Swope Serving as Distinguished Visiting Chair of History at U.S. Naval Academy
Thu, 10/10/2019 - 08:08am | By: David Tisdale
Dr. Kenneth Swope, a professor of history at The University of Southern Mississippi
(USM), is currently serving as the Dr. Leo A. Shifrin Distinguished Visiting Chair
of Military & Naval History at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland
for the 2019-2020 academic year.
The Dr. Leo A. Shifrin Chair is an endowed rotating visiting professorship. It was endowed by the Viola S. Shifrin Trust in 1997 to create and maintain an endowed Distinguished Professorship in Naval and Military History at the United States Naval Academy. Holders of the Shifrin Chair are distinguished naval and military historians who teach and pursue research while in residence in the Naval Academy history department for one or two semesters. Bringing their research into the classroom, they demonstrate to midshipmen the relevance of naval and military history to their development as professional naval officers.
As the Shifrin Chair this year, Dr. Swope is teaching four courses, including "Military History of Late Imperial China;" "China in World War II;" "The Art of War;" and "The Great East Asian War, 1592-98." He is also working with select students on senior honors projects. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Dr. Swope continues research for his next book, Struggle for Empire in Nineteenth-century China: The True Story of Zuo Zongtang, which is forthcoming from the Naval Institute Press.
Dr. Swope is a Senior Fellow in USM’s Dale Center for the Study of War & Society and book review editor for The Journal of Chinese Military History. He joined the USM History program faculty in 2012.
“This is a wonderful recognition of Dr. Swope’s accomplishments in the field of Asian military history and an example of the Dale Center’s long-standing commitment to educating our future military leaders,” said USM Professor of History and Dale Center Fellow and Co-Director, Dr. Susannah Ural.
For information about the USM History program and the Dale Center, visit https://www.usm.edu/dale-center-war-society/about-dale-center-study-war-society.php.