Dr. Christopher Curtis has been appointed to the position of Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Armstrong State University and will begin his new role July 1, 2016. Curtis is currently the Head of the Department of History at Armstrong.
 
“We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Chris Curtis as the next dean of the College of Liberal Arts,” notes Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Robert Smith. “He brings a wide spectrum of very solid experience as a teacher, scholar and department head to the position and will lead Armstrong's expanding initiatives in the liberal arts.”

In the new position, Curtis will work directly with the Provost and the faculty of the College to facilitate high quality, meaningful and innovative opportunities for student learning and engagement.  He will promote research, scholarship and creative activity among the faculty, foster existing relationships, develop new partnerships and articulate a vision that generates support and investment from the community.
 
Prior to joining Armstrong in 2013, Curtis served as chair of the Department of History and Sociology at Claflin University in South Carolina. He began his academic career as a member of the history faculty at Iowa State University, where he also served as the director of graduate education. A former infantry officer, he earned a Ph.D. from Emory University and holds a Master’s degree from Virginia Tech and a B.A. in History from the University of South Carolina.
 
Curtis is the author of Jefferson’s Freeholders and the Politics of Ownership in the Old Dominion (Cambridge University Press, 2012), as well as several articles and essays on topics of early American law and the American South. He was appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley to serve on the South Carolina Archives and History Commission in 2011 and held office as the President of the St. George Tucker Society for Studies of the American South from 2012-2014. Currently, he serves on the editorial board of The Georgia Historical Quarterly.