2024 Virtual Teacher Institute: Hosts, Presenters & Historians Biographies

Keynote Speakers

Garry Adelman

A graduate of Michigan State University and Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Garry Adelman is the award-winning author, co-author or editor of 20 books and 50 Civil War articles. He is the vice president of the Center for Civil War Photography and has been a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg for 25 years. He has conceived and drafted the text for wayside exhibits at ten battlefields, has given thousands of battlefield tours at more than 60 sites and has lectured at hundreds of locations across the country including the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. He has appeared as a speaker on the BBC, C-Span, Pennsylvania Cable Network, American Heroes Channel, and on HISTORY where he was a chief consultant and talking head on the Emmy Award-winning show Gettysburg (2011) and Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color (2015). He works full-time as Chief Historian at the American Battlefield Trust.

Dr. Richard Blackett

Dr. Richard Blackett is the Andrew Jackson Professor of History (Emeritus) at Vanderbilt University. He has written on African Americans’ contribution to the trans-Atlantic abolitionist movement. His most recent book is titled: Samuel Ringgold Ward. A Life of Struggle (Yale U. Press, 2023).
 

More keynote speakers to be announced soon. 

Presenters & Historians

Dr. Emilie Amt

Biography coming soon. 

Paige Gibbons Backus

Paige is a public historian in who has been in the field for close to ten years focusing on educational programming and operations at several historic house museums in Prince William County, Virginia. She is also a contributor to Emerging Civil War where her areas of focus include women’s history as well as the more morbid side of history such as death, disease, medicine, murder, or scandal in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Sarah Kay Bierle

Sarah Kay Bierle graduated from Thomas Edison State University with a BA in History, works in the Education Department at American Battlefield Trust, and volunteers as managing editor at Emerging Civil War. She has spent years exploring ways to share quality historical research in ways that will inform and inspire modern audiences, including school presentations, writing, and speaking engagements. Sarah has published three historical fiction books and her first nonfiction book, Call Out The Cadets: The Battle of New Market, is part of the Emerging Civil War series.

Dr. Samantha Cavell 

Samantha Cavell is the Assistant Professor in Military History at Southeastern Louisiana University. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in American and Global Military History, including courses on the history of the U.S. Navy and sea power. Her publications include Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the British Navy 1771-1831; chapter contributions to The Battle of New Orleans Reconsidered; U.S. Naval Academy’s New Interpretations in Naval History; Biography and History in Film; From Across the Sea: North Americans in Nelson’s Navy, as well as numerous journal articles. A native of Australia, she received her MA from Louisiana State University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Exeter, Center for Naval and Maritime Studies in the UK. She is currently working on a book project about the Royal Navy’s role in the final year of the War of 1812.

Maria Carrillo Colato 

Maria Carrillo Colato is Special Collections Manager at A.K. Smiley Public Library and the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands. She has a Bachelor of Arts in History from California State University, Fullerton and a Master of Arts from the University of California, Riverside in History with an emphasis in Public History. She is currently a doctoral candidate at UC Riverside focusing on California in the Civil War-era. As a graduate student, Maria completed an internship with the National Park Service at Fort Donelson National Battlefield in Dover, Tennessee. She coauthored Images of America: Early Redlands and Redlands in World War I and has worked in museums and special collections in Southern California for nearly 20 years.

Daniel Davis

Dan Davis is a native of Fredericksburg, VA where his love for the Civil War began on childhood trips to local battlefields. He is a graduate of Longwood University with a bachelor’s degree in Public History. Dan has worked as a Ranger/Historian at Appomattox Court House National Historical Site and the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He is the author or co-author of numerous books and articles on the Civil War and is a regular contributor to Emerging Civil War. He currently resides in Fredericksburg. 

Dr. Matthew Keagle

Biography coming soon. 

Dr. Chris Mackowski

Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War. He is the series editor of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series, published by Savas Beatie, and the “Engaging the Civil War” Series, published in partnership with Southern Illinois University Press. Chris is a professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NY, and historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield in central Virginia. He has also worked as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he gives tours at four major Civil War battlefields (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania), as well as at the building where Stonewall Jackson died. Chris has authored or co-authored a dozen books on the Civil War, and his articles have appeared in all the major Civil War magazines. 

