Dr. William Wheeler
Lee University will be hosting the Spring 2002 William Snell Lecture Series on April 9-10. These lectures are open to the public and will be held in the Edna Minor Conn Lecture Hall in the Vest Building on the Lee campus, beginning at 7:30 p.m. nightly.
This year's guest speakers are Dr. Emmett Essin, a professor of History at East Tennessee State University, and Dr. William Wheeler, a professor of History at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Tuesday will feature Dr.
Essin, who currently serves as a Professor of History and Director of the Developmental Studies Program at ETSU. His teaching areas include the American West and recent America. His principal area of research is the role of the mule in the U.S. Army in the West. Dr. Essin's book, Shave Tails and Bell Sharpes: The History of the Army Mule, has recently been published by the University of Nebraska Press.
Dr. Essin has also recently stepped down from the governing board of Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society in History, after a term as a national councilor. He also served as a national advisor for PAT.
He is on the President's Council and the Academic Council at ETSU as well as the NCAA Peer Review Committee. He has received numerous faculty awards including the Distinguished Faculty Member for the College of Arts and Sciences. He has authored three books and contributed to several books over the years. He has also written numerous articles and book reviews for history journals.
On Wednesday, numerous Lee University students will be presenting their research in a symposium to be held in the Rose Lecture Hall in the Helen DeVos College of Education. These current Lee students will present research they have completed.
On Thursday, Dr. Wheeler will be speaking at 7:30 p.m. in the Edna Minor Conn Lecture Hall. Much of his writing has focused on the American South. He is the co-author of Knoxville, Tennessee: Continuity and Change in an Appalachian City and TVA and the Tellico Dam, 1936-1979. With Professor Emeritus Susan D. Becker, he co-authored five editions of Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence (Houghton Mifflin) and also is the co-author of Discovering the Western Past (Houghton Mifflin, 4th edition) and Discovering the Global Past (Houghton Mifflin, 2nd edition).
At present he is working on a second edition of the Knoxville book and, with Susan Becker, an interactive problem book for the Internet, tentatively titled Interacting with the American Past.
Dr. Wheeler came to the University of Tennessee in 1970, having held professional positions at three other schools. In 1980 and 1986, he was chosen by the University's National Alumni Association as an outstanding teacher, and he has twice been awarded the L.R. Hesler Award for service to students. From 1987 to 1994, he was the director of the University Honors Program. During the 2000-2001 academic year, Wheeler served as Acting Head of the Department of History.
Professor Wheeler's principal responsibilities in the department's graduate program are graduate courses, seminars, theses, and doctoral dissertations in United States Early National History.
The Snell Lecture Series is in its sixth year. It was named in honor of Dr. William Snell, dedicated professor at Lee for 25 years. The Series provides a venue for presentation of recent historical research and gives Lee students and the Cleveland community an opportunity to meet renowned scholars in the field of history.
Dr. Snell is a recognized author and scholar of American and Southern history. His publications including many specifically dedicated to Cleveland and Bradley County. Last year he published a biography on Myra Inman, a Bradley county native. Dr. Snell currently serves as Historian of Bradley County.
For more information about the Snell Lecture Series, please contact Dr. Daniel Hoffman at (423)614-8351 or Dr. Mary Waalkes at (423)614-8350.
Dr. Emmett Essin