Ph.D. and M.A. Placements
Ph.D. placements across the U.S.
Listen here to an interview with Dr. Elise Leal and Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg on “Surviving the Academic Job Market” or read the article by Dr. Beth Allison Barr on the Anxious Bench.
Recent Ph.D. Placements
Joel Iliff, Ph.D., 2020
Joel Iliff is an Assistant Professor of History at Regent University (Virginia Beach, VA). Previously, he was a Fellow at the Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era (ISRE) at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. His dissertation, “The Great Communion of Scholars: The American South, Germany, and the Creation of Modernity in the Nineteenth Century,” was advised by Dr. Michael Parrish.
Ryan Butler, Ph.D., 2019
Ryan Butler is an Assistant Professor of History at Anderson University (Anderson, SC). His dissertation, “‘Give an Account of Thy Stewardship’: How ‘Vital Religion’ Forged Anti-Slavery and Empire in the British World, 1772-1846”, was advised by Dr. Philip Jenkins.
Paul Gutacker, Ph.D., 2019
Paul Gutacker is teaching at Baylor University as an adjunct in the Department of History. His dissertation, “Remembering the Old Faith in the New Nation: American Protestants and the Christian Past, 1780-1865”, was advised by Dr. Thomas Kidd.
Adina Kelley, Ph.D., 2019
Adina Kelley is a full-time instructor at the University of Northwestern (Saint Paul, MN). Her dissertation, “The Evangelical Mystique: Conservative Protestant Femininity in the United States from 1940-1970”, was advised by Dr. Barry Hankins.
Matt Millsap, Ph.D., 2019
Matt Millsap is an Assistant Professor of American History at Northwest Nazarene University (Nampa, Idaho). His dissertation, “Nature’s Creed: Natural Religion, Protestants, and Enlightened Belief in Early America”, was advised by Dr. Thomas S. Kidd.
Timothy D. Grundmeier, Ph.D., 2018
Timothy Grundmeier is a full-time faculty member in the Department of History at Martin Luther College (New Ulm, MN). His dissertation,“Making Their Own Faith: Lutheranism and American Culture in the Civil War Era”, was advised by Dr. T. Michael Parrish.
Elise Leal, Ph.D., 2018
Elise Leal is an Assistant Professor of Early American History at Whitworth University (Spokane, WA). Her dissertation, “Reforming Manners, Redeeming Souls: Sunday Schools, Childhood, and the Formation of Early Nineteenth-Century American Religious Culture”, was advised by Dr. Thomas S. Kidd.
Lynneth J. Miller Renberg, Ph.D., 2018
Lynneth Miller Renberg is an Assistant Professor of European History at Anderson University (Anderson, SC). Her dissertation, “‘Satan Danced in the Person of the Damsel’: Dance, Sacrilege, and Gender, 1280-1640”, was advised by Dr. Beth Allison Barr.
Paul Emory Putz, Ph.D., 2018
Paul Putz is the Assistant Director of Sports Ministry at Truett Seminary. He previously taught as a Lecturer in History at Messiah College (Mechanicsburg, PA). His dissertation,“God, Country, and Big-Time Sports: American Protestants and the Creation of ‘Sportianity,’ 1920-1980”, was advised by Dr. Barry Hankins.
Brendan Payne, Ph.D., 2017
Brendan Payne is an Assistant Professor of History at North Greenville University (Tigerville, SC); he previously taught as an adjunct at Central Texas College and a temporary lecturer at Baylor. His dissertation, “Cup of Salvation: Race, Religion and the Anti-Prohibition in Texas, 1885-1935”, was advised by Dr. Barry Hankins, and he currently has a book under contract with Louisiana State University Press, Christians Defying Jim Crow (expected 2021). Brendan loves board games, reading, and exploring Upstate South Carolina, which reminds him and his wife, Catherine, of their childhood homes in the Pacific Northwest.
Nicholas Pruitt, Ph.D., 2017
Nicholas Pruitt is the Chair of the Humanities Program and Assistant Professor in History at Eastern Nazarene College (Quincy, MA). His dissertation, “Open Hearts, Closed Doors: Native Protestants, Pluralism, and the 'Foreigner' in America, 1924-1965”, was advised by Dr. Barry Hankins, and he currently has a book contract with New York University Press.
Recent M.A. Graduates
Cynthia Reifsteck, M.A., 2021
Abigail Higgins, M.A., 2020
Kari Johnson, M.A., 2020
Kari Johnson is a full-time faculty member at Emmaus Bible College (Dubuque, IA), where she teaches courses such as U.S. History II, Western Civilization I, and World Geography and Current Affairs. Her master’s thesis, “‘Sweet Spirit Hovering Around Me’: Texas Methodist Women Face the Civil War,” was advised by Dr. T. Michael Parrish.
Samantha Leanza Ortiz, M.A. 2020
Anabel Burke, M.A., 2019
Anabel Burke graduated in May 2019. Her thesis, “Asad's Syria: The Key to the Perpetuation of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1973-1984”, was advised by Dr. George Gawrych.
Julie Mullican, M.A., 2019
Julie Mullican graduated in May 2019 and is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History at the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN). Her thesis, “Lex Vincit? The Chicago Legal News and the Changing Status of Household Dependents from 1868-1873”, was advised by Dr. Andrea Turpin.
Mikah Sauskojus, M.A., 2019
Mikah Sauskojus graduated in August 2019. His thesis, “Whatever You Do, Be Brave: Evangelicalism, Masculinity, and Empire in the Boy's Own Paper, 1879-1889”, was advised by Dr. Joseph Stubenrauch.
Scott Anderson, M.A., 2018
Scott Anderson is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History at the University of Missouri. He was an Adjunct Professor of History at The University of Mary-Hardin Baylor (Belton, TX) in 2018. His thesis, “The Black Brigade of Cincinnati: Martial Volunteerism and the Quest for African-American Citizenship”, was advised by Dr. T. Michael Parrish.
Jacob Hiserman, M.A., 2018
Jacob Hiserman is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History at The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL). His thesis, “Goodwill, Ministers, and Manliness: The Idea of Benevolence in Antebellum American Benevolent Societies and Seminary Education”, was advised by Dr. Andrea Turpin.
Benjamin Leavitt, M.A., 2018
Benjamin Leavitt is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History at Baylor University (Waco, TX). His thesis, “Defining the Christian College: The Council of Church Boards of Education and American Religious Higher Education, 1911–1950”, was advised by Dr. Andrea Turpin.
Anna (Redhair) Wells, M.A., 2018
Anna Wells is a Ph.D. student in Historical Studies in the Department of Religion at Baylor University (Waco, TX). Her thesis, “Women on the Move: Representations of Female Pilgrims in Medieval England and Ethiopia”, was advised by Dr. Beth Allison Barr.