William S. Cossen
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EDUCATION
2016          PhD, History, The Pennsylvania State University
2012          MA (with honors), History, The Pennsylvania State University​
2008          BA, History and Political Science, Emory University

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Chair and Instructional Lead Teacher (2021-present)
Social Studies Department
The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Teacher (2015-present)

Social Studies Department
The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Editorial Assistant (2013-2016)
The Journal of the Civil War Era
The University of North Carolina Press

Research Associate (2013-2015)
The Association of Religion Data Archives
The Pennsylvania State University

Graduate Teaching Assistant (2010-2013)
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University

Library Technical Assistant (2009-2010)
Published Materials Division
South Caroliniana Library
University of South Carolina

Student Assistant (2004-2008)
Research Services Division
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University


PUBLICATIONS
Books
Making Catholic America: Religious Nationalism in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (Cornell University Press, 2023) [under contract]​

Journal Articles
"Anti-Catholicism on Trial: The Catholic Response to Convent Narratives of the 1920s," American Catholic Studies 132, no. 3 (Fall 2021): 53-77

"Manly Sacraments and Masculine Devotions: Catholic Manhood in the Civil War," American Catholic Studies 132, no. 2 (Summer 2021): 29-33
in Forum: "Studying Masculinities, Catholic Style"

"Catholic Women, Hidden Work, and Separate Spheres: The Columbian Catholic Congress of 1893," The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 20, no. 3 (July 2021): 411-429

"Education in the Name of the Lord: The Rise and Decline of the Catholic Labor Schools," The Catholic Historical Review 104, no. 3 (Summer 2018): 475-498
​
"Blood, Honor, Reform, and God: Anti-Dueling Associations and Moral Reform in the Old South," American Nineteenth Century History 19, no. 1 (2018): 23-45

"Catholic Gatekeepers: The Church and Immigration Reform in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era," U.S. Catholic Historian 34, no. 3 (Summer 2016): 1-23

"Monk in the Middle: The Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery and the Making of Catholic Identity," American Catholic Studies 125, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 25-45

"Catholics, Constitutions, and Conventions: Bishop John England and the Democratization of American Catholicism," The South Carolina Historical Magazine 114, no. 4 (Oct. 2013): 316-340

Book Reviews
Review of Adam L. Tate, Catholics' Lost Cause: South Carolina Catholics and the American South, 1820-1861, in ​The South Carolina Historical Magazine (forthcoming)

Review of Melissa J. Wilde, Birth Control Battles: How Race and Class Divided American Religion, in Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion, January 12, 2022
​
Review of Brett Malcolm Grainger, Church in the Wild: Evangelicals in Antebellum America, in H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews, April 2020

Review of Cassandra L. Yacovazzi, Escaped Nuns: True Womanhood and the Campaign Against Convents in Antebellum America, in Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion​, August 14, 2019

Review of Daniel T. Rodgers, As a City on a Hill: The Story of America's Most Famous Lay Sermon, in H-Nationalism, H-Net Reviews, June 2019

Review of Ryan W. Keating, Shades of Green: Irish Regiments, American Soldiers, and Local Communities in the Civil War Era, in The Journal of Southern History​ 85, no. 2 (May 2019): 455-456

Review of Maura Jane Farrelly, Anti-Catholicism in America, 1620-1860, in The Junto: A Group Blog on Early American History, January 23, 2018

​Review of Caroline B. Brettell, Following Father Chiniquy: Immigration, Religious Schism, and Social Change in Nineteenth-Century Illinois, in American Nineteenth Century History 18, no. 3 (Oct. 2017): 300-301

Review of Jenna Weissman Joselit, Set in Stone: America's Embrace of the Ten Commandments, in Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion, September 8, 2017

Review of Barry Hankins, Woodrow Wilson: Ruling Elder, Spiritual President, in Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion, March 30, 2017

Review of William B. Kurtz, Excommunicated from the Union: How the Civil War Created a Separate Catholic America, in The Civil War Monitor, July 20, 2016

Review of James M. Woods, A History of the Catholic Church in the American South, 1513-1900, in The South Carolina Historical Magazine 116, no. 1 (Jan. 2015): 88-90

