Messiah College Homecoming

One of the great pleasures of teaching at a place like Messiah College is the relationships I have been able to develop over the years with students. I have been at Messiah for seven years now, which means that Homecoming Weekend is finally beginning to have some meaning for me. The History Department hosts an annual homecoming reception for alumni each October. Many former students return and today was no exception. I am always encouraged to hear how the lives of my former students are taking shape in their post-Messiah years. If you are one of those students–Matt C., Justin B., David G., Wayne K., Janet V., Mary Lee S., Peter F., Eric W., Joann H., and Abigail A. –it was good to see you this afternoon.

The History Department at Messiah College has come a long way in the last half-decade or so. When I arrived in 2002, the department consisted of three tenure-track historians–two Americanists and a world historian. Since then, we have added two European historians and an historian of Africa. This year our former Dean, a world-class medievalist and the architect behind the department’s development, will be returning to full-time teaching. It was fun today to talk about these times of transition with some of the students who went through them, especially those who helped us immensely during our faculty searches along the way.

It was also a special day because the student-run History Club, an organization of which I served as founding advisor for five years, presented me with a gift of recognition for the publication of The Way of Improvement Leads Home. I am now the proud owner of a very warm Messiah College afghan!