BLAKE ANTHONY ELLIS

blake.ellis@ptk.org

PRESENT POSITION

Sr. Associate Vice President of Student Engagement, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (2019-present)

  • Oversee the Department of Student Engagement
  • Work collaboratively with the Chief of Staff to identify challenges and emerging issues faced by Phi Theta Kappa constituents, recognize internal and external communication opportunities and solutions, and define and execute appropriate strategies to support them.
  • Serve as a member of Executive Council, making recommendations for program changes and updates as needed.
  • Provide direction and support for regional coordinators while assisting in developing strategic planning for regions, chapters, and regional officer teams.
  • Manage the activities of the International Officers, including leadership and professional development, travel to regions and chapters across the country, and engagement of the Society’s constituents at all levels
  • Advance the strategic plan of the Society through engagement in the planning process at the strategic,

operational, and individual levels.

  • Provide the necessary vision, leadership, and support to ensure members have opportunities to grow as

scholars and leaders, which includes the planning and ongoing assessment necessary to ensure the

relevance and rigor of Society programming.

EDUCATION

2006-2011

Department of History, Rice University

  • Ph.D., US History, December 2011

Fields of Study: US South, 20th Century US, Caribbean

  • M.A., US History, 2009

2004-2006

Department of History, Baylor University

  •   M.A., History, 2006

2000-2004

Louisiana College

  •   B.A., History, 2004

Minors: English, Political Science

PAST POSITIONS

Associate Vice President, Outreach and Engagement, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (2018-2019)

  • Develop and assess a competency and effectiveness model for chapter advisors
  • Research, design, and deliver engaging training curriculum, including tools, techniques, and resources supporting the leadership, competency, and effectiveness of constituents at the member, chapter, and/or regional levels of the Society
  • Manage the activities of the International Officers, including leadership and professional development, travel to regions and chapters across the country, and engagement of the Society’s constituents at all levels
  • Advance the strategic plan of the Society through engagement in the planning process at the strategic, operational, and individual levels
  • Utilize data reports to monitor and evaluate usage and effectiveness of curriculum
  • Develop a process that utilizes Student Learning Objectives and other pertinent data to promote continuous

improvement ensuring the delivery of current, meaningful, and engaging curriculum, training, tools, and

other resource material

  • Expand participation in the Society by ensuring the provision of relevant programming for members who are

completing programs that lead to transfer or the workforce

Professor of History, Lone Star College-CyFair (2012-2017)

  • Teach courses to over 300 community college students each year
  • Develop college-wide curriculum and clear Student Learning Outcomes through the History Curriculum Team
  • Engage a diversity of learning styles through innovative instruction in honors, online, hybrid, and learning community settings
  • Provide leadership and vision as chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Council, the Learning Communities Committee, and the Student Transitions Committee
  • Serve the college’s adult learner population as a lecturer in the Academy for Lifelong Learning (age 55+)

Humanities Representative, Honors Program Council, Phi Theta Kappa (2016-2017)

  • Collaborate with other members of the Honors Program Council to develop the Honors Program Guide
  • Serve as a Faculty Scholar each year
  • Work with Phi Theta Kappa staff to plan and implement the Faculty Scholar Conference and Honors Institute

Advisor, Beta Lambda Mu Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (2013-2017)

  • Advised chapter with over 1,200 members, coordinating all chapter activities
  • Managed annual budget of over $50,000
  • Increased chapter membership every year
  • Coordinated the implementation of Honors in Action, College Project, Five-Star Chapter Development, Competitive Edge, and Scholarship Activities
  • Supervised the chapter’s Hallmark Award submissions, including in 2017 when the chapter was named Most Distinguished Chapter

Faculty Lead, First Year Experience (2012-2013)

  • Assessed the first year experience for over 5,000 community college students at Lone Star College-CyFair
  • Developed a comprehensive curriculum for first year students (academic and workforce), with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion
  • Measured the results of the program and reported them to the Vice President for Instruction
  • Aligned the program’s structure with relevant Student Learning Outcomes

OTHER ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Teaching Assistant, Baylor University History Department: 2004-2006
  • Editorial Assistant, Baylor University Institute for Oral History: 2005-2006
  • Editorial Assistant, Journal of Southern History, Rice University: 2006-2008
  • Teaching Assistant to Dr. Douglas Brinkley, Rice University: 2008
  • Research Fellow, Baylor University Institute for Oral History: 2008-2009
  • Editorial Assistant to Niels C. Nielsen, author of God in the Obama Era: Presidents’ Religion and Ethics from George Washington to Barack Obama, 2009
  • Editorial Consultant, The Black Town Movement Project, 2009-2014
  • Adjunct faculty, Rice University, 2010-2011
  • Adjunct faculty, Lone Star College-North Harris, 2009-2012

