Officially, my name is Orval Gene Clanton, and I first saw the light of day in Pittsburg, Kansas, smack-dab in the middle of the Great Depression: frankly, I don't recall the event at all.    Since 1966 I have introduced myself as Gene Clanton--and in some published works as O. Gene Clanton.  I am proud to say that I am the product of Kansas' once outstanding public school system, graduating in 1952 from Pittsburg High School.  In 1954, after attending Kansas State Teachers College of Pittsburg, Kansas, for three semesters,  I joined the United States Army and served with the 11th Airborne Division, 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment, from 1954 to 1957.  After resuming my college education [thanks, in part,  to the GI Bill & American taxpayers]  I graduated from Kansas State College of Pittsburg in 1959 with a B.S. in Education.  While teaching in high school at Lamar, Colorado, from 1960 to 1962, I completed a master's degree in history from Kansas State College of Pittsburg.  From 1962 to 1966 I was a student in the history doctoral program offered by the University of Kansas.  While there I also taught as an assistant instructor from 1962 to 1965, and from 1965 to 1966 as an instructor.  In 1966 I took the position of instructor in the department of history at Texas A&M University.  The next year I completed my doctoral work at the University of Kansas and was promoted to assistant professor at A&M.  In the Spring of 1968 I was offered an assistant professorship at Washington State University, a position I assumed in September 1968 after serving as a visiting professor of history at Georgia State College in Atlanta during the 1968 summer session.  From 1968 to 1997 I held the position of  assistant, associate, and professor at Washington State University.   Promotion to a full professorship came in 1978.  Since 1997 I have been an emeritus professor of history.  

 

 

 

 

 

The subject matter of all these courses was always secondary to my purpose of involving students directly and actively in the study of history (testified to by the fact that I chose not to make them over into large lecture courses, although the potential was clearly there).  Early on, I became a convert to inquiry learning while conducting a teaching methods course for the department and the college of education, bucking the huge wave carrying most universities ever more so toward passive learning, large & impersonal classes, coupled with teaching methods best and most kindly described as a passive telling technique.

 

 

 

KANSAS POPULISM for the Frederick Jackson Turner Award and CONGRESSIONAL POPULISM AND THE CRISIS OF THE 1890S for the Theodore Saloutos Memorial Award.  And in the late 1970s I  was honored to be singled out by my peers as one of the more innovative teachers at Washington State University.  It was also my honor to have been  selected to participate in Stanford University's special summer seminar dealing with Technology and American Society, conducted by Professor Barton Bernstein in 1979.  Over the course of my career I was also the recipient of one major research grant (1972)  and four research leaves (1975, 1982. 1989, and 1995).  I should add, back in the mid-60s, I was privileged to be given by the University of Kansas an instructorship during my final & fourth year as a doctoral student: It was a rare honor in those days.  I in fact taught the upper division 20th Century U.S. history course during that period of time.  At Texas A&M I was also honored to be given a chance to teach the History of the New South.  Quite a rare assignment for a damn Yankee from Kansas.  I also taught the only course offered at Texas A&M University, at that time, dealing with Asian history.  As indicated above let's recall also that Texas A&M turned out more officers for the Vietnam War than any other institution.

Sad to say, no formal awards, other than pro forma research grants, etc.  I must be too much of a dilettante (perhaps I should have said generalist)? combined with the fact that I ruffled too many important feathers.  The honors & rewards that I've cherished most have come from former students.  Just this morning (Feb. 7, 05) I received an e-mail from one of Washington State University's outstanding Ph.D. products who wrote:  "What a wonderful surprise to hear from you!  No one during my college career influenced my understanding of U.S. history more than you, nor provided me with the intellectual challenges that you did in your classes.  I referred often during my teaching years to the notes that I took in your classes and to the handouts you provided.  I'm honored that you remember me, and so grateful that you wrote."  To someone who cares deeply about teaching history, those words mean more to me than any formal award I might have received over the years. 

Excuse me for beating my own drum:  I have the honor of having taught the first class at W.S.U. focusing on the history of the women's movement, several years in advance of the creation of a women's studies program.  Ironically, it's the one claimed by the Honors Program in behalf of that distinction, for whom I later taught the same course.

Perhaps this is also worth adding:  During my 29-year tenure at W.S.U. I really only had determinative influence in the hiring of one of my departmental colleagues.  As luck would have it, that person has been fabulously successful and was only recently appointed "Regents Professor."  Congratulations LeRoy Ashby!   You honor my old office in Wilson Hall!  (posted 03/01/05)