Kenneth P. Shefsiek

Kenneth Shefsiek's training and experience is eclectic and multi-faceted. He holds degrees in music, historic preservation, and American history, and has worked in a variety of public history and museum capacities, as well as in higher education administration. As a museum professional, Ken's greatest interest is in historic house museums and historic site interpretation, and he previously served as director of education at Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz, NY and director of the Geneva (NY) Historical Society. As a public historian, his primary area of study is historical memory and commemoration, as he believes that all public history professionals need to understand how history has been and is put to use by those across the political spectrum. He considers this knowledge necessary both to ground one’s own personal mission and to work effectively with the many people who engage in activities under the broad “umbrella” of public history. As an historian, Ken is an early American social historian with strong cultural tendencies. He is the author of Set in Stone: Creating and Commemorating a Hudson Valley Culture, which received the 2017 Hendricks Award from the New Netherland Institute. Ken’s current research focuses on the Reformed Church in early America, with articles published in New York History, de Halve Maen, Journal of Presbyterian History, and Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. Ken has taught at UNCW since 2012 and served as the director of the Graduate Program in Public History from 2015-2022.

Education

B.M. in Applied Voice, Ithaca College
M.M. in Early Music Performance, New England Conservatory
M.H.P. in Heritage Preservation, Georgia State University
Ph.D. in American History, University of Georgia