Stephen Sloan Named Director of Institute for Oral History

by Paige Patton, communication specialist, (254) 710-3321

Dr. Stephen Sloan has joined Baylor University as director of the Institute for Oral History and assistant professor in the history department. He began his new duties in August.

"Baylor's Institute for Oral History is one of the nation's top oral history research programs, with a rich track record of creating significant collections and a history of leadership establishing best standards of practice for the field," Sloan said. "What is intriguing about my position is the opportunity to continue that tradition while embracing the challenge of moving into new areas of research and use of the methodology."

Sloan is a public historian specializing in 20th-century U.S. history, the American West, environmental history and community history. He received a bachelor's degree in accounting and a master's degree in history from Baylor, and he earned a doctorate in public history and U.S. history from Arizona State University. Additionally, he has completed post-baccalaureate work in history at the University of California at Los Angeles. Prior to directing the Institute at Baylor, Sloan served as co-director of the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi.

The Institute for Oral History is a freestanding research department within the division of academic affairs of Baylor. Since 1970, the Institute has created oral histories that document personal experience of historical significance and has developed a strong reputation for its outreach to the wider multidisciplinary community of scholars by providing leadership, education, and research opportunities.

"One of my primary short-term goals is to increase the preservation and accessibility of the collection, through digitizing transcripts and interview audio," Sloan said. "This will facilitate creating more public programming with our interviews, such as web development, museum exhibits and curriculum materials. A long-term objective is to foster partnerships with community groups and institutions to help them document, interpret and present their own history."

For more information, visit the Institute for Oral History's web site at www.baylor.edu/oral_history.