Starting in the fall, Ball State University students will benefit from a new perspective on events leading up to the American Civil War when one of the nation's leading scholars on the sectional crisis joins the faculty. Nicole Etcheson, author of two books on pre-Civil War history including "Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era," has been named the Alexander M. Bracken Professor of History at Ball State.

"We believe Dr. Etcheson is an outstanding teacher and an accomplished scholar whose record of outstanding publications and research will help raise the profile of our history department," said Deborah Balogh, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. "She also has a strong commitment to the broader work of the historical profession as well as to public history, which will be assets for our partnerships with area residents."

Etcheson received her bachelor's degree in history from Grinnell College in Iowa. She received her master's degree and doctorate in history from Indiana University.

She comes to Ball State from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) after serving as an associate professor of history since 1996. At UTEP, she specialized in 19th century American history and taught courses on the era of President Andrew Jackson, the Mexican-American War, Civil War and Reconstruction. 

Etcheson received a National Endowment for the Humanities summer stipend in 2004 to begin research on her new book project, "The Union Home Front: Putnam County Indiana, in the Civil War Era."

In addition to her expertise on the sectional conflict, Etcheson's research on the Civil War's impact on Indiana will be an important component in many of her classes, said Bruce Geelhoed, chair of the Ball State history department.

"She is an expert of a historical period that is critical to our understanding of the causes of the Civil War," he said. "She will have a major impact on our students as well as upon the research being done in the history department at Ball State."

(Note to editors: For more information contact, Geelhoed at bgeelhoed@bsu.edu or (765) 285-8700. For more stories, go to the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news.)