Ken Slepyan wants his students to become historians, not just experts on the most prominent names and dates of history. He believes that will make them more self-aware and better contributors to society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Slepyan, becoming a historian starts with empathy. \u201cGood historians can put themselves in other people\u2019s shoes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as a historian of World War II, he knows how difficult that can be. \u201cI have to be able to see through the eyes of the Nazi leadership. I need to be able to figure out how Stalin would see the war. That\u2019s not easy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Seeing through multiple perspectives is important not because one agrees or sympathizes with these positions but because without it, it is very difficult to understand historical protagonists and the reasons why they did what they did. I emphasize to students that understanding is not the same as justifying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This ability to see multiple perspectives is a skill that all students\u2014and all citizens\u2014need to develop, regardless of their major or their ultimate profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the real world, it\u2019s critical to see different points of view. Not to agree with them or to justify them, but to see from other people\u2019s perspectives so we can collaborate and solve problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Teaching history and teaching students how to be historians is interwoven.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Historians also need to be able to evaluate and judge what makes credible evidence. To teach that skill, Slepyan directs his students\u2019 attention inward, to understand who they are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHistorians must be reflective about who they are in the world and how that shapes how they see history,\u201d Slepyan says. So he asks his historians-in-training, \u201cAre you interpreting evidence in a particular way because of a certain social, racial, gender, or religious background?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slepyan argues that a historian\u2019s ability to evaluate evidence directly correlates with how history is documented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvidence usually comes from written sources. In the course of history only a select group could write, narrowing the information we have to privileged, white, male property owners. Think about how many people are not represented by this. That\u2019s the history we\u2019ve lost. Students quickly understand the limitations of the evidence we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To address this gap, Slepyan teaches students how to uncover undocumented or restricted historical information. Documents such as baptism records, church registries, and wills give information on family size and property ownership, which can help describe the life experience of marginalized populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slepyan has a knack for uncovering untold stories. When researching his book Stalin\u2019s Guerillas<\/em> about the Soviet partisan movement in WWII, he arrived in the former Soviet Union just after the 1991 coup. Because of his fortuitous timing, he was one of the first historians with unlimited access to formerly restricted archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slepyan uses his research as \u201cfuel\u201d for the classroom. \u201cI am very happy to be at an institution where I can focus on teaching,\u201d he says. His enthusiasm for learning is contagious. \u201cWhen I\u2019m excited, they\u2019re excited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Away from campus, \u201chistory is in the house.\u201d Slepyan and his wife, Karen Petrone, chair of the University of Kentucky history department, love to talk about history over dinner, much to their daughters\u2019 dismay. Slepyan makes it up to them by being the best soccer dad he can, chauffeuring them to their games. A former marathoner, Slepyan still averages 30 miles a week on the trails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ph.D., History, University of Michigan, 1994 History of the Soviet Union Soviet and Russian history Grant from National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, 2001\u201303 The Soviet Union, 1939\u20132000: A History in Documents, edited with Karen Petrone (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBattle Fronts and Home Fronts: The War in the East from Stalingrad to Berlin\u201d in A Companion to the Second World War 2 vols., ed. Thomas Zeiler (Blackwell-Wiley Publishing, 2013)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPartisans, Civilians, and the Soviet State: An Overview\u201d in War in a Twilight World: Partisan and Anti-partisan Warfare in German-Occupied Eastern Europe, 1939\u20131945, eds. Juliette Pattinson and Ben Shepard (London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2010), pp. 35\u201357<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe People\u2019s Avengers: The Soviet Partisan Movement, 1941\u20131944\u201d in The Soviet Union at War, ed. David R. Stone (Barnsley, U.K.: Pen and Sword, 2010), pp. 154\u2013181<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stalin’s Guerrillas: Soviet Partisans in World War II, University Press of Kansas, 2006<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4472,"template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"academic_division":[20,42,3,46],"class_list":["post-222","faculty","type-faculty","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAcademic History<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
M.A., University of Michigan, 1991, 1990
B.A., Williams College, 1987<\/p>\n\n\n\nCourses Taught at Transy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Europe in the Nineteenth Century
Modern German History
The Holocaust
Gender in European History<\/p>\n\n\n\nAreas of Specialization<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Modern European history
The Holocaust
War and Society<\/p>\n\n\n\nAwards<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Charles Revson Fellow, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1998
Bingham Award for Excellence in Teaching<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nRecent Publications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n