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Dr. Paul Fessler serves as professor of history at Dordt University, teaching courses such as Civil War and Reconstruction, Media and Power: Cold War Through 9/11, and Introduction to Historical Methods. His research interests include immigration history, military history, and sports history.
Fessler’s faith and Reformed worldview inform his teaching and scholarship. “History from a Christian perspective is not merely looking at Christians in history. It is far more expansive in examining the many dimensions of God’s creation and how humans have developed that creation—for good and ill, Christians and non-Christians,” he adds.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Fessler has served as the director of Dordt’s Ideafest since 2003. He also served as chair of the history department from 2007 – 2024.
Fessler was the inaugural recipient of the Award for Teaching Excellence and served as a Fellow at the USMA Summer Seminar in Military History at West Point. From 2009 to 2017, he was appointed by the governor to the State of Iowa Civil War Sesquicentennial Advisory Board. Fessler also contributed nationally as an Advisory Board Member for the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Voices of Democracy project.
His scholarship includes a wide range of historical topics, with publications such as:
“The Case of the Missing Promotion: Historians and Major General Patrick R. Cleburne, C.S.A.," Arkansas Historical Quarterly Vol. 53, No. 2 (Summer 1994): 211-231.
“Bilingual Education: Yesterday and Today,” in German-American Immigration and Ethnicity in Comparative Perspective, ed. Walter Kamphoefner and Wolfang Helbich. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004).
Dutch Immigrants on the Plains. Paul Fessler, Hubert R. Krygsman, Robert P. Swierenga, eds. Holland, MI: Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College / Association for the Advancement of Dutch-American Studies, 2006.
August Schell." In Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, vol. 2, edited by William J. Hausman. German Historical Institute. Last modified December 04, 2014. http://www.immigrantentreprene...
In his free time, Fessler enjoys camping, canoeing, bicycling, and rooting for the New York Mets.
Education:
- Ph.D. in History, Texas A&M University, 1997
- Master of Arts in History, Texas A&M University, 1993
- Bachelor of Arts in History, Calvin College, 1990