Southern Miss History Professor Earns Blount Professorship in Military History
Tue, 09/16/2025 - 09:38am | By: Dr. David Tisdale
Dr. Kevin Greene
A University of Southern Mississippi (USM) faculty member with an exemplary record in teaching, research and service has been named the recipient of the Major Gen. Buford “Buff” Blount Professorship in Military History.
Dr. Kevin Greene, associate professor of history in the School of Humanities, will hold the professorship through 2027. Awarded biennially by the Dale Center for the Study of War & Society, the professorship honors the decorated military officer and Southern Miss graduate who led the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division into Baghdad in 2003. Its purpose is to support a history faculty member’s research leading to the publication of a major study in the field of war and society.
At the end of the two-year term, the holder of the Blount Professorship presents a lecture or program based on the findings of their research.
A Dale Center Fellow, Greene joined the Southern Miss history program as a visiting assistant professor in 2012. He serves as director of the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage (COHCH) and is founding co-director of the Center for the Study of the National Guard (CSNG).
“Being awarded the Blount Professorship is a true honor,” Greene said. “Given Gen. Blount’s name, career and legacy of service, I feel humbled and blessed to share his name for a few years. In addition, I’ve joined the ranks of Blount Professors who came before my time, and the list of previous recipients is incredible. I only hope I can live up to the amazing precedent they’ve all set.”
With support from the Blount Professorship, Greene will work on two projects: the Victory Disc (V-Disc) program and a study of the careers of Black National Guard officers.
The V-Disc project was a highly successful U.S. Army and Navy music recording program that ran from 1942 to 1949. It produced more than 800 releases of popular and classical music, pressed into more than 8 million 12-inch, 78 rpm vinylite or formvar discs. The recordings were distributed worldwide to boost morale among American service members.
Greene’s book argues that the V-Disc program reflects intersections between American cultural creativity, marketplace ingenuity, organized labor, military science and the use of entertainment as propaganda in wartime. He is in contract negotiations with the University of North Carolina Press for its publication.
His second project examines Black National Guard officers from 1980 to 2020, a period when many Deep South states began commissioning Black officers into their corps. It centers on retired Maj. Gen. Augustus “Leon” Collins, the first Black general officer in the Mississippi National Guard, as well as many of his contemporaries.
“Dr. Greene is a distinguished historian whose work sheds light on pivotal chapters of our military past,” said Dr. Chris Winstead, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Through the Blount Professorship, he will not only enhance his contributions to the field of military history but also strengthen Southern Miss’s national leadership in military history and the history of the National Guard.”
Greene’s service and scholarship have been widely recognized. He received the African American Student Organization Faculty Award in 2016, the Institute for Higher Learning in the State of Mississippi Excellence in Diversity Award in 2016-17, and the Alpha Phi Alpha Kennard-Washington Man of Distinction Award in 2016-17. He was named the Nina Bell Suggs Endowed Professor in 2018-19 and earned the University Award for Excellence in Service in 2024.
His leadership roles at Southern Miss include serving as undergraduate coordinator for Interdisciplinary Studies (2014-16) and as a Faculty Senate member (2016-19), where he chaired the Education Committee (2018-19). He has directed the COHCH since 2015 and became founding co-director of the CSNG in 2021. He also serves as a presidential appointee on the University Monuments and Memorials Placement Committee.
One of Greene’s former students, Capt. Travis Salley, is a USM Ph.D. candidate and active-duty U.S. Army officer enrolled in a program that allows him to pursue graduate study in history before a follow-on assignment teaching at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He said Greene played a key role in developing his research skills and helping him grow and gain recognition as a scholar for his work on music in the military. Salley wrote the entry on U.S. military cadences for the Oxford Grove Music Encyclopedia and published additional work in the Journal of War and Society.
“Part of the reason I chose Southern Miss was to study with Dr. Greene,” Salley said. “He was one of the few professors whose background in music resonated with my own training as a lifelong classical pianist, and that shared passion became an important part of my research. His mentorship and guidance have been invaluable in honing my writing and research skills.”
Greene expressed gratitude to the university for the opportunities it has provided.
“Southern Miss gave me a chance in a tough academic career landscape (when he joined its faculty) and has been generous ever since,” he said. “It allowed a working-class, first-generation college postgraduate nobody to dream big and work hard to achieve those dreams. I’ve found great fulfillment working with my incredible colleagues in the history program and the great staff at the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. It’s also been an honor and a privilege to found and direct a national center for the study of the National Guard.”
“But most of all, my students have taught me more and rewarded me more than perhaps anything in my career. The strength of the university will always rest within the incredible students who enter our classrooms. They are my favorite part of Southern Miss.”