Our Graduates

The Department of History takes great pride in the many accomplishments of its alumni. 

Graduates Pursuing Further Study

Serena Barbieri is pursuing a Ph.D. in history at Rice University.

Tim Quevillon is pursuing a Ph.D. in history at the University of Houston.

Ian McDowell is pursuing a Ph.D. in history at Texas Tech.

Mark Baxter is completing a Ph.D. in history at the University of Colorado.

Jay Boehm is completing a Ph.D. in history at the University of Virginia.

Rusty Bouseman is completing a Ph.D. program at Oklahoma State University.

Dino DelGallo is completing a Ph.D. at American University in Washington, DC, teaching history at Northern Virginia Community College, and serving as the Operations Manager, Radio Studio Service, for Voice of America.

Chris Levesque is a Ph.D. student in the History Department at the University of Alabama, and he teaches online history courses for Colorado Community Colleges.

Tom Oakes recently completed a Ph.D. in history at Texas Christian University.

Don Paterson is completing a Ph.D. in geography at Texas A&M University.

James Phelps is completing a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University.

Darren Pierson is completing a Ph.D. in history at Texas A&M.

Paul Sugg is completing a Ph.D. in history at Texas A&M.

Secondary Educators

Brandi Hoffmann is teaching at Round Top -Carmine High School in Carmine, Texas.

Michael R. Blackwell teaches history at Aldine Middle School.

Mike Dennis teaches history with the Cypress-Fairbanks school district in Houston.

Anne Froelich served as the principal of Huntsville High School.

Gary Haliburton teaches history in the Waco public school system.

Richard Herrera (May 2011, B.A. in History) is a 7th grade Texas History teacher at Hoffman Middle School in Aldine I.S.D.

Alan Hubble teaches social studies and reading at Carter Riverside High School in Fort Worth. He is currently working on a dual Ed.D/MBA degree at TCU.

Wendy Mateo teaches English for Spring ISD.

Anita Pilling teaches history at the John Cooper School in The Woodlands and is assisting the department in organizing a Texas branch of the National Council for Social Studies.

Pat Shevlin teaches history in New Waverly, Texas.

Leslie (Hegman) Sproat teaches history at Cunningham Middle School in Galena Park ISD, Houston, Texas.

College Professors and Administrators

Troy Beals is an instructor of U.S. History at the Community College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bruce M. Arnold (MA 2007) eanred a PhD at LSU in 2014 and is a postdoc at Ohio State University.

Timoteo Canales is a professor of history at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas.

Marilyn Clark teaches history at Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Pam Forsythe is adjunct professor of history at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida.

Brandon Franke is Dean for the Social Sciences at Blinn College.

Chris Gore is Director of Admissions at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Mike Hall is a professor of history at Houston Community College.

David Hudson received a Ph.D. in history at Texas A&M University and now teaches there.

Allen Lehmann is a professor at Blinn College.

Eric Loew teaches technical writing at Stark Technical College in Canton, Ohio.

Matt McCook is a professor of history at Oklahoma Christian University.

Dan Nesmith is a professor of history at Navarro College in Corsicana.

Darlene Rivas received a Ph.D. in history Vanderbilt University and currently teaches at Pepperdine University.

Joella Robinson is a professor of history at Houston Community College

Lincoln Rolling is a professor of history in the Dallas community college system.

Lisa Harp South is Site Director of Central Texas College at Fort Sill, Oklahoma

Leigh Range Williamson is the Student Services' Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio.

Lauran Kerr-Heraly (MA History - 2003) received her Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S. History and a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies from the University of Houston in 2010. She currently teaches History and Gender Studies at TASIS The American School in England outside London.

Lenna Allred completed her Ph.D. degree in history at Texas A & M University and is writing a book on the women who served in the Vietnam War.

Craig Bunch received a fellowship for Independent Study in the Humanities from the Council for Basic Education.

Mark Lambert is the Deputy Commissioner for Archives and Records at the Texas General Land Office.

Joe Michaud has his own law practice in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

Jean Turner is Project Coordinator for the Leon County Community Health Clinic and Leon County Health Resource Center.

Dan Utley now runs his own business as a history consultant in Austin, Texas.

Jodi Wright-Gidley is the Director of the Galveston County Historical Museum in Galveston, TX.

Career Journeys

Ty Hillard is a recent graduate from Sam Houston State University. He studied history and has now gone on to work at Waco Mammoth National Monument as a park ranger. He discussed his career and academic journey, and how Sam Houston has helped him achieve his goals and has given him skills that help him overcome the roadblocks of life. He gives his best advice about what opportunities are important for a student to take advantage of and gives the advice to be proactive in building relationships with your peers. His interview was centered in the idea of getting as much experience and building lasting relationships with professors and peers a like, as often as possible. Hearing him speak was an amazing opportunity to see how Sam Houston prepares people to achieve their dreams and teaches skills that are imperative to professional development.

Could you please introduce yourself and what you majored in at Sam Houston, and what your career is now?

My name is Ty Hilliard. I graduated in May of 2024 I majored in history, and I minored in Spanish. After I graduated, I got hired on as a Park ranger at the Waco Mammoth National Monument.

What do you do there, daily?

As a park ranger there is, I primarily give tours of what we have there, and the wake of Mammoth National Monument is the only recorded instance of a Columbian mammoth nursery herd ever being uncovered in the world right now.

Looking back to when you started your education journey at Sam Houston, what were your plans or your dreams?

I always knew I wanted to major in history, but I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do with it. I pretty much knew I didn't want to go into teaching so I was keeping my options open. It wasn't until I took the public history course that the department of History offers under Dr. Doleshal, that I really found a passion in going into public history.

How did the plan or dream change or evolve, to lead you to where you are now?

After I took that public history class, in the spring of 2023, there was an internship offered through the History Department, and so I took it. I did that public history internship at the Samuel Walker Houston Museum in Huntsville over the summer, and that really helped to separate me from other candidates for what I'm doing now.

Life can throw obstacles in your way, so how do you use your education to move forward when roadblocks arrive?

I think mainly how I pivot is rather than marketing my degree, I market the skills I learned from that degree. So, research, how to how to present information in a tangible format, stuff like that.

Is there any like classes that you can think of that are very helpful to you now?

I said, the public history class with Dr. Zachary Doleshal. That is probably one of the best classes I have taken Sam Houston, because it's a very hands-on class. We maybe only spent 5 actual days in the actual classroom, and The rest of the time we were doing practical work in museums.

What are you most excited for in the future of your job and in your life?

I think the most exciting thing is just continuing in the public history career. I'm very fortunate that that I got a public history job right out of college. A lot of my friends who've also taken public history courses and internships, haven't really been able to find jobs in those fields. So, I'm just glad to be in this field right out of college and doing what I love.

Was there anything that you did that you would recommend to students who are in a similar position to you that has helped you get where you are?

The one thing I could recommend the most is doing internships. In the interview for what I'm doing now, a lot of the questions were asking “Do I have any experience working in a museum, working in public history in general?” Having that experience under your belt right out of college can make or break the deal.

Was there anything that you did that you would recommend to students who are in a similar position to you that has helped you get where you are?

I think the one thing I wish I learned, would probably be to not be so introverted. Make friends with the people in your department, because a lot of the people you see in your degree specific classes, you're going to see in a lot of your other classes. So really get to know the people around you, and you'll be able to make some pretty good, lasting friendships. I'm friends with a lot of people who also did public history there.

What advice do you have that you want to leave with everyone as a close?