Bryan College Triangle

By Billy Findley
Online Editor

Senior Caleb Young, a history major, sits at his desk engrossed in his textbook for History of Modern Europe I. He’s anticipating the class discussion that’s sure to ensue during class time. One-fourth of his grade rides on his class participation.

His professor is none other than Bryan’s newly-hired Assistant Professor of History, 33 year-old Salvatore Musumeci. For some students, his workload can be as intimidating as his name.

“I told him I needed a defibrillator to recover from syllabus shock,” Young said.

Indeed, his assignments have posed quite a challenge for students taking his classes, particularly because of the amount of reading and papers he assigns, according to Young. However, aside from the intensity of the homework, students have also acknowledged his amiable personality and the apparent “youthfulness” he brings to the subject as well as his scholarly insights.

Musumeci completed his undergrad at Palm Beach Atlantic University (Palm Beach, Fl) with a double major in Religious Studies and Philosophy. He earned his master’s degree at Trinity College (Hartford, Conn.). However, he said it was his traveling in Europe between 2003 and 2007 that led him to become fascinated with historic culture.

“I spent a great deal of time in London and Florence and was seeing a lot of old things and I thought, I really want to learn more about this.”

After completing his Ph.D. at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, he taught at the University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) for two years.

“Hearing him in his interview last spring, I knew he was going to make it [history] interesting,” said junior history major Katlyn Levi.

Class discussions are one the best ways to learn history, according to Levi, and discussions are what drive the class time for Musumeci.

“He’s so blatantly honest about everything; he doesn’t show that he’s uncomfortable about anything.”

While he is currently teaching History of Civilization I and II, Musumeci said he is specifically interested in the Medieval and Renaissance periods, particularly the cultural aspects of society and the culinary arts of those times. For him, the class discussions really are like a defibrillator, a way to bring history to life for students who look at history as nothing more than something dead.

“History is a dialogue,” Musumeci said. “It’s not something that has died. We can come to history from a fresh perspective.”

Though he has only been at Bryan for a few weeks, Musumeci said he has been deliberate in getting to know his students. One of his favorite things has been spending his office hours out in the Common Grounds coffee shop with students. Also, he and his wife Robin were persuaded by Levi, an RA, to be the “Hall Parents” for the third floor in Arnold.

Musumeci will probably continue to instruct the History of Civ. courses as well as some classes that are more suited to his specific expertise, according to Associate Professor of History Travis Ricketts.

“We didn’t know what his specialties would be until this year,” Ricketts said.

Ricketts said he believes Musumeci’s classes will be challenging for students but that Musumeci is passionate about students learning history.

“It’ll be hard, but some good things in life are,” Ricketts said.

For now, Musumeci said he is enjoying the people at Bryan, especially his students.

“If they don’t want to say my last name, they can call me Dr. M.” he said.

Tags: Caleb Young, Katlyn Levi, Salvatore Musumeci, Travis Ricketts

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at 3:40 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.