Advisor: Colin F. Wilder

Education

• B.A. in Slavic Languages and Literature, Russian Studies, University of Virginia, 1981
• Montessori Elementary Teaching Diploma, Association Montessori Internationale, 1994

A mere 45 years after earning his bachelor’s degree, Jim returns to academia this fall as a first-year graduate student. If things work out for the master’s degree, he intends to pursue a Ph.D. With a father who, at the age of 99, remains mentally sharp, Jim figures he has 20 to 30 years left to turn himself into a legitimate historian!

Jim’s varied professional experiences—Montessori education, international business and manufacturing, and newspaper journalism, among others—coupled with more recent volunteer experiences in historic preservation projects, have predictably drawn him to a variety of research interests. He has chosen “Global, Comparative, and Connective” history as his major field, with a minor field of “U.S. to 1877” and a tertiary in “Digital, Public, and Interdisciplinary” history.