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About Christine E. Sears

A consistent interest in teaching and education brought Christine to UAH. She completed an undergraduate degree in Secondary English Education; unable to focus on just one area, her degree included a double major in the Humanities and a minor in Greco-Roman studies. A job teaching junior and senior high school took her to the East Coast, where she taught English, public speaking, and ancient history. Meanwhile, she worked as a guide at Winterthur Museum in Delaware on the weekends. Winterthur's collection of American decorative arts inspired a deep curiosity about the people who made and used the objects, as well as a conviction that active, hands on learning is the best way to share history with others. In fact, Christine was so convinced that she moved into the Education Department at Winterthur, where she designed and implemented programs for students in grades pre-K through Elderhostel and workshops for teachers that earned continuing education credit. Unable to completely give up English education, she taught composition, study skills, and public speaking at Delaware Technical and Community College in the evenings.
Hooked on history at Winterthur, she decided to return for an advanced degree in American history at the University of Delaware. Her master's thesis, "Submit Like a Man," addressed masculinity in the early republic, but she focused on comparative slavery in her dissertation.
At UAH, Christine teaches world and American history surveys, upper division classes in the American early republic and antebellum periods, the Atlantic World, and gender history. She looks forward to developing a course on the Ottoman Empire and the World that will hopefully include a trip to Istanbul and working with other history faculty to develop a public history program.
When not at UAH, Christine enjoys gardening, lifting weights, and spending time with her husband, Eric.

Positions

2021 - Present Department Chair of History, The University of Alabama in Huntsville
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2013 - Present Associate Professor, The University of Alabama in Huntsville ‐ Department of History
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2007 - 2013 Assistant Professor, The University of Alabama in Huntsville ‐ Department of History
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2001 - 2007 Instructor, University of Delaware
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1991 - 2007 Guide Specialist, Winterthur Museum
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2001 - 2003 Research Assistant, Winterthur Museum
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1998 - 2001 Teaching Assistant, University of Delaware
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1998 Intern, Historic Houses of Odesa
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1994 - 1997 Adjunct Instructor, Delaware Technical and Community College
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1991 - 1993 Secondary Teacher, Woodbury High School
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Curriculum Vitae

Disciplines

Research Interests

Grants

2015 Faculty Research Grant for research in the New York National Archives and Records Administration
UAH Humanities Center
$3,000
2014 Faculty Research Grant for research in the New-York Historical Society
UAH Humanities Center
$3,000
2014 UAH Individual Investigator Distinguished Research Grant
University of Alabama in Huntsville
$10,547
2013 Faculty Research Grant for research at the Waltham (MA) National Archives and Records Administration
UAH Humanities Center
$2,991
2011 UAH Junior Faculty Distinguished Research Grant
University of Alabama in Huntsville
$10,459
2008 UAH Mini-Research Grant
University of Alabama in Huntsville
$7,000
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Professional Service and Affiliations

Present Member, Alabama Historical Association
Present Member, Society for Historians of the Early American Republic
Present Member, Southern Association of Women Historians
Present Member, Southern Historical Association
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Honors and Awards

  • 2021-2022 UAH Honors Faculty Fellow
  • 2020-2021 UAH Honors Faculty Fellow
  • UAH Collaborative Learning Fellow, 2018
  • UAH Collaborative Learning Fellow, 2017
  • UAH Dean's Faculty Development Award, 2016
  • John A. Munroe Memorial Award for Excellent Teaching for the development of an outstanding course and exceptional teaching, 2007
  • Office of Graduate Studies Graduate Travel Fund Award, 2007
  • Colonial Dames of America District 10 Award in American History, 2006
  • Office of Graduate Studies Graduate Travel Fund Award, 2006
  • Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Fellowship, 2004
  • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship at the Library Company of Philadelphia and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2002
  • Fall Stewart Fellowship at the University of Delaware, 2000

Courses

  • FYE 101: First Year Experience
  • HY 103: World History to 1500
  • HY 221: United States History to 1877
  • HY 300: Craft of History
  • HY 367: Women in U.S. History
  • HY 426: Colonial America
  • HY 482: Comparative Slavery and Abolition
  • HY 605: Recent Interpretations of Modern History
  • HY 619: Studies of 19th American History

Education

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2007 Ph.D. in American History, University of Delaware
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2000 M.A. in American History, University of Delaware
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1991 B.S. in English and Humanities Secondary Education, Wright State University
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Contact Information

1301 Ben Graves Drive
Morton Hall
Room 206G
Huntsville, AL 35899

christine.sears@uah.edu
256-824-2573