Department of History
Associate Professor, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
Phone: 828-227-3910
Email: starnes@email.wcu.edu
Office Address: Stillwell 340
Biography:
Richard D. Starnes became Dean of Western Carolina's College of Arts and Sciences in July 2012. He is a historian specializing in the American South. His books include Creating the Land of the Sky: Tourism and Society in Western North Carolina (University of Alabama Press, 2006), 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). His articles and essays have appeared in Southern Cultures, the North Carolina Historical Review, and other journals. He won the College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Award in 2008, edits the Appalachian Echoes Series at the University of Tennessee Press, and serves on the North Carolina Historical Commission.
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”