On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students at Kent State University (KSU), killing four and wounding nine. Although this event marked a watershed moment in American culture and the start of a decline in activism related to the war in Vietnam, its place in higher education history is not well-understood. This paper traces the…

This dissertation surveys the development of the Hawaiian higher educational system in the 19th century Hawaiian Kingdom as a strategy of Hawaiian leadership in promoting and protecting Hawaiian independence. This analysis revisits a Hawaiian educational history canon that overwhelmingly credits missionaries and foreigners as imposing an…

A deeper understanding of how slavery and colonialism fundamentally shaped the system of higher education in the United States has led colleges and universities to reexamine their histories and acknowledge harms committed and the need for repair. Campuses are experimenting with how to address racial justice and healing for faculty, staff, and…

American colleges and universities are failing at civic education. Too many graduates are ignorant of basic facts about American history and institutions. According to its most recent report on what colleges and universities teach students, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) found that only 214 institutions out of 1,135 (about 19…

This dissertation delves into the profound impact of the Second Great Awakening on American higher education and its enduring social consequences. Examining the period from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, the research uncovers the core belief that drove the Awakening--that America and its citizens were chosen for a…

Field study and field courses are integral to the discipline of geography. While there are many forms that a field course might take, in this paper we draw on two university-level field courses in the U.S. Southwest to propose a road trip pedagogy for field study. We reflect on the particular resonance of the road trip in the American West and how…

The 1971 passage of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution was a significant step in advancing voting rights that offered a new route for young people to participate in public life. While met with enthusiasm in many quarters, the question of where a substantial segment of the youth vote--college students--would cast their ballots was a…

The Morrill Act of 1862 provided the funding mechanism for the modern land-grant college system. In the over 160 years since its passage, the tripartite land-grant mission of teaching, research, and service has become the most recognizable legacy of the legislation. Recent scholars of land-grant education caution against viewing the history of…

Literature exploring postsecondary undergraduate student experiences at the nexus of queerness, trans*ness, and Indigeneity remains relatively scant, as does scholarship taking a geospatial lens to understand the experiences of trans* collegians. Given the settler colonial history of higher education as a field and the colonial nature of the…

When discussing college student voice, the historical narrative has generally focused on large-scale student activism as the definitive medium through which students expressed their beliefs. However, this inevitably leaves more subtle forms of student expression left uninterrogated, specifically in the South, and other areas of the country where…

The history of higher education in the United States is deeply rooted in colonialism. The communication discipline and the field of communication, teaching, and learning find themselves unable to completely sever their ties to settler/colonialism, white supremacy, and other dehumanizing ideologies. As the authors navigate the complexities of…

This paper documents how segregation between Black students and White students across U.S. colleges has evolved since the 1960s, explores potential channels through which changes occur, and studies segregation across majors within colleges. The main findings are: (1) Black-White dissimilarity fell sharply in the late 1960s and early 1970s and has…

This project report describes the process of a team of undergraduate researchers (Chemistry and Nursing majors), who analyzed 20th-century medical kits housed at The Columbus Museum (Columbus, GA, USA). Curators and museum personnel were unfamiliar with the contents and needed assistance in identifying the various chemical contents. Items were…

It is widely recognized that religious groups played a key role in founding institutions of higher education before the early 20th century. However, until now, scholars have lacked the detailed data required to articulate how those denominations' early commitments to higher education shaped the system of colleges and universities we know today.…

December 16, 2023, was the 250th anniversary of an event that has become known as the "Boston Tea Party." This article discusses an upper-level history class about that event that allowed students to take a closer look at what really happened that night. In addition to the traditional approach of having students read large volumes of…