Review of Yaacov Oved, Globalization of Communes, 1950-2010, in Communal Societies: Journal of the Communal Studies Association 33, no. 2 (2013): 205-207

Digital Scholarship
"Teaching in the Age of COVID" (with Rachel Eshenour), Contingent Magazine, August 11, 12, 13, and 15, 2020 [Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV]

​"Research Postcard: South Bend, Indiana," Contingent Magazine, September 20, 2019

"Women & Power in American History: Catholic Women as a Test Case," Society for U.S. Intellectual History Blog, March 25, 2018

"Total Eclipse of the Past," Society for U.S. Intellectual History Blog, August 21, 2017

"Historiographic Saints,"
 Religion in American History: A Group Blog on Religion in American Culture and History, August 2, 2017

​"Catholic History at the AHA," The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Reflections at the Intersection of American History, Religion, Politics, and Academic Life, January 8, 2017

"Conservatism and the Media in Historical Perspective," The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Reflections at the Intersection of American History, Religion, Politics, and Academic Life, January 7, 2017

"Reflections on the Academic Job Search," The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Reflections at the Intersection of American History, Religion, Politics, and Academic Life, January 6, 2017

"Anti-Catholic Nativism in Antebellum America" and "American Catholicism and Vatican II," in The American Yawp, 2014

Contributor, Timeline of American Religious History, The Association of Religion Data Archives, 2013-2015

HONORS AND AWARDS
Outstanding Teacher of American History (2022)
Daughters of the American Revolution
Philadelphia Winn Chapter, Lawrenceville, Georgia

Conference Travel Grant (2019)
The Labor and Working-Class History Association

Research Travel Grant (2019)

Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism
University of Notre Dame

Special Collections Research Grant (2018)
​LSU Libraries

Filson Fellowship (2016)
The Filson Historical Society

Graduate Student Summer Research Grant (2016)
American Catholic Historical Association

Charles Joseph Lindstrom Graduate Fellowship in the Richards Civil War Era Center (2016)
George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center
The Pennsylvania State University

Presidential Graduate Scholarship (2015)
American Catholic Historical Association

Ann Richards Award (2015)
History Graduate Student Association Paper Competition
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University
​Best ABD Research and Historiography Papers

External Funding Incentive Award (2014)
College of the Liberal Arts
The Pennsylvania State University

Conference Travel Grant (2014)
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University

Karen and Lewis H. Gold Graduate Fellowship (2014)
George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center
The Pennsylvania State University

McCourtney Pre-Dissertation Grant (2014)
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University

Presidential Graduate Scholarship (2013)
American Catholic Historical Association

Conference Travel Grant (2013)
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University

Carl M. Isham Graduate Award (2013)
George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center
The Pennsylvania State University

McCourtney Pre-Dissertation Grant (2013)
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University

Research Travel Grant (2013)
Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism
University of Notre Dame

Dorothy Mohler Research Grant (2013)
The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives
The Catholic University of America

Student Paper Award (2012)
Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
for "The Protestant Image in the Catholic Mind: Maria Monk's Awful Disclosures and the Catholic Press Response"

Bernard Bellush Prize (2012)
New York Labor History Association
national award for best paper on labor or work history by a graduate student for “The Rise and Decline of a Catholic Labor School: Hartford’s Diocesan Labor Institute and the Education of the American Worker”

Conference Travel Grant (2012)
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University

George P. Hammond Prize (2012)
Phi Alpha Theta
national award for best paper by a graduate student member for “The Protestant Image in the Catholic Mind: Maria Monk’s Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery and the Catholic Response"

Karen and Lewis H. Gold Graduate Fellowship (2012)
George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center
The Pennsylvania State University

E-tu Zen Sun Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Assistant (2012)
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University

McCourtney Family Graduate Scholarship in American History (2012)
The Pennsylvania State University

Conference Travel Grant, Department of History (2011)
The Pennsylvania State University

Rose and Sigmund Strochlitz Travel Grant (2011)
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center
University of Connecticut

Graduate Student Paper Award (2011)
Eastern International Regional Meeting
American Academy of Religion
Syracuse University
for "Aggiornamento, Southern Style: The Synod of Charleston and the Spirit of Vatican II"

