Leadership

Co-Directors

Dr. Elizabeth Kaufer-Busch

Co-director
Laura and Pete Walker Professor of American Studies
Director of American Studies

Elizabeth Kaufer Busch is the Laura and Pete Walker Professor in American Studies, Co-Director of the Center for American Studies, and Director of American Studies at Christopher Newport University. She earned a Ph.D. in political science from Michigan State University, with specializations in American Politics and Political theory. . She serves on the board of directors of the Jack Miller Center for Founding American Principles and History and the Washington, Jefferson, and Madison Institute.

Her research focuses on civic education, administrative lawmaking, and the role that our evolving conceptions of sex, gender, and equality have on public policy. She has published articles, book chapters, and scholarly studies on these subjects. She is co-author or co-editor of Democracy Revisited: Essays on the American Regime (2009), Civic Education and the Future of American Citizenship (2012), and Title IX: The Transformation of Sex Discrimination in Education (2018). She (with William Thro) is currently working on a number of writing projects focusing on reclaiming what they term the "American Proposition" in an "Anti-Constitutional Culture."

Busch was the recipient of the Alumni Society Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring.

Email: elizabeth.busch@cnu.edu

Dr. Nathan E. Busch

Co-director
James and Cynthia Crawford, Professor of US National Security
Distinguished Professor of Political Science

Dr. Nathan E. Busch earned a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto with specializations in international relations and political philosophy. Prior to coming to CNU, he held positions at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Harvard University, and the University of Georgia.

In addition to numerous scholarly articles and reports, his recent books include The Routledge Handbook of Nuclear Proliferation and Policy (2015), The Politics of Weapon Inspections: Assessing WMD Monitoring and Verification Regimes (2017), and Homeland Security: An Introduction (2021).

Busch was the recipient of the 2017 Faculty Excellence Award for Scholarship and the 2017 Alumni Society Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring.

Email: nbusch@cnu.edu

Meet the Faculty

Dr. Frank W. Garmon Jr.

Faculty Fellow
Assistant Professor of American Studies

Garmon specializes in American political economy. After studying history and economics at Christopher Newport University, he completed his MA and PhD in history at the University of Virginia. He has published articles in the Economic History Review, the Journal of the Early Republic, Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, and Social Science Journal.

His first book, A Wonderful Career in Crime: Charles Cowlam’s Masquerades in the Civil War Era and Gilded Age, was published by Louisiana State University Press in July 2024. The book traces the career of Charles Cowlam, a Gilded Age swindler who received presidential pardons from Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. His intrigues reveal how Americans built trust amidst the transience and anonymity of the nineteenth century and exposes the vulnerabilities of a political system built on personal connections.

Garmon received the Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching Student Writing in 2023. He regularly offers a course on American Entrepreneurship, and a senior seminar on Alexander Hamilton structured around the award-winning musical.

Email: frank.garmon@cnu.edu

Dr. Jeffry Morrison

Faculty Fellow
Professor of American Studies
Director of Academics, James Madison Foundation

Dr. Jeffry Morrison is a professor of American Studies and Honors at Christopher Newport University and Director of Academics at the federal government’s James Madison Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia. He graduated with distinction from Boston College and from Georgetown University, where he earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government. Dr. Morrison has also held faculty positions at Princeton University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Georgetown University. He has published as author or co-editor six books on American political thought and culture, as well as chapters, articles, and reviews in scholarly publications in the fields of history, political science, and religion. He has lectured at colleges and historic sites throughout the United States and in England (Hertford College, Oxford) and made media appearances on radio, in print, on video, and on television (C-SPAN, BBC).

Email: jeffry.morrison@cnu.edu

Dr. Jonathan W. White

Faculty Fellow
Professor of American Studies

Dr. Jonathan W. White Faculty Fellow Professor of American Studies Jonathan W. White is a professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University. He is the author or editor of 19 books that cover a variety of topics related to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Among his awards are the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Award (2019), CNU’s Alumni Society Award for Teaching and Mentoring (2016), the Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Prize (2015), the University of Maryland Alumni Excellence Award in Research (2024), and the Jack Miller Center’s Teaching Excellence Award (2024). His recent books include A House Built By Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House (2022), which was co-winner of the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize (with Jon Meacham); Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade (2023); A Great and Good Man: Rare First-hand Accounts and Observations of Abraham Lincoln (2024); and an exciting new children’s book, My Day with Abe Lincoln (2024).

Email: jonathan.white@cnu.edu

Rear Admiral Bill McCarthy

Faculty Fellow
Adjunct Professor of Leadership and American Studies

McCarthy is a retired Rear Admiral with over 37 years of military and civilian service. His Navy service included combat operations in Operation Desert Storm. His four operational commands included the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington and Carrier Strike Group EIGHT. A U.S. Naval Test Pilot School graduate, he served on the Joint Staff and in a variety of test and acquisition assignments, culminating in command of the Navy’s Operational Test and Evaluation Force. Following active service, McCarthy served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Deputy Assistant Secretary level as Deputy Director (OT&E), Net-centric and Space Systems/Missile Defense. His awards include the Navy Distinguished Service Medal and the Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Medal.

McCarthy has served as an adjunct professor of public administration and procurement at Old Dominion University. In addition to serving as an adjunct faculty member in American Studies at CNU, he is also a member of the adjunct faculty at Regent University’s Robertson School of Government, where he teaches courses on the Presidency, Congress, and American Politics.

McCarthy earned a BA in Biology (cum laude) from the College of the Holy Cross. He holds master's degrees in national security studies and public administration from the Air War College and Auburn University Montgomery, respectively. He has completed additional graduate studies at the Robertson School of Government and the Kennedy School of Government. Publications include a variety of technical papers as well as book chapters, including “Eisenhower, the New Look, and Old-fashioned Morality” in Just War in Presidential Rhetoric: U.S. Presidents Making Moral Arguments on War, Peace, and Security, forthcoming 2023, and “Directed Energy and Fleet Defense” The Technological Arsenal - Smithsonian, 2001 He is a member of Pi Sigma Alpha and Pi Alpha Alpha honor societies. His current research entails a comparative study of the National Security Council decision-making models of the Eisenhower and G.W. Bush administrations.

Email: william.mccarthy@cnu.edu

Center for American Studies Junior Fellows

Students engage in original research with a Center for American Studies faculty mentor, present research at academic conferences, receive training in archival research and copy editing, and assist with programming.