Roy Campbell, Ph.D.

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, 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 great deal 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, Millenarian Movements, and Violence & Revolution in the French Empire. 

My favorite part of teaching at PC is the opportunity to lead students on trips abroad. Over the years, I’ve joined my colleagues in leading student groups to such places as China, Vietnam, Turkey, Ireland, Israel, Egypt, Barbados, Portugal & the Azores, New Zealand, Scotland, the Galapagos, Morocco, Mexico, and, most recently, Fiji in 2022 & 2025.  I also spent the summer of 2011 teaching on the Semester-at-Sea program’s Mediterranean voyage, and have led small groups of recent PC graduates on a two-week New Alumni Adventure to Fiji and Vanuatu in the South Pacific.  In addition to my teaching, I currently serve as the director of PC’s Center for South Korean and Asian Studies, and have led students to Korea the past three summers for a three-week program at our partner school, Hannam University.

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, who is a principal at Camperdown Academy in Greenville.  We have two incredible sons, Dakota (22) and Skye (20), who are both currently in college.  As a family, we love traveling to out of the way places!

Education

Ph.D., Modern Chinese History, Florida State University
M.A., Asian History, Florida State University
B.A., History, Wingate University

Research or Areas of Specialty

My research is centered on the rise of student consciousness at universities in China during the early 20th century.