history of the German Green Party, green historic preservation, and service learning in historic preservation education. He teaches classes in architectural history, oral history, modern history, and historic preservation. In the field of German history, he has published an article in German Politics and Society, and contributed chapters to Mauerkrieger and Jahrbuch des Archivs Grünes Gedächtnis. In the field of historic preservation, he has published an article on service learning and cemetery preservation in Preservation Education and Research Journal. His most recent projects include examining Senator Robert Byrd’s role in fostering historic preservation in West Virginia, as well as exploring historic preservation and architecture in Cuba. Along with Dr. Sandy, Dr. Alexander co-directs the Historic Preservation and Public History concentration within the history major.

Dr. Benjamin Bankhurst
Title	Ray and Madeline Johnston Chair in American History
Email	bbankhur@shepherd.edu ( Email )
Office	115C Knutti Hall
Colonial and Revolutionary North America, Appalachian History and Culture, Atlantic History, Ireland and the Irish Diaspora Ph.D., King’s College, University of London M.A., King’s College, University of London B.A., University of New Mexico Dr. Bankhurst’s research focuses on migration to the Appalachian frontier in the colonial and revolutionary periods. Before Joining the History Department at Shepherd, Dr. Bankhurst held teaching and research appointments at the London School of Economics; the Institute of Historical Research; and Queen Mary, University of London. His articles have appeared in the Pennsylvania Magazine for History and Biography, The Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies, and Eire/Ireland. The American Council for Irish Studies awarded his first book Ulster Presbyterians and the Scots Irish Diaspora, 1750-1763 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) the Donald Murphy Prize. Bankhurst coedited a collection of essays alongside Nigel Aston entitled Negotiating Toleration: Dissent and the Hanoverian Succession, 1714-1769 (Oxford University Press, 2019). Dr. Bankhurst is the Co-Director of the Maryland Loyalism Project , a public archive and database documenting the experiences of Chesapeake Loyalists in the Era of the American Revolution.

Dr. Sally Brasher
Title	Professor of History
Email	sbrasher@shepherd.edu ( Email )
Phone	304-876-5258
Medieval and Early Modern Europe, History of Italy, Renaissance and Reformation, Gender History Ph.D., The Catholic University of America M.A., Minnesota State University B.A., University of Colorado Author of the book Women of the Humiliati: A Lay Religious Order in Medieval Civic Life (Routledge Press, 2003) and two articles, “The Humiliati” in Women and Gender in the Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia (New York: Routledge Press: 2006) and “Towards a New Understanding of Medieval Women’s Religiosity: The Humiliati and Beguine Movements Compared” in Magistra: A Journal of Women’s Spirituality in the Middle Ages (Winter 2005) Dr. Brasher’s research interests revolve around the development of urban identities in the Middle Ages and their expression in novel religious institutions. Her manuscript, Hospitals and charity: Religious culture and civic life in medieval northern Italy (Manchester University Press, 2017).

Dr. David Gordon
Title	Professor of History
Email	dgordon@shepherd.edu ( Email )
Phone	304-876-5277
Modern East Asia, Japan, China, Asian Intellectual history Ph.D., University of Hawai’i at Manoa B.A., Indiana University Dr. Gordon’s experience teaching world history at Shepherd has prompted his interest in comparing Asian and non-Asian figures, as when he composed an article for Comparative Civilizations Review regarding the ideas of Japanese philosopher Watsuji Tetsuro and Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka, respectively. His Sun Yatsen: Seeking a Newer China was published in July 2009 as a volume in Prentice Hall’s Library of World Biography series for world history courses. He has written several biographical essays for Education About Asia, a journal for educators seeking to increase Asia-related content in their courses. At present he is working on a comparison of the circumstances and policies of the Allied occupations of Japan and Germany, respectively, following World War II.

Dr. Anders Henriksson
Title	Professor Emeritus
Email	ahenriks@shepherd.edu ( Email )
Phone	304-876-5329
Ph.D., University of Toronto M.A., University of Toronto B.A., University of Rochester Russia, Modern Europe, Women’s History, Medieval England, World War I Dr. Henriksson is author of Vassals and Citizens: The Baltic Germans in Constitutional Russia, 1905-1914 and The Tsar’s Loyal Germans: The Riga German Community: Social Change and the Nationality Question, 1855-1905. He is a co-author of The City in Late Imperial Russia and has published articles in Russian Review, Canadian Slavonic Papers, The Journal of Baltic Studies, and The Wilson Quarterly. His research interests focus on the role of class, ethnicity, and gender in modern Russia and Eastern Europe. He is currently at work on a collaborative study of the global political, social, economic, and cultural impact of the First World War. Also a chronicler of the humorous side of campus life, Dr. Henriksson is compiler of Non Campus Mentis: World History According to College Students and College in a Nutskull.