HONORS AND AWARDS

  • Who’s Who Among American Colleges and Universities, 2001-2004
  • Honors Award for 3.9+ GPA, 2001-2004
  • Louisiana College Dean’s List, 2000-2004
  • Selected as Participant for Louisiana College London Semester, 2002
  • Overseas Study Scholarship for Mary D. Bowman Semester in London, 2002
  • Louisiana College Magee Scholarship Award for Most Outstanding Graduate, 2004
  • Louisiana College Alpha Lambda Delta Superior Senior Scholar Award, 2004
  • Louisiana College Summa cum Laude Graduate (4.0), 2004
  • Baylor University Chancellor’s List, 2004-2005
  • Rice University Best Graduate Essay Prize, Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, 2007
  • Lone Star College Robert McGehee Award for promoting diversity and inclusion, 2013
  • Phi Theta Kappa Faculty Scholar, 2014
  • Phi Theta Kappa Texas Region Hall of Honor Inductee, 2014
  • Lone Star College Faculty Advisor of the Year, 2014
  • Lone Star College Academy Fellow, 2015
  • Phi Theta Kappa Paragon Award, 2015
  • Phi Theta Kappa Advisor Hall of Honor (Texas Region), 2015
  • Lone Star College-CyFair Distinguished Faculty Member, 2015
  • Phi Theta Kappa Faculty Scholar, 2016-2017
  • Lone Star College Faculty Excellence Award Winner, 2016
  • League for Innovation in the Community College John and Suanne Roueche Excellence Award Winner, 2016
  • Lone Star College Writing Award, 2016
  • Phi Theta Kappa Horizon Award (Texas Region), 2016
  • Lone Star College-CyFair Ambassador Award, 2016
  • Lone Star College-CyFair Learning Communities Award, 2016
  • Lone Star College-CyFair Lifetime Advisor Achievement Award, 2016
  • Phi Theta Kappa Distinguished Advisor (Texas Region), 2017

HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP

  • Louisiana College Tutor for Program to Assist Student Success, 2002-2004
  • Louisiana College Alpha Chi, Secretary-Treasurer, 2003-2004
  • Baylor University Phi Alpha Theta, President, 2005-2006
  • Rice University, Participant in the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, 2006-2011
  • Rice University History Department, Graduate Student Representative, 2007- 2008
  • Lone Star College-North Harris, Co-editor of the master course for US History 1301 and 1302, 2011
  • Lone Star College-CyFair GLBTA, Co-Sponsor, 2012-2014
  • Texas Community College Teachers’ Association, Auditing Committee, 2013
  • Harris County Department of Education, grant reviewer for after-school programs, 2013
  • Texas State Historical Association, Program Committee, 2013-2016
  • LSC-CyFair Library Summer Film Series, Facilitator, 2013
  • LSC-CyFair Library Books Without Borders, Facilitator, 2014
  • Texas Community College Teachers’ Association, Resolutions Committee, 2014-2015
  • Phi Theta Kappa Honors Institute, Seminar Leader, 2014
  • Phi Theta Kappa Texas Region Honors Institute, Seminar Leader, 2014
  • Lone Star College-CyFair Faculty Senate Executive Committee, 2015-2017
  • Phi Theta Kappa Texas Region Honors Institute, Seminar Leader, 2015
  • Phi Theta Kappa Texas Leadership Conference, Seminar Leader, 2015
  • Phi Theta Kappa Texas Region Honors Institute, Seminar Leader, 2016
  • Phi Theta Kappa Honors Institute, Seminar Leader, 2016
  • Phi Theta Kappa Academy Facilitator, 2016
  • Phi Theta Kappa Honors Institute, Seminar Leader, 2017
  • Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, Reader/Judge, 2017-present

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

  • Graduate Award (Full Tuition and Stipend), Baylor University, 2004
  • Graduate Fellowship Award (Full Tuition and Stipend for Five Years), Rice University, 2006
  • Baylor University Institute for Oral History Research Fellowship ($3,000), 2008
  • Lynn. E. May Research Grant, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives ($600), 2009
  • Lodieska Stockbridge Vaughan Fellowship ($16,000), Rice University, 2009
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks in American History Grant, for study in Brooklyn, New York ($1,200), 2012
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute Award, for study in Savannah, Georgia ($2,100), 2013
  • Lone Star College Faculty International Exploration Grant, to develop a study abroad program in Ireland and Scotland ($2,500), 2017

