Erik Schmeller, PhD

Erik Schmeller is a historian of Early America and Great Britain, focusing on race and national identity. He recently developed a new course focusing on conspiracy theories, and is researching conspiracies related to immigrant populations. He has held several administrative roles on campus starting with coordinating the teacher education program for the department, then as an interim Assistant Dean with the Graduate School, and most recently as the chair of the department for six years. Erik is also the faculty advisor for Phi Eta Sigma, National Freshman Honorary that he helped bring to TSU in 2004.

Education

Ph. D., History, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1999

M.A., English, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1993

B.A., History and English, Fort Hays State University, 1991

Courses Taught

Conspiracy and History, Honors American History I, American History I, American History II, World History II, Methods of Teaching Social Sciences, Colonial and Revolutionary America, Early American Republic, Late American Republic, British Empire, and Freshman Orientation

Research Interests

Conspiracy theories; race; national identity; the relationship between Britain and the United States; cross-disciplinary teaching; immigration

Selected Publications

Perceptions of Race and Nation in English and American Travel Writers, 1833-1914. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2004.

“Bleeding Kansas” and “John Brown” in, The Encyclopedia of the Early Republic and Antebellum America. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2009.

“San Juan Archipelago” and “Vancouver Island” in, Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History: A Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia. Oxford: ABC-Clio Publishers, 2005.

“William Wells Brown and the Role of Race in National Identity.” BMa: The Sonia Sanchez Literary Review. 9 (Fall 2003): 111-118.

“Propagandists for a Free-State Kansas: New York Times Correspondents and Bleeding Kansas, 1856.” Heritage of the Great Plains 23 (Summer 1990): 7-14.