Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto by Kevin Gannon

Kevin Gannon

Director of the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence (CAFE) and Professor of History

Queens University of Charloette

Personal bio:



From 2014-22, I served as Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) and Professor of History at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, where I also taught from 2004-2022. In addition to directing GV’s faculty development operations, I was also a department chair (2011-2014) and co-directed the New Student Seminar program (2005-2011).

My teaching, research, and public work (including writing) centers on critical and inclusive pedagogy; race, history, and justice; and technology and teaching. I write at least semi-regularly for The Chronicle of Higher Education), and my essays on higher education have also been published in Vox and other media outlets. My book Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto, was published by West Virginia University press in Spring, 2020, as part of their Teaching and Learning in Higher Education series, edited by James M. Lang. I’m currently writing a textbook for the US Civil War and Reconstruction eras that’s grounded in settler-colonial theory for Routledge. In 2016, I appeared in the Oscar-nominated documentary 13th, which was directed by Ava DuVernay. I am a speaker and consultant about a range of topics on campuses across North America; in this work, I endeavor to bring passion, humor, and interactivity to my audiences. I am also delighted to work with smaller groups of students, individual classes, or selected groups of faculty and staff on these campus visits. You can find me on Twitter: @TheTattooedProf

My scholarly work centers on Race and Racisms, Critical and Inclusive Pedagogy, nineteenth-century history (particularly the United States and the Americas), and historiography and theory. My teaching ranges widely: Civil War and Reconstruction; Colonial America and the Atlantic World; Latin American history; Research Methods and Historiography; and the History of Capitalism are in my regular rotation, along with survey-level offerings in Ancient and Medieval World History. I teach regularly in both in-person and online learning spaces, and I also have extensive experience working with first-year and at-risk students.

As an educational developer, I work closely with my colleagues in the faculty, staff, and administration to promote excellence and innovation in teaching, and to support faculty work across the areas of teaching, scholarship, and university service. I’m a fierce advocate for professional development in all its manifestations, active learning, scholarly teaching, good technology, social justice, movable furniture, and humor in any environment.