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • Book note on Harry’s Farewell: Interpreting and Teaching the Truman Presidency, edited by Richard S. Kirkendall (University of Missouri Press, 2005), The Journal of Southern History, May 2007.
  • Book note on Agent of Empire: William Walker and the Imperial Self in American Literature by Brady Harrison (University of Georgia Press, 2004), The Journal of Southern History, November 2007.
  • Book note on The Myles Horton Reader: Education for Social Change, edited by Dale Jacobs (University of Tennessee Press, 2003), The Journal of Southern History, November 2007.
  • Book note on Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age by Larry M. Bartels (Princeton University Press, 2008), The Journal of Southern History, November 2008.
  • “Can Evangelicals Be Part of a Pro-Choice Consensus? Lessons from the Past,” History News Network, February 23, 2009.
  • “An Alternative Politics: Texas Baptists and the Rise of the Christian Right, 1975-1985,” published in the Southwest Historical Quarterly, April 2009.
  • “After Maine: Can Houston Provide the LGBT Rights Movement with a Much-Needed Victory?” History News Network, December 7, 2009.
  • “The Little Rock Nine,” in The Encyclopedia of African American History, The Ohio State University Press, 2010.
  • “Students for a Democratic Society,” in The Encyclopedia of the Culture Wars, to be published by M.E. Sharpe Press, 2012.
  • “Ripley, George,” in the Dictionary of Early American Philosophers, Continuum Press, 2012.
  • “Lesieur-Desaulnier, Isaac-Stanislas,” in Dictionary of Early American Philosophers, Continuum Press, 2012.
  • “Gingrich as Inevitable? Beware the National Polls,” in Funk and Beans: Books, Film, and Social Media, December 2, 2011.
  •   Book review of Obama, Clinton, Palin: Making History in Election 2008, ed. Liette Gidlow (University of Illinois Press, 2011), Journal of Southern History, 2013.
  •  “Teaching United States History in a Diverse Classroom: Shifting Strategies, Immeasurable Rewards,” published in Teaching United States History, September 5, 2013.
  •  “The Politics of Politics in the Classroom,” published in Teaching United States History, September 25, 2013.
  • “Teaching Healthcare History in the Age of Obama,” published in Teaching United States History, November 27, 2013.
  •   “Fighting the Winds of Change: Texas Baptists and the Rise of the Christian Right, 1970-1985,” book chapter in Narratives and Negotiations: Agency, Religion, and the State, Lexington Press, 2015.
  •   Roundtable participant, “The Flipped U.S. History Classroom: A Roundtable Discussion,” The American Historian, November 2015.

