Dr. James Finck, Contributing Professor
Dr. James W. Finck has been a History Professor at USAO since 2011. While Finck teaches all the time periods of American History at USAO, his specialties are the Civil War and Political History.
Finck was raised in the shadows of history in the great state of Virginia. Growing up it was difficult to travel too far without running into a monument or battlefield from the Revolutionary or Civil War. In this environment, Finck developed a love for studying the past and from his youth knew that he wanted to make it his life's work.
Finck received a B.A. from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He then studied under the renowned historians, James I. Robertson and William C. Davis at Virginia Tech, while earning a Master's degree. Finally, he received his Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas, under the direction of the distinguished historian, Daniel Sutherland.
For five years, Finck taught at the University of Texas Pan-American before accepting his current position at USAO. Finck has establish himself in Oklahoma with the creation of the Oklahoma Civil War Symposium, which brings leading Civil War scholars to Chickasha. Finck also speaks at events around the state, especially working with the Honey Spring Battlefield.
Finck is the author of Divided Loyalties: Kentucky's Struggle with Armed Neutrality During the Civil War and Images of America: Chickasha which were both published in 2012. Since 2019 he has written the syndicated column, "Historically Speaking," which discusses current events through a historical viewpoint. Currently "Historically Speaking" is run in over 1,000 papers in 14 states. In 2022, Finck appeared in the PBS documentary The Battle of Honey Springs.
*Information provided by USAO's website (https://usao.edu/)
