Biography

Dr. Ellis specializes in the social and cultural history of the transatlantic world during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. He is particularly interested in the history of the anti-slavery movement and other reforms during the Age of Revolutions, the history of childhood and education, borderlands history, environmental history, and the history of revivalism and evangelical Christianity. His geographic interest lies especially in the history of the Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and Upper South in the United States and the history of England and Ireland in the British Isles. He received his PhD in early American History at Purdue University in 2010 and has publications in The Journal of Southern History, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Faith and History, Ohio Valley History, The Indiana Historical Review, and elsewhere. At BSU, he teaches US History I and II, Minnesota History, Native American History, and anything related to either American or European History from the 1500s through the 1870s. He also teaches the history of World War II because who isn’t interested in it?

In his personal time, Dr. Ellis is avid traveler and outdoorsman. He’s camped on all three American coasts (Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf), traveled to 49 of the 50 US states in his lifetime, and traveled to 11 different countries in the last 5 years! He likes to discuss his travel adventures with his students. His favorite places to visit are the UK, Australia, and Norway. Unfortunately for his students, he grew up in Ohio and has been unable to shake his allegiance to OSU football, even after living in Minnesota for eight years. He especially likes to tease his students about the University of Minnesota’s record against THE Ohio State University. However, Minnesota is his adopted home. He’s been to all 87 Minnesota counties and loves to visit its many great state parks.

Degrees

Purdue University
Ph.D. History, 2010

Bowling Green State University
M.A. History, 2005

Heidelberg University, Tiffin, OH
B.A. History, B.A. Anthropology, 2003

Teaching

United States History to 1877
United States History since 1877
Minnesota History
Native American History
Southern History
The Transatlantic World, 1500s-1700s
The History of American Religion
The American Revolutionary Era, 1763-1800
Reform Movements in Early Nineteenth Century America
The American Civil War, 1850-1865
The World at War, 1939-1941
Tudor-Stuart Britain
Victorian Britain
Historiography
Historical Methodology

Research Interests

The Early American Republic
Antebellum America
Anti-Slavery and Other Reform Movements
Evangelical Christianity
Native American History
History of Childhood and Education
The Transatlantic World