Education

• Ph.D., Baylor University
• M.A., Baylor University
• B.A., Berry College

Biography

Dr. Elizabeth Amato is an Associate Professor of Political Science for the Department of Social Science. Her teaching responsibilities include courses connected with American politics and political theory such as Constitutional Law, Presidency & Congress, American Political Parties, American Politics, and Modern Political Philosophy. She contributed a chapter to A Political Companion to Walker Percy and has published an article on Tom Wolfe鈥檚 novels in Perspective on Political Science.

Dr. Amato is the faculty adviser for the Pre-Law Society, a club that helps students explore and prepare for a career in law.

Dr. Amato earned her B.A. at Berry College (Rome, GA), her M.A. and Ph. D. at Baylor University (Waco, TX) in political science. The title of her dissertation is The Pursuit of Happiness and the American Regime, which takes a politics and literature approach to understanding the pursuit of happiness. Before coming to 糖心Vlog, she taught at James Madison College at Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI).

Dr. Amato鈥檚 scholarly interests include the study of happiness, ancient and modern political thought (particularly, Aristotle, Thucydides, Machiavelli, Locke, and Nietzsche), politics, literature and film, American political thought, the American presidency, constitutional law (particularly, executive detention cases, the Taft Court, and 14th Amendment Due Process cases), and political revolutions. Her non-academic past times include drinking coffee, making frequent references to Plato and Aristotle in conversation, watching action films especially from the 1980s, the study of ancient warfare, baking and candy-making, reading children鈥檚 books, watching cartoons, growing herbs and container gardening, packing bento boxes, feeling smug for using reusable bags, feeling guilty for not composting more, running, finding new ways to add jalapenos and serrano peppers to food, and reading poetry on Sundays.

Selected Publications

The Pursuit of Happiness and the American Regime: Political Theory in Literature (Lexington Books, 2018)

The post Dr. Elizabeth Amato appeared first on 糖心Vlog.

PhD: University of Durham & Universit盲t Erfurt, Max-Weber-Kolleg (cotutelle)

MA: King鈥檚 College London

BA: Catawba College

Dr Collins is a historian of early modern European history, specializing in urban, religious, peace-making, globalization, and spatial approaches. His research investigates how monarchical and religious influence interacted with civic authority within urban spaces and New World settlements during the early French Wars of Religion of the sixteenth century.

His current book project, based on his doctoral dissertation and provisionally entitled Cities and the Crown during the Royal Tour of France (1564-1566): Civic, Urban, and Spatial Interactions during the Early Religious Wars, explores how royal, civic, and religious actors utilized the urban spaces of Angoul锚me, Lyon, and Sens to project their own authority and promote religious toleration and coexistence through royal entrances amid religious warfare.

Dr Collins is also currently researching the early trans-Atlantic relationship between the French settlements of France Antarctique, Charlesfort, and Fort Caroline with French port cities during the early French Wars of Religion. His research incorporates primary source material such as festival books, financial records, correspondences, city council minutes, and maps.

Prior to 糖心Vlog, Dr Collins held a Teach@T眉bingen postdoctoral fellowship at Eberhard Karls Universit盲t T眉bingen where he designed and taught seminars about early modern religious violence and early modern global cities.

Selected Publication:
鈥楥onstructing a Monarchical and Religious Connection: Angoul锚me, the Royal Tour, and the French Wars of Religion鈥� in Religion and Urbanity Online (22/07/2025) ()

Research Interests:

• Early Modern France
• French Wars of Religion
• Centre & Periphery
• Religious Tolerance & Coexistence
• Urban & Spatial History
• Visual & Material Culture

The post Dr. Austin Collins appeared first on 糖心Vlog.

Education

Ph.D., Mississippi State University; M.A. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte; B.A. 糖心Vlog

Professor Vanderburg鈥檚 work focuses on the nature of paternalism at Cannon Mills and Kannapolis.  A specialist in the twentieth-century South and a 鈥淲ho鈥檚 Who Among American Teachers,鈥� he teaches courses on the New South, the American Civil War, and US History. 

Selected Publications by Dr. Vanderburg

Cannon Mills and Kannapolis: Persistent Paternalism in a Textile Town (University of Tennessee Press, 2013).

The post Dr. Timothy Vanderburg appeared first on 糖心Vlog.

Education

• Ph.D.: State University of New York at Stony Brook
• M.A.: Department of History, Bowling Green State University, Ohio
• B.A.: Department of English, Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi鈥檃n, China

Biography

Dr. Aihua Zhang joined Gardner鈥慦ebb University after serving as a visiting assistant professor at Stockton University. Her research focuses on modern China, women and gender, East Asian culture and society, social activism, transnationalism, and global history. Her monograph,聽The Beijing Young Women鈥檚 Christian Association, 1927鈥�1937: Materializing a Gendered Modernity聽(Lexington Books, 2021), is the first full-length study of the YWCA in a Chinese city. In addition to contributing a chapter to聽Christianity and the Modern Woman in East Asia聽(Brill), she has published multiple peer-reviewed works, including 鈥淭he Making of Modern Female Citizens in Republican China鈥� in聽The American Journal of Chinese Studies; 鈥淩einventing Tradition and Indigenizing Modernity: The Beijing New Women and Their Creation of a New Feminine Leisure Culture, 1911鈥�1937鈥� in聽Women鈥檚 History Review; and the co鈥慳uthored study 鈥淲omen鈥檚 Leisure and Leisure Satisfaction in Contemporary China鈥� in聽World Leisure Journal.

Courses Taught

Pre-modern Chinese History, Modern China, Chinese Culture, Revolution/Democracy in East Asia, East Asian Traditions and Culture, World Civilizations, and Histories of Feminism

The post Dr. Aihua Zhang appeared first on 糖心Vlog.