The Richards Civil War Era Center invites applications for the Mark and Ann Persun Visiting Scholars Program for tenured faculty in history at the rank of Associate Professor. The fellowship is open to scholars of the Civil War Era, broadly conceived, who study military or political history.
In 2025-2026 academic year, the fellowship will be held to a scholar of political history.
This fellowship is designed to provide mid-career faculty with time, support, and resources to devote to a book-length work-in-progress. The Visiting Scholar will also become an important member of the Richards Center community and will workshop sections of their book project, in addition to participating in Center events and programs. There is no teaching or service associated with this fellowship.
The successful applicant will have the option to move to State College or to remain at their home institution and make several short visits to Penn State over the course of the year. A candidate’s potential to relocate will have no impact on the fellowship selection process.
The fellowship includes $80,000 in salary replacement funds, $7,500 in research/conference travel, and $7,500 in moving/visit funds. The Richards Center will coordinate payment of the fellowship through the recipient’s home institution. The successful applicant must receive approval from their home institution to accept the fellowship.
To apply for this position, please submit an application packet including a letter of interest, a CV, a book proposal (max 10 pages), and 2 letters of recommendation to Barby Singer at bqs6@psu.edu by March 1, 2025.
Kathryn “KT” Shively, 2024-2025 Persun Visiting Scholar
Kathryn “KT” Shively is an associate professor of Civil War and Reconstruction history at Virginia Commonwealth University with specialties in early American military, environmental, and medical history. They are the author of Nature’s Civil War: Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 Virginia (University of North Carolina Press, 2013) and co-editor with Caroline Janney of the forthcoming volume, The Second Manassas Campaign (UNC Press, expected 2025). They also serve as co-PI with Paul Quigley (Virginia Tech) on the NEH-funded public history project, “Experiencing Civil War History Through Augmented Reality: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Environment at Pamplin Historical Park.” Their second monograph, History Wars: Jubal A. Early and the Confederate Origins of Modern American History, is under contract with University of Georgia Press for submission in 2025. Their favorite part of being a Civil War historian is giving battlefield tours, and they spend their non-working hours hosting bluegrass jams, making pies, hiking, and reading with their kid.