Richard Strum

Biography coming soon. 

Lawrence Swiader

Lawrence Swiader (call him Larry) has spent his career at the intersection of technology, media, and education in service of how it improves people's lives. Currently, as Chief Digital Officer at the American Battlefield Trust, he oversees all aspects of the Trust's digital presence in support of protecting battlefields and informing the public about the vital role these battlefields played in determining the course of our nation’s history. Formerly, Lawrence was the creator of the Bedsider.org program, which made use of digital and traditional media to change the reproductive health behaviors of young adults in the U.S. Before that, he was the Chief Information Officer at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where he built that museum’s web presence and used technology as a tool to inform the world about the history of the Holocaust and to use that knowledge to motivate people to act to end contemporary genocide.

In his second home of Athens, Greece, Lawrence has consulted on various projects for clients including the Athens Metro and museums of Greek history. He has a Greek wife, an adult daughter, and finds inspiration from playing tennis, travel, sea kayaking in Greece, art, and a good book.

Noel Wall

Noel Wall works as the Director of Education for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and in this role supports the Medal of Honor Character Development Program, speaking with educators across the country about the lessons and resources of the program. Previously, Noel served as an Adjunct Faculty Member in the English Department at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and as a Faculty Fellow in the Krause Center for Leadership and Ethics on The Citadel’s campus. Prior to her time at The Citadel, Noel taught English and Composition at the University of Tennessee.

Kristopher D. White

Kris is the deputy director of education at the American Battlefield Trust. White is a graduate of Norwich University with an M.A. in Military History and California University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in History. He served as a ranger-historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He has also served the Penn-Trafford Recreation Board as a historian, and as a continuing education instructor for the Community College of Allegheny County. White is the co-founder and chief historian emeritus of Emerging Civil War and co-creator of the Emerging Civil War Series. An award-winning speaker and editor, White has authored, co-authored, or edited some two dozen books, including four covering the Battle of Gettysburg. Kris frequently leads tours and staff rides in the United States and Europe.
 

Hosts & Moderators

Sarah Kay Bierle

Sarah Kay Bierle graduated from Thomas Edison State University with a BA in History, works in the Education Department at American Battlefield Trust, and volunteers as managing editor at Emerging Civil War. She has spent years exploring ways to share quality historical research in ways that will inform and inspire modern audiences, including school presentations, writing, and speaking engagements. Sarah has published three historical fiction books and her first nonfiction book, Call Out The Cadets: The Battle of New Market, is part of the Emerging Civil War series.  

Dan Davis

Dan Davis is a native of Fredericksburg, VA where his love for the Civil War began on childhood trips to local battlefields. He is a graduate of Longwood University with a bachelor’s degree in Public History. Dan has worked as a Ranger/Historian at Appomattox Court House National Historical Site and the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He is the author or co-author of numerous books and articles on the Civil War and is a regular contributor to Emerging Civil War. He currently resides in Fredericksburg. 

Dr. Chris Mackowski

Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War. He is the series editor of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series, published by Savas Beatie, and the “Engaging the Civil War” Series, published in partnership with Southern Illinois University Press. Chris is a professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NY, and historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield in central Virginia. He has also worked as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he gives tours at four major Civil War battlefields (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania), as well as at the building where Stonewall Jackson died. Chris has authored or co-authored a dozen books on the Civil War, and his articles have appeared in all the major Civil War magazines. 

Kristopher D. White

Kris is the deputy director of education at the American Battlefield Trust. White is a graduate of Norwich University with an M.A. in Military History and California University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in History. He served as a ranger-historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He has also served the Penn-Trafford Recreation Board as a historian, and as a continuing education instructor for the Community College of Allegheny County. White is the co-founder and chief historian emeritus of Emerging Civil War and co-creator of the Emerging Civil War Series. An award-winning speaker and editor, White has authored, co-authored, or edited some two dozen books, including four covering the Battle of Gettysburg. Kris frequently leads tours and staff rides in the United States and Europe.

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