Phone: 828-227-3910
Email: starnes@email.wcu.edu   
Office Address: McKee Building 226

Biography:

Professor Starnes received his Ph.D. from Auburn University, and his teaching and research interests focus on the social and economic history of the American South.  His books include Creating the Land of the Sky: Tourism and Society in Western North Carolina (University of Alabama Press, 2005), Southern Journeys: Tourism, History, and Culture in the Modern South (University of Alabama Press, 2003, editor), and History and Hope in the Heart of Dixie (University of Alabama Press, 2006, co-editor). He has published articles and reviews in Southern Cultures, North Carolina Historical Review, and other journals. Named Hunter Scholar, 2003-2004, his current book project is tentatively titled William Alexander Graham: A Public Life in the Age of Sectionalism.  Dr. Starnes also directs the Western North Carolina Oral History Project.

Courses Taught:

• History 171: “Religion in America”
• History 190: “Freshman Seminar: Race and Southern History”
• History 232: “United States History Since 1865”
• History 434/534: “The Civil War and Reconstruction”
• History 443/543: “The American South”
• History 454/554: “American Military History”
• History 472/572: “Local History”
• History 493/593: “Introduction to Oral History”