Dr. Michael A. Nelson

Note: Dr. Nelson is currently serving the college as Dean of Academic Programs.  Therefore, he divides his time between teaching in the History Department and serving in the Office of Academic Affairs.

Associate Professor of History
Dean of Academic Programs
Office location: Neville Hall 106
Office phone: 864-833-8376
Email address: mnelson@presby.edu

Research fields: U.S. Diplomatic and Military History, Cold War, and Vietnam

Teaching fields: Modern U.S. History, Diplomatic and Military History

I came to PC in 2000 after finishing my dissertation at the University of Arkansas and teaching for a year at the University of Louisville. While my initial area of focus was Cold War Diplomatic History, specifically American involvement in Vietnam, over the years that has broadened to Military History as well as the cultural aspects of 20th-Century America. Currently, I am continuing to work on a biography of Roger Hilsman. In case you didn’t know, he fought in World War II, was an architect of Cold War planning in the 1950s, and then joined the Kennedy administration as a policy advisor for Southeast Asia. After Kennedy’s death in 1963, Hilsman moved to academia and became a vocal critic of Lyndon Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War. The major reason I came to PC was that I wanted something akin to my undergraduate experience at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. There I majored in Social Studies Education as well as History. After graduation, I got my M.A. in Policy History at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and then spent four years at Arkansas.

On a personal side, I have lived in numerous places – Illinois, Ohio, Connecticut, Minnesota, Kentucky, Arkansas, and South Carolina. And while I was born and raised as a ‘Yankee’, I’ve been in the South long enough that when the temperature gets into the 40s I consider that cold! I met my wife Susan in Ohio. Originally from upstate New York, she is a speech pathologist in the local school district. We have two wonderful boys, Patrick (8) and Shane (5), as well as identical twin girls, Sidney and Kelly, who were born in the fall of 2009. As for my hobbies, I am an avid college football fan, love to travel, read, listen to music, and play with my kids.