Mark and Lucy Stitzer Seed Grant Award (2011)
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University

Conference Travel Grant (2010)
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University

Robert W. Graham Endowed Graduate Fellowship (2010-2012)
The Pennsylvania State University

Phi Alpha Theta (inducted 2007)
National History Honor Society

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
"Gender and the Working Class in the Catholic Labor School Movement." The Labor and Working-Class History Association 2019 Conference (Duke University - Durham, North Carolina), June 1, 2019

"Silenced: Historiographical Aiding and Abetting in the Catholic Archive." American Historical Association 133rd Annual Meeting (Chicago, Illinois), January 3, 2019


"Soldiers and Sacraments: The Lived Catholic Civil War." The Society of Civil War Historians Biennial Conference (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), June 1, 2018

"Isaac Hecker’s American Odyssey: Rewriting the Catholic Nation in The Church and the Age." American Catholic Historical Association Annual Meeting (Denver, Colorado), January 7, 2017

"'When Al Smith is President': The Protestant Other and the Politics of Anti-Catholicism in the 1928 Presidential Election." American Catholic Historical Association Annual Meeting (Atlanta, Georgia), January 10, 2016

"Catholic Gatekeepers: The Church and Immigration Reform in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.' American Catholic Historical Association Spring Meeting (University of Notre Dame - Notre Dame, Indiana), March 27, 2015

"Philippine Colonization and the American Catholic Press: A Study in Religious Imperialism." American Catholic Historical Association Annual Meeting (Washington, DC), January 2, 2014

"Blood, Honor, Reform, and God: Anti-Dueling Associations and the Remaking of Southern Masculinity." Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Annual Meeting (St. Louis, Missouri), July 20, 2013

"The Protestant Image in the Catholic Mind: Maria Monk’s Awful Disclosures and the Catholic Press Response." Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression (The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), November 9, 2012

"'A Body of Sage, Prudent and Religious Counsellors': The Conventions of the Diocese of Charleston and the Place of Southern Catholicism in Antebellum Religious History." Southeastern Regional Meeting, American Academy of Religion/Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion (Atlanta, Georgia), March 3, 2012

"Aggiornamento, Southern Style: The Synod of Charleston and the Spirit of Vatican II." Eastern International Regional Meeting, American Academy of Religion (Syracuse University - Syracuse, New York), May 6, 2011

"'Prepare the Way of the Lord – Prepare the Way for our Synod': The Catholic Diocese of Charleston on the Eve of the Third Millennium." 15th Annual James A. Barnes Club Graduate Student Conference (Temple University - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), March 26, 2011

CONFERENCE PANELS ORGANIZED
"A Church in Crisis: Catholic Sex Abuse in Historical Context." American Historical Association 133rd Annual Meeting (Chicago, Illinois), January 3, 2019

"O Sing to Me of Heaven: New Directions in the Religious History of the Civil War." The Society of Civil War Historians Biennial Conference (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), June 1, 2018

"The Politics of Anti-Catholicism in the Twentieth Century." American Catholic Historical Association Annual Meeting (Atlanta, Georgia), January 10, 2016

"Colonizing Religion: Catholicism, Anti-Catholicism, and Empire in the Early Modern and Modern Worlds." American Catholic Historical Association Annual Meeting (Washington, DC), January 2, 2014

INVITED TALKS
Panelist, "Transitioning to Social Studies." Department of History, Indiana University Bloomington, March 26, 2021

"Manly Sacraments and Masculine Devotions: Catholic Manhood in the Civil War." American Catholic Historical Association Winter Webinar Series: Studying Masculinities, Catholic-Style: A Roundtable, January 26, 2021

Panelist, "What's Next? Dialogue on a Church in Crisis." Aquinas Center, Candler School of Theology, Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia), April 28, 2019

"Soldiers and Sacraments: The Lived Catholic Civil War." LSU Libraries Special Collections (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), April 5, 2019

"Catholic Labor Schools in the Twentieth Century." MORE Theology: A Series of Classes on Catholic Theology, History, and Spirituality, St. Thomas More Catholic Church (Decatur, Georgia), March 25, 2019

