Dr. Roy B. Campbell

Associate Professor of History
Department Chair
Office location: Neville Hall 100
Office phone: 864-833-8363
Email address: rbcamp@presby.edu

Research field: Modern China

Teaching fields: China, India, Middle East, Revolutions

I joined PC’s History department in the fall of 2002, directly after finishing my PhD work at Florida State University. What led me to PC was the desire to teach in a small liberal arts college much like my undergraduate alma mater, Wingate University. At PC, in addition to serving as Department Chair, I teach a number of classes on Chinese History (my major field), and I also regularly offer courses in my minor areas of concentration, India and the Middle East. Beginning with a Fulbright fellowship to the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu (the former New Hebrides), a lot of my research over the years has centered upon the Western colonial experience in various areas of the world. At PC, I’ve made this general interest a primary theme in a number of my specialty classes, such as Asia and the Western Impact, Violence and Terror in the Modern World, and Millenarian Movements in the Modern World. My favorite part of teaching at PC is the opportunity to lead students on trips abroad. Over the past few years, I’ve joined my colleagues in leading student groups to China, Oxford, Vietnam, Istanbul, Ireland, Jerusalem and Cairo.  I spent this past summer (2011) teaching in the Semester-at-Sea program, traveling with students to a number of countries in the Mediterranean region.  My next PC trip with students is a South Pacific Maymester for 2013, during which we’ll spend time sailing through Fiji and visiting volcanoes and “cargo cults” in Vanuatu.

While I’m a native of North Dakota, I spent a good portion of my youth in the panhandle of Florida. At Wingate, I met my lovely wife, Suzette, and since coming to PC we’ve been blessed with two adorable boys, Dakota (7) and Skye (5). As a family, we love traveling to out of the way places, and you’ll also see us in regular attendance at Blue Hose sporting events!