Nationally Recognized Higher Education Leader Brings Enthusiasm to Queens University

Queens University of Charlotte has named Kevin Gannon, Ph.D., director of the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence (CAFE) and professor of history effective July 18, 2022.

As the son of an Air Force officer, Gannon spent his childhood years in various places ranging from Japan to Hawaii before returning to the United States. It was during these formative experiences that he developed a keen interest in people and cultures that would later compel him to study history. With generations of educators in his family, Gannon’s path to higher education was fueled by curiosity and commitment.

“One of my most treasured possessions is a history textbook from the early 1800’s that one of my great-great-great-grandfathers used as an itinerant schoolteacher in the early 19th century in Vermont,” he said. “Being in higher education has given me the opportunity to combine my passion for history and teaching.”

Gannon’s love of history and teaching led him to hold instructor, lecturer, and professor positions at the University of South Carolina, the University of Houston, Lamar University, and Merrimack College, among others. He comes to Queens after spending 18 years at Grand View University – a small liberal arts college in Des Moines, Iowa – where he taught history from 2004 through 2022 and served as the director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning from 2014 through 2022.

“One of the things that attracted me to Queens was the audacious strategic vision I saw laid out in the job posting for the CAFE Director position for which I applied,” Gannon said. “In this time of COVID-19, and of uncertainty across higher education, to see a place that was not only unafraid of the future but willing to bet on themselves was really cool. And the more I researched the university, the more intrigued I became.”

Gannon’s teaching, research, and public work center on critical and inclusive pedagogy: race, history, and justice; and teaching. His writing has been featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education along with Vox and other media outlets. Additionally, Gannon appeared in the Oscar-nominated documentary 13th, which explores modern concepts of slavery and racism as it exists today.

“Schools like ours serve a crucial need in US higher education; we are places where students can see the promises of higher education fulfilled, and where they are welcomed as actual human beings, as opposed to one faceless entity among hundreds in an overstuffed lecture hall, for example,” said Gannon. “I want to be a part of the work that ensures all of our students have the opportunity to see those promises fulfilled and I want to be at an institution that embraces that mission as well. And what better way to do so than by helping to support and sustain the work of our faculty and academic staff at Queens?”