"Catholic Gatekeepers: The Church and Immigration Reform in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era." MORE Theology: A Series of Classes on Catholic Theology, History, and Spirituality, St. Thomas More Catholic Church (Decatur, Georgia), March 18, 2019

"Soldiers and Sacraments: The Lived Catholic Civil War." MORE Theology: A Series of Classes on Catholic Theology, History, and Spirituality, St. Thomas More Catholic Church (Decatur, Georgia), March 4, 2019

"Religion and Race: The American Catholic Story." STM Coffehouse, St. Thomas More Catholic Church (Decatur, Georgia), April 8, 2018

"Catholicism, Race, and the South." Adult Enrichment Program, Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church (Decatur, Georgia), January 14, 2018

"Catholicism, Americanism, and Religious Liberty: A Church and Culture in Tension." STM Coffeehouse, St. Thomas More Catholic Church (Decatur, Georgia), September 10, 2017

"The Protestant Image in the Catholic Mind: Interreligious Encounters in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era." The Filson Historical Society (Louisville, Kentucky), July 28, 2016

"Catholic Gatekeepers: The Church and Immigration Reform in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era." History Graduate Student Association Paper Competition Awards Ceremony (The Pennsylvania State University - University Park, Pennsylvania), February 25, 2015

"Education in the Name of the Lord: The Catholic Church, Labor Schools, and the American Worker." Thomas J. Dodd Research Center (University of Connecticut - Storrs, Connecticut), August 17, 2011

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Peer Reviewer (2022)
University of Wisconsin Press

Peer Reviewer (2020)
American Catholic Studies
American Catholic Historical Society

Member of Independent Scholars Committee (2020-present)
​American Society of Church History

Member of Board of Directors (2019-present)
Contingent Magazine

Peer Reviewer (2019; 2020)
U.S. Catholic Historian
The Catholic University of America Press

Peer Reviewer (2019)
Law and History Review
Cambridge University Press


Host, Career Discovery Days (2019)
Emory Alumni Association
Emory University

Social Studies Faculty Content Mentor (2018-2019; 2020-2021)
The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Alumni Mentor Program (2018-2020)
College of the Liberal Arts
The Pennsylvania State University

Book Review Editor (2017-present)
H-SHGAPE (Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era)
H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online

Lead Teacher (2017; 2018)
Summer STEM Experience
Gwinnett County Public Schools

AP Comparative Government and Politics Workshop Leader (2017)
Office of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Georgia Department of Education

Faculty Sponsor (2017-2018)
Debate Club
The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Judge (2016)
National History Day in Georgia
Mercer University

Coach (2015-present)
Quiz Bowl Team
The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Graduate Mentor (2012-2013)
University Fellowships Office
The Pennsylvania State University

Graduate Council Representative (2012-2013)
Senate Committee on Research
The Pennsylvania State University

Member of Committee on Graduate Research (2012-2013)
Graduate Council
The Pennsylvania State University

Graduate Student Association Representative (2012-2013)
Graduate Council
The Pennsylvania State University

Judge (2012)
Graduate Exhibition
The Pennsylvania State University

Organizer (2012)
1 st Annual History Graduate Student Association Paper Competition
The Pennsylvania State University

Representative (2011-2012)
History Graduate Student Association
The Pennsylvania State University

Student Board Representative (2011-2013)
Libraries Development Board
The Pennsylvania State University

Member of Libraries Committee (2011)
Graduate Student Association
The Pennsylvania State University

RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
AP Comparative Government and Politics Reader (2018; 2019; 2020; 2021; 2022)
College Board

Research Assistant to Dr. Jonathan E. Brockopp (2016-2017)
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University

Research Assistant to Dr. Solsiree Del Moral (2013)
Department of History
​The Pennsylvania State University

Research Assistant to Dr. William A. Blair (2012)

Department of History
​The Pennsylvania State University

Research Assistant to Dr. Nan Elizabeth Woodruff (2011)

Department of History
​The Pennsylvania State University

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
American Catholic Historical Association
American Society of Church History
Organization of American Historians
​Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
​The Society of Civil War Historians
The Southern Historical Association
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