Christopher T. Brooks
Professor of History
Education
B.A., 1994, East Stroudsburg University
M.A., 1998, East Stroudsburg University
M.Litt. (studies), 2001, University of Edinburgh
Dr. phil., 2006, University of Kassel
Prof. Brooks’ current research projects include the history of early African-American attorneys, free speech, and utility of a history degree in corporate professions.
Christopher E. Dudley
Associate Professor of History
Education
B.A., 2001, Oberlin College
M.A., 2003, University of Chicago
Ph.D., 2010, University of Chicago
Dr. Dudley's research is on post-revolutionary politics in early eighteenth century Britain, when many aspects of the modern world first emerged. This research informs his teaching on a wide range of subjects, primarily early modern and modern European history.
Teaching Interest
Modern world and global history, European history from the medieval to modern eras, especially the 16th to 18th centuries, Comparative and cross-national history of topics such as capitalism, the Reformation, and revolution, Britain and the British empire.
Research Interest
Politics, political parties, and voter behavior, Political economy, consumer society, and the roots of industrialization, Religion, especially religion in politics and the development of religious toleration, British imperial and overseas relationships, including their role in creating European and global systems.
Student Group Advising
History Club
Shannon L. Frystak
Professor of History
Education
B.S., 1990, Bowling Green State University
M.A., 1997, University of New Orleans
Ph.D., 2005, University of New Hampshire
Dr. Shannon Frystak is an award-winning writer and historian who specializes in the Modern Civil Rights Movement with an emphasis on female activism. Her most current research is a biography of Lucille Watson, owner and manager of Cross Keys Plantation in Tensas Parish, Louisiana.
Teaching Interest
African-American History, Southern History, Women's History, Labor History, the Civil Rights Movement, the 1960s
Research Interest
African-American History, Southern History, Women's History, Labor History, the Civil Rights Movement, the 1960s
Service
Member of ESU's Presidential Commission on Community and Belonging and The Cassandra Project – To promote awareness of how to resist rape culture on southern college/university campuses and to identify and prevent sexual harassment for students and faculty in departments of history across the South, sponsored by the Southern Historical Association/Southern Association for Women Historians, 2017 – present.
Student Group Advising
Former faculty advisor for the Black Student Union 2010-2019 and affiliated with/supporter of PRIDE
Publications & Presentations
Our Minds on Freedom: Women and the Struggle for Black Equality in Louisiana, 1924-1967, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2009, re-released November 2019 for the 10 year anniversary in paperback.
Lucille Watson: Chatelaine of Cross Keys Plantation, Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, forthcoming.
Confessions of an Academic Bartender: Essays on Life Inside and Outside of the Guild, forthcoming.
Co-Editor, with Mary Farmer-Kaiser, Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times Volume II – Southern Women Series, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2016.
As well as multiple book chapters, essays, and Op Eds.
Jeffrey W. Hardy
Associate Professor of History, Department Chair
Education
B.S., 1991, Mississippi State University
M.S., 1993, Louisiana State University
Ph.D., 1998, Louisiana State University
In addition to being Department Chair, Dr. Hardy also teaches Physical Geography, World Regional Geography, Climatolgy, and Introduction to GIS.
Shixiong Hu
Professor
Education
B.S., 1990, Henan University, China
M.S., 1995, South China Normal University
Ph.D., 2004, State University of New York at Buffalo
Dr. Hu offers Physical Geography, Geology, Geomorphology, Watershed Management, GIS courses. His research interests include Fluvial Processes, Water Resources Management, and GIS/RS Application.
Michael P. Gray
Professor
Education
B.A., 1990, East Stroudsburg University
M.A., 1991, East Stroudsburg University
Ph.D., 1998, Kent State University
Dr. Gray has two books to date, the Business of Captivity: Elmira and its Civil War Prison and Crossing the Deadlines: Civil War Prisons Reconsidered. He also serves as series editor to Voices of the Civil War with University of Tennessee Press, where he has overseen the publication of 16 volumes. His expertise on the Civil War has led him to be on national television twice, both on prison topics.
Teaching Interest
Civil War, U.S. Military, Frontier History, Public History, Sports History
Research Interest
Civil War prisons
Erin E. O'Donnell
Associate Professor of History
Education
B.A., 1985, University of Louisiana-Lafayette
M.A., 1991, North Carolina State University
Ph.D, 2009, University of Chicago
Dr. Hu offers Physical Geography, Geology, Geomorphology, Watershed Management, GIS courses. His research interests include Fluvial Processes, Water Resources Management, and GIS/RS Application.
Specialties
Modern World History, Modern India/South Asia, Modern China, History Through Film, Bengali/Bangladeshi/Indian Film.
Research Interest
Modern Bengal and Bangladesh, Bengali/Bangladeshi Film, Hindu/Urdu Film, Photography in India.
