"The points of history I have focused on are places where I see a story that's more complex (complicated) than often times it is described in textbooks are in other studies. I like to say people in the past were as complicated as we are and any actions are usually multicausal."
Dr. Neva Specht completed her PhD at the University of Delaware in American History and Material Culture Studies. She has focused her scholarship on issues related to U.S. History (Colonial-Early Republic); American Religion; Migration; the Blue Ridge Parkway; Museum Studies; and Material Culture Studies. Dr. Specht has received numerous awards for her teaching, but outside of the classroom she enjoys traveling, going to the movies, gardening, and coaching soccer. Dr. Specht is the past Chair for the North Carolina Humanities Council.
Education
Ph.D. University of Delaware
Areas of Study
Public History, United States History, History of the Early Republic, Material Culture
Selected Courses
HIS 3522 Pirates and their Atlantic World
Selected HIS 3000 and 5000 Topics:
Past, Present, and Future of the Blue Ridge Parkway
Living History
Exhibits and Public Programming
Architecture and Society
Selected Publications
"Oral History of CCC Participants," for Kings Mountain National Military Park, National Park Service (August 2013), (1-270).
"Historic Furnishings Report on Flat Top Manor," for Blue Ridge Parkway, National Park Service, (April 2012) with Carrie Streeter (MA) and Joseph Otto (MA). (1-432).
"Oral History with Bertha Lindau Cone Grandnieces" Report and Transcript, Blue Ridge Parkway, National Park Service, (December 2011).
"'Being a peaceable man, I have suffered much persecution': The American Revolution and Its Effects on Quaker Religious Identity," Quaker History (fall 2010), 37-48.
"'Constrained to Afford Them Countenance and Protection': The Role of the Philadelphia Friends in the Settlement of the Society of the Separatists of Zoar," Communal Societies 24 (2004), 95-108.
"Women of One or Many Bonnets? Quaker Women and the Trans-Appalachian Frontier" National Women's Studies Association Journal. 15 (Summer 2003) 27-44.
Exhibits
The Grand Hotels of Blowing Rock. Designed, curated and installed. (644 sq. ft.). Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. October 2011
The Blowing Rock: A Natural Draw. Designed, curated and installed. (957 sq. ft.) Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, October 2011
Roots of the Past, Seeds of the Future: The History of Women at Appalachian State University Centennial Exhibit, Plemmons Student Union, spring 1999
Awards
Nominated for the Rennie W. Brantz Award for Outstanding Teaching in First Year Seminar, 2014
Recipient of the Transforming North Carolina Faculty Research Award, 2010
Recipient of an ASU Board of Governor's Teaching Award, 2009
Recipient of the Jimmy Smith Service Award, College of Arts and Sciences, 2008 Nominated for Board of Governors Teaching Award, 2008
Communal Studies Association Starting Scholar Award, 2002
Title: Vice Provost for Faculty Policies and Development, Professor
Department: Department of History
Email address: Email me