Faculty Feature Friday is a Q&A series that highlights individual faculty members in various academic programs around Bellarmine University. This week’s featured faculty member is Dr. Laura Ping, an Assistant Professor of U.S. History, from the College of Arts and Sciences.

What inspired you to become an educator, and what attracted you to your position at Bellarmine?

My mom and grandmother were both educators, so I grew up understanding the power that a teacher can have to affect a student’s life. As a doctoral student, my first adjunct teaching job was at a Catholic university. I loved the sense of community and the ways in which students responded when they learned something new. My mother-in-law was born in Louisville, and we had visited and liked it. My position at Bellarmine offered both a city we liked and the type of learning atmosphere that inspired me. I haven’t been disappointed!

Why is your program a good option for students?

History teaches critical thinking, writing, and research skills that can be used in pretty much all professions, but specifically education, law, and business. Yes, we are studying the past, but we are also learning how to interrogate what we read and succinctly communicate our own ideas in writing based on independent research.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of your time so far at Bellarmine? 

Getting to know the students and their interests! I have had the privilege of working with great students, and their excitement keeps me motivated.

What is your academic specialization, areas of expertise, or current research?

I am a social and cultural historian of the United States with a specialization in nineteenth-century women and gender. My research has centered on the ways in which clothing was used as a political tool and a tool of protest.

I just submitted an article on the ways in which nineteenth-century dress reformers (women who wanted to wearpants and opposed long skirts and corsets) used the language of the Declaration of Independence as a rhetoricaltool to support their movement. I am currently working on an article about how women living on the Virginia homefront during the Civil War (Union, Confederate, and women of color) used textiles as symbolic tools of war.

Bellarmine is an inclusive Catholic university that educates students—mind, body, and spirit—for meaningful lives, rewarding careers, ethical leadership, and service to improve the human condition. What is an example of how your teaching style, your research, your classes or your curriculum is supporting the mission of Bellarmine?

As a cultural historian, I ask students to consider how past events shaped the lived experience. We then consider how experiences shifted based on identity, such as race, class, gender, religion, and ethnicity. I also assign experiential learning assignments as a complement to traditional writing assignments so that students can explore their interpretations of material in creative ways. This helps students connect with material that may initially seem irrelevant to their daily lives. In doing so, my classes reiterated educating the mind, body, and spirit.

Who were your mentors as a professor and professional?

My mentor is Dr. Carol Berkin, who is a historian of women during the Colonial and American Revolutionary periods. She taught me that it is ok to tell a story in teaching and writing, because that is what history is about. Simply focusing on memorizing names and dates overlooks the humanization of history.

How have you developed these relationships with our students and community? Do you see yourself as a mentor?

I do see myself as a mentor. It is important for me to teach students “best practices” in study skills, time management, and writing assignments, as well as course material. This was also a big part of my student/mentor relationship with Dr. Berkin.

What is the secret behind your longevity as a professor? What keeps you coming back to the classroom?

I love teaching people parts of history they likely did not learn in high school. Sometimes these are details, but sometimes it’s an entirely different perspective. The “aha” moment when students make historical connections keeps me coming back to the classroom.

What advice would you give those who are either entering the workforce or starting their professional career?

You always feel out of your element in the beginning. In my experience, it takes a month to start to know your routine, 6 months to begin to understand your job, and a year to feel like you know what you are doing. Trust the process.