INVITED LECTURES AND SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

  • “Anti-war, Pro-Nixon: George McGovern and the Politics of National Security,” presented at Scholar’s Day, Baylor University, 2005.
  • “God’s Army: Religious Conservatives at the 1992 Republican National Convention,” presented at the 10th Annual Barnes Club Conference, Temple University, 2005.
  • “World War II Rationing: U.S. Policy, Enforcement, and Effectiveness,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Social Sciences Association, 2005.
  • “Right Message, Wrong Politics: An Explanation of George McGovern’s 1972 Electoral Disaster,” presented at the Northeast Texas Regional Meeting of Phi Alpha Theta, Midwestern State University, 2005.
  • “Education and ‘True Womanhood’ in the 19th Century South,” Women’s History Month lecture, Baylor University, 2006.
  • “A Cooperative Project: African Americans, White Liberals, and the Integration Movement in Georgetown, Texas,” presented at the 6th Annual Graduate African American History Conference, University of Memphis, 2006.
  • “The Debate Over ‘Fundamental Social Norms’ at the 1992 Republican Platform Hearings,” presented at the Symposium on Pathologies: Cultural and Scientific Representations of the Normal and the Abnormal, Rice University, 2007.
  • “God’s Economic Justice: Texas Baptists and Poverty Activism, 1960-1980,” presented at the Conference on Faith and History, Bluffton University, 2008.
  • “Diversity in the Classroom, A Welcoming Campus,” presented at the Diversity and Inclusion Forum, Lone Star College-CyFair, 2012.
  • “Teaching at a Community College: What Graduate Students Need to Know,” presented to the Rice University History Department Grad Barrel, 2012.
  • “God’s Army? The Christian Right and American Culture, 1925-1988,” presented to the Academy for Lifelong Learners, Lone Star College-CyFair, 2012.
  • “Fighting the Winds of Change: Texas Baptists and the Separation of Church and State, 1960-1980,” presented at the Texas State Historical Association, 2013.
  • “‘They Refuse to Read the First Amendment’: Texas Baptists and the Rise of the Christian Right, 1970-1985,” presented at the Roger William University Conference on Religion and the State, 2013.
  • “Crossing the Bridge: History and Memory in Brooklyn, New York,” National Endowment for the Humanities lecture series, Lone Star College-CyFair, 2013.
  • “Year of the Texas Woman? Sissy Farenthold, Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, and the 1972 Election in Texas,” presented to the Academy for Lifelong Learning, Lone Star College-CyFair, 2013.
  • “Texas Baptists and the Separation of Church and State, or Not?” invited lecture presented to the Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion, 2013.
  • Moderator, “Pathways to Sucess: Influential People in Modern America,” hosted by Conversations: Beyond the Book, 2013.
  • “Shivercrats vs. The People’s Senator: Ralph Yarborough, Democratic Battles, and the Changing Face of Texas Politics,” presented to the Academy for Lifelong Learning, Lone Star College-CyFair, 2013.
  • Panelist, “Life After the Terminal Degree,” Lone Star College Grad Expo, 2013.
  • Panelist, “Faculty Scholars on the 2014-2015 Honors Study Topic,” Phi Theta Kappa Texas Regional, 2014
  • “Race and Place in Georgia: Savannah and the Coastal Islands,” Academy for Lifelong Learning, 2014.
  • “Faculty Scholars Discuss the Honors Study Topic,” Phi Theta Kappa Texas Honors Institute, 2014.
  • “The McGovern Moment: Reconsidering the 1972 Elections,” presented to the Academy for Lifelong Learning, Lone Star College-CyFair, 2014.
  • “From Traditionalism to Targeting in the Lone Star State: “Deviate Behavior,” the Texas Homosexual Conduct Law, and the Origins of the Christian Right in Texas,” presented to the Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting, 2014.
  • “Progressives: How Did We Get Here?” presented to the New Leaders Council-Houston, 2015.
  • Chair, “Twentieth Century Currents in the Flow of Texas Religious History,” panel at the Texas State Historical Association Annual Meeting, 2015.
  • “Kennedy in Crisis: The Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Domestic Anticommunism,” presented to the Academy for Lifelong, Lone Star College-CyFair, 2015.
  • “Religious and Anti-Immigrant Discrimination in US History,” presented at Standing Together for Peace: Muslim Lives in America,” Lone Star College-CyFair
  • Panelist, “Faculty Scholars on the 2016-2017 Honors Study Topic,” Phi Theta Kappa Texas Regional Convention, 2016.
  • “Human Rights, Human Wrongs: Teaching Social Justice at the Community College, presented with Professor Britney Jeffrey, National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, 2016.
  • “Religion and Politics in 20th Century America,” presented to the Summer Institute for High School History Teachers, Rice University, 2016.
  • “The Melting Pot Revisited: Themes in 20th-Century US Immigration History,” invited community lecture, Richard and Meg Weekly Community Center, 2016.
  • “Progressives in the Age of Trump: A Historical Perspective,” presented to the New Leaders Council-Houston, 2017.
  • “Winning the Culture War: How the LGBTQ Rights Movement Went from Radical to Mainstream” presented to the Academy for Lifelong Learning, 2017.
  • “Running for President: The Evolution of the Modern Presidential Campaign,” presented to the Summer Institute for High School History Teachers, Rice University, 2017.
  • “Reconsidering the Seventies: How Should We Remember This Decade?” presented to the Academy for Lifelong Learning, 2017.

 

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP

  • American Association of Community Colleges
  • Community College League of California
  • Houston Area Southern Historians
  • Texas Community College Teachers’ Association
  • Texas State Historical Association
  • Community College Humanities Association

 

HONORS ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP

  • Alpha Lambda Delta
  • Alpha Chi
  • Phi Alpha Theta
  • Phi Theta Kappa (Honorary)

 

SELECTED COMMUNITY SERVICE

  • New Leaders Council-Houston (Advisory Board Member)
  • Equality Texas (Treasurer)
  • Houston GLBT Political Caucus (Past Board Member)
  • Lift Memorial (Board Member)