Paul A. Townend

Born and raised in Lancaster, Pa., Dr. Townend is a first generation American; his mother grew up in Cork, Ireland and his father in Yorkshire in England. His interest in history was nurtured by climbing around ruined castles on visits to family in the British Isles. As an undergraduate, he studied abroad in Ireland and in Geneva, Switzerland while majoring in History and minoring in International Studies. After his undergraduate degree, he lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland as a Watson Foundation Fellow for a year, studying peace and reconciliation work and the Troubles. He worked as a paralegal in New York city and Chicago after college before earning his Ph. d. in British and Irish History. He came to UNCW in 2001, and is proud to have served UNCW as faculty, department chair (2009-16), and in administrative roles including Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Vice Chancellor (2016-2021), and as an inaugural Associate Dean in The College of Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts. He has led study abroad experiences for UNCW students in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales. He and his wife have three children and more cats than is quite right.

Education

B.A. in History, Colgate University
MA in History, University of Chicago
Ph. d. in History (with distinction), University of Chicago

Specialization in Teaching

Britain and Ireland in the modern era. The history of Northern Ireland and the Troubles. Alcohol and temperance history. The later Atlantic World. Social movements. Empire and imperialism. Post-coloniality.

Research Interests

His first book, Father Mathew. Temperance and Irish Identity (Irish Academic Press, 2001) examined the world's most successful popular temperance movement, which took Ireland by storm in the 1830s and1840s and led half the country to abandon their passion for whisky for a time in the service of self-improvement and patriotism. Other articles have explored the Irish relationship to alcohol, the career and impact of Father Mathew, and the development of Irish nationalism in the 19th century. A second book, The Road to Home Rule: Anti-Imperialism and the Irish National Movement (University of Wisconsin Press; History of Ireland and the Irish Diaspora Series, 2016) and a collection of essays he co-edited with Michael De Nie and Timothy McMahon, Ireland in an Imperial World: Citizenship, Opportunism and Subversion (Palgrave's Cambridge Imperialism and Post-Colonial Studies Series, 2017) explored the development of anti-imperialism within Irish nationalism, and Ireland's place in the British imperial system. He has published articles on these topics in Past and Present, Catholic Historical Review, Eire/Ireland, and New Hibernia Review, among other places. He remains engaged with questions of alcohol and history, social movements, populism's influence over politics, Irish Catholicism, and the Anglo-Irish relationship. Current research engages with the development of rights discourse within the British Empire, and the cosmopolitan careers of Irish-connected anti-imperialist activists.

Professional Service

Service to the Southern Conference on British Studies, NACBS, and the American Conference on Irish Studies.
UNCW service as Department Chair, Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Vice Chancellor, and Associate Dean in the College of Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts.

Community Engagement

Active in his parish as an educator.

Honors & Awards

Thomas Watson Foundation Fellow--1989-90
Thomas Mellon Dissertation Fellow
James Donnelly Prize (ACIS's Best Book in the Social Sciences for Father Mathew) 2002