Dr. Gary Donaldson

Department: History

Hometown: Marion, Indiana

At Xavier Since: 1987

Degree: PhD. LSU, 1983

Comments on Teaching and Learning at Xavier: Possibly the most distinctive aspect to my teaching is my approach to history in general. I see history (and I'm certain that those students who have done well in my classes would reiterate this) as cause and effect. It's not so much the facts and events of history themselves that I consider important, but the causes of the events, and then the impact that those events have had on the world. Students in my courses would find a great deal of emphasis on the causes of World War II and then on the impact the war had on the post-war world. But they might not find much attention being paid to why the Allies won. For this reason, I'm not much of a "battlefield walker," and I'm not particularly interested in historical artifacts at museums.

In addition, I consider it extemely important for students to learn to write good essays. If students can come to understand the causes and effects of the primary events in history, and then learn to write about that information, they will generally do well in my classes.

CAT Projects

• XULAneXUS (successfully completed)

Tuesday, April 5, 2005