Dr. Jennifer M. Murray
Title	Assistant Professor of History; Director, Civil War Center
Email	JMURR01@shepherd.edu ( Email )
Phone	304-876-5429
Dr. Jennifer M. Murray is a Civil War historian specializing in military history. She received her Ph.D. in 19th Century American History at Auburn University (Alabama) and her Master’s degree from James Madison University (Virginia). She earned her Bachelor’s from Frostburg State University (Maryland). Prior to being appointed the Director of the George Tyler Moore Center, Murray taught at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Murray’s first book, On A Great Battlefield: The Making, Management, and Memory of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1933-2013 was published by the University of Tennessee Press in 2014. While Gettysburg is the most studied battle of the Civil War, On A Great Battlefield offers a pioneering interpretation that moves the discussion beyond the July 1863 battle to an exploration of the history of the battlefield landscape. Murray’s research considers the nexus of preservation, interpretation, and memory at Gettysburg National Military Park from 1933, when the National Park Service acquired the battlefield, through the battle’s sesquicentennial in 2013. A second edition of this book, with a new preface, was published in June 2023, which updated the narrative to cover the park’s history through 2023. Dr. Murray is currently writing her second book, tentatively titled Meade at War: The Military Life of George Gordon Meade, a biography of Union general George Gordon Meade. This is a comprehensive biography of Meade, from his birth in 1815 until his death in 1872, with, of course, a particular focus on Meade’s Civil War career. This forth coming work provides an opportunity to explore issues of high command within a fractured and politicized Army of the Potomac and addresses questions on the nature of civil–military relations, popular opinion, the media, and notions of a decisive battle. Murray’s work also considers Meade’s military performance at each level of command (brigade, division, corps, and finally army commander) and explores his relationship with his civil and military superiors and subordinates. Murray is also the co–editor of a forthcoming volume titled, They Are Dead and Yet They Live: Civil War Memories in a Polarized America, to be published by the University of Nebraska Press in February 2026. This collection of essays explores the use (and abuse) of Civil War memory in modern America, from the Civil War Centennial and the civil rights era through the political turmoil of the present day. Murray’s chapter, “The Politics of Civil War Memory in America’s Military: The Battle to Rename Nine U.S. Army Bases,” explores the history and contemporary controversy over the naming of U.S. Army bases after former Confederates. In addition to her academic profile, Murray remains active in public history. She is a featured speaker at Gettysburg College’s Civil War Institute and numerous Civil War Round Tables across the country. She worked for the National Park Service at Gettysburg National Military Park as a seasonal interpretive ranger for nine summers. Murray also worked seasonally at the C&O Canal National Historical Park, stationed at Ferry Hill. Murray has published book chapters in edited collections and has written articles for Civil War History and Civil War Times. She has also led study abroad trips to World War and World War II battlefields in Europe, mentored undergraduate and graduate student research, and facilitated student internships at various national and state parks. A native of Pennsylvania, Murray grew up in Frostburg, Maryland. She is incredibly excited to be living and working among such critically important Civil War landscapes and to be the director of Shepherd’s Civil War Center.

Dr. Julia Sandy
Title	Associate Professor of History
Email	jsandyba@shepherd.edu ( Email )
Phone	304-876-5329
Modern American History, Civil Rights Movement, American Women’s History, Public History Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst B.A., University of Virginia Dr. Sandy’s research interests focus on the history of social and political movements, especially the northern civil rights movement. Her articles and reviews have appeared in Breaking the Wave: Women, Their Organizations, and Feminism, 1945-1985 (Routledge Press, 2010), and The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History (Oxford University Press, 2007). She is currently working on a book manuscript about the black freedom movement in New York City, which examines consumer rights and activism as part of that movement. Dr. Sandy is also Co-Director of the Historic Preservation and Public History program at Shepherd, and her public history work includes new media, oral history, history education, and local history.